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Pulaski man pleads no contest in attack with sledgehammer

The man ambushed his ex-girlfriend in her home last year and injured her.

George Viers

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Melissa Powell | 381-8621

Friday, September 13, 2013

PULASKI — When asked why he broke into his ex-girlfriend’s home and attacked her with a sledgehammer, investigators said, George Viers told them that he was trying to kill her.

And when asked why he had wrapped the five-pound tool with pipe insulation and electrical tape, Viers said “to keep the blood down.”

Viers, 39, of Pulaski, pleaded no contest Thursday to aggravated malicious wounding, breaking and entering with the intent to commit murder and violating a protective order. He is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 20.

In his summary of the evidence Thursday, Pulaski County Commonwealth’s Attorney Mike Fleenor said Viers had a daughter with Melissa Horton, but that Horton was granted a protective order against Viers in July 2011.

On Jan. 24, 2012, Horton left her home on Sixth Street Southwest to take her daughter to a bus stop. When she returned, Viers came out of a bedroom and struck her in the head with a sledgehammer about four to eight times, Fleenor said. According to a Pulaski police news release at the time, Horton was able to escape from the house and run down the street screaming for help.

When officers located Horton, she was “covered in blood,” Fleenor said.

She was taken to the emergency room at LewisGale Hospital Pulaski. Fleenor said Horton had multiple skull fractures, requiring several staples to her head.

Authorities said at the time that Viers fled the scene and was arrested the same day, without incident, on Cedar Lane.

After being advised of his Miranda rights, Viers agreed to speak with police and told officers that he was aware of the protective order against him, Fleenor said. Viers said he had parked at the Maple Shade Plaza and walked five or six blocks to get to Horton’s home, carrying the sledgehammer under his coat.

He told police that he remembered hitting her two or three times, Fleenor said. Viers said that after Horton escaped, he threw the hammer under a bridge. Officers went to the location described by Viers and recovered the hammer, Fleenor said.

By pleading no contest, Viers isn’t disputing the charges and is accepting that the prosecution has enough evidence to convict him. It allows him to avoid admitting that he committed the crimes, but the conviction and sentence are the same as if he had pleaded guilty.

Fleenor told Circuit Court Judge Marcus Long that although Viers entered pleas to the charges, he still wanted to call one witness in order to establish that Horton has suffered permanent damage from the attack.

Jill Cramer, a Christiansburg neurologist, testified that Horton has several scars on her scalp that are tender when touched or when her hair is moved. Horton has concentration and memory complaints and difficulty putting thoughts together, Cramer said. Horton is also jumpy, has muscle spasms and has developed problems sleeping, Cramer added.

“I do not expect much more improvement, even with ongoing treatment,” Cramer said.

Viers’ lawyer, Byron Shankman, did not present evidence or make a statement but requested a presentence report. Viers will remain in jail until sentencing.

Saturday, September 14, 2013