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Man guilty of holding wife at gunpoint
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A man who held his wife at gunpoint this past Christmas is facing a four-year sentence on felony assault charges.The defendant, Phillip Thweatt, 50, has entered guilty pleas before Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley to charges of aggravated assault and false imprisonment. The judge will determine during sentencing Sept. 23 how much of the four-year sentence Thweatt will have to serve.His sentence comes after he pulled a gun on his wife during an argument at their Red Road home on Christmas and would not let her leave.“She was sitting on the couch and he retrieved a pistol from underneath the cushion on the right side of the couch,” said McMinnville policewoman Rachel Nichols, noting he next used a Clint Eastwood phrase while aiming the gun at her. “He then squatted down and pointed the pistol at her and asked how lucky she felt.”Thweatt then walked over and sat on her legs and pointed the pistol in her face.“He told her that he was ending it tonight and he was going to shoot her,” Nichols recalled of the victim’s statement.