A Brownstown man faces six felony charges after he battered a woman multiple times and held her against her will, police report.
Jerry Guy Thurman Jr., 33, was arrested Monday and faces a Level 3 felony charge of criminal confinement while armed with a deadly weapon and two Level 5 felony charges of intimidation and carrying a handgun with a prior conviction.
He also faces two Level 6 felony charges of domestic battery, a Level 6 felony charge of criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon and a Class A misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief.
The charges stemmed from a call police received July 12 from a woman reporting multiple incidents of battery involving Thurman.
The woman also said the incidents were beginning to escalate, according to the probable cause affidavit filed by Brownstown Officer Samuel Hughes.
She detailed a few of those incidents during an interview at the Brownstown Police Department.
The woman told police she and Thurman were arguing July 3 when it escalated and Thurman took her gun and held it to her head and made several threats, Hughes said.
Once he removed the gun from her head, the woman said she was afraid he would kill her, and she tried to run out of the residence. She told Hughes that Thurman then grabbed her by the hair and drug her back into the house, where he held her against her will for about a half hour.
The woman said she threatened to call police, and Thurman left the residence to throw the gun in a dumpster at a nearby convenience store. When he returned, he told the woman he would hurt her if she called police, according to court documents.
Police were able to obtain video footage of Thurman placing an object wrapped in a white cloth in the dumpster.
The woman also shared an account from July 6 when she had returned home after being out with friends all night. She told police when she returned, Thurman was angry and began yelling at her and calling her names.
She said she threw a shoe at him while he was lying in bed, and he grabbed her by the hair and drug her across the floor. The woman had an injured eye, carpet burns and bruising under her arm, ankle, shin and knee.
Police were called to the scene for that incident but were told there was an accidental dial.
Hughes wrote in court documents that he and Officer Jessiah Watts responded to the incident and suspected it was not an accident because of the way the woman was acting.
Thurman also became angry with the woman because she told him she was ending their relationship. That’s when he retrieved a table and chair set that belonged to the woman from a storage unit and destroyed it outside the home.
Thurman also threw clothing outside, which was damaged by rain, Hughes wrote in court documents.
The woman recently received a protective order from Jackson Superior Court II Judge Bruce MacTavish, but it had not been served to Thurman when police interviewed her.
The woman called police following the interview July 12 to report that Thurman was attempting to see her at a home in Freetown. Jackson County Sheriff’s Department Officer J.L. McElfresh responded, and Thurman left before police arrived.
McElfresh was able to locate Thurman on State Road 135 near Freetown and served the protective order.
The woman provided police with several voicemails that Thurman had left for her.
Hughes wrote Thurman was crying and apologetic in the voicemails and discussed battering her three or four times, pointing the firearm at her and dragging her by her hair.
When police arrested him, he declined to speak about the voicemails.
Thurman was booked into the Jackson County Jail in Brownstown at 6:54 p.m. Monday and was being held without bond pending his initial appearance.
A Level 3 felony is punishable between three and 16 years upon conviction. The advisory sentence is nine years.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”At a glance” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
This story contains accounts of domestic violence. If you are a victim of domestic violence, services are available through the Turning Point Domestic Violence Services crisis line at 800-221-6311.
[sc:pullout-text-end]