OGDEN — A man has been sentenced to 240 days in jail for assault in a dispute over his son’s refusal to go on a church mission.

Second District Judge Cristina Ortega on Friday imposed two state prison sentences of up to five years each against Scott Keith Warner, 51, suspended the sentences and ordered jail time instead. She said Warner could be released to the Weber County Jail’s day reporting program after serving 90 days behind bars. He also must pay a $950 fine, a spokesperson for the court clerk’s office said Monday.

Warner was found guilty in a bench trial before Ortega on Sept. 8 on third-degree felony charges of aggravated assault and commission of domestic violence in the presence of a child.

On Aug. 21, 2020, Ogden police were called to Warner’s home on a report that he assaulted his 18-year-old son as the two were arguing about the younger man not wanting to go on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

A police probable cause statement said Warner told officers that he grabbed his son by the arm “as he attempted to remove his son from the home” over the mission refusal. Warner said his son started the “tussle” by shoving him. Warner told police he had done nothing wrong.

But the son told police Warner grabbed his arm and they began to fight. He said he was knocked to the ground and Warner choked him and repeatedly slammed his head into the wall. The officer said the son had scratches on his neck and redness on the back of his neck.

Two juvenile siblings heard the commotion but did not see the confrontation, according to the arrest document.

Leading up to the trial, Warner’s attorney filed a motion seeking dismissal of the charges. The motion contended that the son was the aggressor. Warner, it said, “believes that he was in fear for his safety and possibly his life and therefore was justified in using self-defense methods to try to control and keep (his son) off of him.”

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