PROVO, Utah – A pent-up stack of Northern Utah murder cases is about to break loose from a pandemic-caused logjam if virus transmission conditions continue to improve in the region.
After social distancing and other restrictions spread when the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year, Utah courts began holding routine hearings on Webex rather than in courthouses.
Meanwhile, officials made preparations to have murder trials with divider screens in jury boxes or a further socially distanced jury; limited audience seating; and jury selection and deliberations conducted in large, socially distanced conference rooms.
But defense attorneys balked at subjecting their clients to life-changing decisions in such restrictive environments. Prosecutors, meantime, were reluctant to hold murder preliminary hearings on Webex because of the less-than-ideal playback of video evidence.
After a year of major cases being postponed — while defendants spent many months held without bail, and families of murder victims waited that much longer for possible closure — things may change this summer.
Judge Reuben Renstrom said in a hearing last week for Daniel Viegas-Gonzalez, charged in a West Ogden robbery and fatal shooting, that there’s a chance the court system will move into the “yellow” phase of COVID-19 restrictions.
Operating in the “red” phase, in-person proceedings have been limited except in rare cases where a judge has ruled “exigent circumstances” warranted live events. But the Administrative Office of the Courts said by email Thursday that a handful of pilot jury trials have recently been held around the state, including one in Ogden and another in Farmington.
In the “yellow” phase, Renstrom said officials may allow less restrictive seating of jurors and that rapid virus testing will not be a daily requirement for participants. Jury selection still might be conducted via Webex, he said.
Renstrom and other judges have said further direction is expected within a few weeks from the Utah Supreme Court, which has implemented and managed the system’s pandemic protocols.
Once trials resume, “priority will be given to people who have been in jail a long time,” Renstrom said.
That includes Viegas-Gonzalez and co-defendant Theron Farmer. They have been behind bars for more than two years, charged with aggravated murder in the Feb. 11, 2019, shooting death of Kamron Johnson, 18, and the wounding of his brother.
Police said Johnson had stayed home sick from high school that day when the suspects showed up, armed and demanding money and pills.
Attorneys said Tuesday they finally got a ballistics report from the state crime lab, another reason the case had been delayed. Renstrom set another hearing for June 29 and penciled in a trial for Dec. 1. Farmer’s trial is set for Oct. 25.
Even under “yellow,” the Ogden courthouse probably will be able to hold only two trials at a time because of the restrictions that will still remain, the judge said.
Several other delayed key cases and their currently scheduled trials:
Cory Fitzwater, 37, is charged with first-degree felony murder in the Aug. 16, 2018, shooting of Brian Racine, 28, in an Ogden homeless camp. Police said Fitzwater and a co-defendant, Dalton Aiken, went there to intimidate homeless people. Aiken has been convicted and is serving a prison term. Fitzwater’s trial is set to begin Sept. 7.
Sun Cha Warhola, 55, was arrested in the Sept. 8, 2010, stranglings of her children, James, 8, and Jean, 7, in Layton. She spent more than eight years in treatment at the Utah State Hospital to restore her mental competency to stand trial, which is now scheduled for Sept. 7-17.
Ethan Hunsaker, 25, is charged in the May 24, 2020, stabbing death of Ashlyn Black in Layton after the two arranged a date on Tinder. His trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 25.
Michael Hines, 30, was arrested in the Jan. 12, 2020, shooting of Kannon Beesley, 18, in Layton during a fight over a large bag of marijuana. His murder trial begins Sept. 22.
