Published: May 07, 2008 09:55 am         

Jury acquits man charged with assaulting his mother

By Lacie Morrison
lmorrison@mineralwellsindex.com

PALO PINTO – A Mineral Wells man was found not guilty of assaulting his mother Tuesday after more than an hour of jury deliberation.

“I think the jury followed the law and came to the correct verdict,” said defense attorney Chad Cannon. “It was the only verdict possible based on the evidence.”

Cannon was appointed to defend Joe Franklin Primm Jr., 43, who was charged with striking his mother in the face with a chair on June 1. A jury of nine women and three men listened to testimony from the alleged victim and law enforcement officers. Primm didn’t take the stand in his defense.

The defense attorney said he had an opportunity to speak with some of the jurors following the announcement of their verdict. He remarked, “They just basically said there wasn’t enough evidence [and] a lot of unanswered questions. … It sounds like they did sit down and deliberate.”

The trial opened with District Attorney Michael Burns calling Primm’s mother, Mary Butler, to the stand. In a subdued voice, Butler recounted the incident in question, recalling that her son was inebriated and angry when he came home that morning.

Part of his alleged anger was at a Raymond Martinez, she testified, because Martinez was a friend of hers whom he didn’t want her interacting with. Butler also testified her son was angry at Martinez because “he’d been seeing Sheri Sorrells,” Primm’s fiancée, who was murdered in 2006.

She alleged that she was in a chair at the dining room table when her son picked up a chair and struck her.

Later testimony revealed a conversation between mother and son where Primm reportedly told his mother it was an accident.

“You had a conversation [with Primm] before he left [under arrest]. Did he tell you it was an accident?” Cannon asked.

She replied that he did. The next witness, a Mineral Wells police officer, also testified Primm said he “hit her in the face with a chair. He said he didn’t mean to hit her in the face.”

The officer and neighbor both testified to jurors they saw Butler holding the side of her face after the altercation; the neighbor added that Butler asked to use his phone to call police. When he asked her what was wrong, he testified she told him, “He hit me with a chair.”

Cannon called two witnesses to the stand – a Parker County Sheriff’s Department investigator and a MWPD investigator. He briefly questioned them about prior connections between Martinez and Sorrells before resting his case.

Burns did not return a call Tuesday requesting comment o the case.