Authorities in Virginia say a man was convicted of causing serious injuries to his grandfather in late 2017.
According to the Richmond Times Dispatch, 22-year-old Aaron Michael Adams was initially charged last year with aggravated malicious wounding and malicious wounding — punishable by a maximum of life in prison and 20 years behind bars, respectively.
While the criminal count of his conviction will be announced along with his sentencing in September, Roanoke Circuit Court Judge Chris Clemens presided over a bench trial that concluded with a conviction on Thursday.
Reports indicate the graphic details of the defendant’s attack on elderly victim Mark Douglas Lyle were recounted in court as dozens of middle school students taking part in a field trip were on hand and listening intently.
Authorities responded to the victim’s Roanoke home on December 15, 2017, to discover Lyle with an injury to his left hand that had been wrapped in a bandage.
An officer reported that he saw the wound, writing of Lyle’s index finger that “just above the first knuckle appeared to be missing.”
The victim reportedly helped raise his grandson, who moved in with him shortly before the attack.
“When he starts to act out is when you try to correct him tell him to stop,” Lyle testified.
Such a confrontation occurred just before he said Adams began beating him and bit through his finger, adding that the injury required surgery and made it difficult for him to “hold on to stuff” ever since.
“Later on, the nail started growing back through the finger,” he said of one related complication.
Despite the disfiguring attack, both the victim and Adams’ uncle, Travis Lyle, say he suffers from mental issues.
Though Clemens denounced the defendant’s “very, very, very bad behavior,” the case included one moment when he instructed Adams, under the supervision of nearby deputies, to hug his grandfather. It was the first time the two had been able to contact each other in more than a year.
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