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Marine Denies Attacking His Parents

Burlington, Vermont -- December 20, 2004

Vermont authorities are trying to figure out why a U.S. Marine Captain home on Christmas leave attacked and beat his parents in their Colchester home.

Marine Captain Charles Blount, 31, was drunk when he attacked his mother and father Friday night, according to police reports.

Police say Blount and his father had been drinking martinis and the pair got into an argument that escalated.

Edmond Blount, Charles Blount's father, was lying in the fetal position on the floor covered in blood from multiple battering injuries to his face and head, according to police.

Police say when they arrived they found Charles Blount lying on top his mother, Margaret Blount, punching her in the face and she was also covered in blood from multiple battering injuries.

Blount violently resisted arrest and tried to kick out a cruiser window, according to police reports.

The couple required hospital treatment for lacerations according to police.

Blount is a 13-year Marine veteran who was home for the holidays from Virginia following assignments in Guantanamo, Cuba, and Iraq, according to his lawyer James Murdoch.

Authorities and Murdoch said they were uncertain why Blount "apparently snapped."

"The parents after filing the assault were not willing to give statements or talk to the police, so at this point we're still piecing this together," said Carolyn Hanson, Chittenden Deputy Prosecutor, at the Monday afternoon arraignment in Burlington.

Blount pleaded innocent to felony aggravated assault and simple assault. He was released on $5,000 bail with orders to stay away from his parents and to get a psychiatric evaluation at his expense.

Conviction on the felony charge could end his Marine career.

Brian Joyce - Channel 3 News