A rural Powell man is facing two counts of aggravated assault in connection with allegations that he severely battered his wife one night last month.

Gregory Paris, 59, allegedly beat the woman to the point where one of her co-workers didn’t recognize her, charging documents say. Paris is alleged to have used a steel drum stand in the attack and, after she drove away, to have followed her in his vehicle and tried stopping her.

Paris pleaded not guilty to the felony assault charges at a Wednesday morning appearance in Park County’s District Court in Cody.

District Court Judge Steven Cranfill lowered Paris’ bond from $75,000 cash to $25,000 cash, a figure suggested by Deputy Park County Prosecuting Attorney Tim Blatt. Paris remained jailed on Wednesday afternoon.

Paris’ attorney, Robert DiLorenzo of Emblem, unsuccessfully argued for a $25,000 surety bond. He said Paris was an associate pastor at a church and had a job.

“Mr. Paris has lived here all his life. He has a clean record,” DiLorenzo said, though referencing something “minor” that had happened 20 years earlier. (DiLorenzo apparently was referring to Paris’ 1993 felony conviction for theft of a controlled substance. District Court records say Paris, who at that time was working on West Park Hospital’s ambulance crew, was caught stealing and abusing morphine from ambulance medical kits.)

DiLorenzo also said Paris is suffering from health problems and should be out of jail to receive treatment.

“He has been diagnosed with six — no less than six — traumatic brain injuries,” DiLorenzo said.

Blatt, however, objected to letting Paris hire a bondsman to post his bond, noting “the seriousness of the charges.”

Paris’ wife reportedly told Park County Sheriff’s Investigator Joe Torczon that Paris became upset on the night of March 15 after being unable to get Netflix to work. The woman said Paris punched her when she said she’d just turn off the online video service, recounted Sgt. Mark Hartman in an affidavit used to support the charges against Paris.

The woman said she kicked Paris off of her and he proceeded to hold her down and punch her several times in the face and body, the affidavit recounts. At one point, he tried striking her with a steel drum stand, and she blocked it with her arm, Hartman wrote of her account.

The woman said that during the altercation, Paris told her he “might have to kill” her, Hartman recounted.

When Paris later went outside, the woman said she drove into town. However, just as she was nearing Powell, Paris reportedly tried stopping her, pulling his truck alongside her car, Hartman wrote.

She sped up and he turned around, Hartman wrote of the woman’s account. She ultimately made it to the Powell Police Department, where she works.

One of her co-workers, Powell Police Sgt. Chad Miner, later told Hartman that when the woman first arrived at the station, “he did not recognize her,” the affidavit says.

Responding sheriff’s deputies found Gregory Paris asleep in his truck at the couple’s Road 6 home later that night. He agreed to get out of the vehicle, but began slowly walking away from the deputies, prompting them to push him down and arrest him, Hartman wrote.

Paris declined to speak with the deputies after his arrest.

Hartman said when Paris was booked into the Park County Detention Center several hours after the incident, he had a blood alcohol content of .012 percent.

When Investigator Torczon spoke with Paris’ wife the day after the incident, he saw she had deep bruising across her face and several stitches on her forehead; one eye was swollen shut and bleeding, the affidavit says.

Inside the couple’s home, Hartman said authorities found signs of a struggle, including bloodied furniture and clothing. A drum set foot pedal with blood and tissue reportedly was found as well.

A trial for Paris was tentatively scheduled for Aug. 20.

Editor's note: This version corrects Paris' blood alcohol content referenced in the affidavit, reducing it by a decimal point.