KINGMAN – A man who murdered a retired Bullhead City couple who once employed him at their former business in California won’t likely enjoy freedom again. Aaron Bryant, 31, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder during a Feb. 7 hearing before Mohave County Superior Court Judge Derek Carlisle.
Defense attorney Paul Amann noted that Bryant is perhaps the most reasonable and compliant defendant he’s ever represented under such trying circumstance.
Authorities have indicated that Bryant accepted their offer to come live with them in Bullhead City after Tommy Hinton, 62, and his wife Annette, 59, relocated following retirement in California.
An argument broke out last June when Bryant was aware he was no longer welcome there and he nonetheless engaged Mr. Hinton on the back porch of his residence in the 3700 block of Rawhide Dr.
Amann and prosecutor James Schoppmann submitted a detailed factual basis of the murders to the court. It said that Bryant retrieved a knife from inside the Hinton home before he returned to the porch and began stabbing Mr. Hinton and that Mrs. Hinton was stabbed and cut as she came to the aid of her husband.
Autopsies determined that both victims sustained more than 10 sharp or blunt force wounds in the deadly attack, according to the factual basis. It said that Mrs. Hinton was able to identify Bryant as the perpetrator before she succumbed to her wounds.
A neighbor witnessing the violence directed Bryant to stop before he fired a gunshot over a fence, wounding Bryant in the leg and ending the attack.
Terms of the deal require Judge Carlisle to impose natural life or consecutive life prison terms at sentencing scheduled April 11. He indicated the reality is that Bryant must serve at least 50 years in prison.
