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OREM -- An Orem man accused of gunning down his brother-in-law was formally charged Friday with first-degree murder. Stephen Strate posted a $1 million bail since his last court appearance and walked into the courtroom a free man.
Strate appeared to be ready to fight the charges with a high-profile attorney and an argument that he acted in self-defense.
Strate, 54, called 911 on Sunday, Oct. 25 and told Orem police dispatchers he had shot his brother-in-law, 51-year-old Marvin Sidwell.
He came after me with a damn chair," Strate told the dispatcher.
"He came after you with a chair?" the dispatcher asked.
"Yeah," Strate said
"And so you shot him six or seven times?" the dispatcher said.
"Yeah," Strate said.
Strate told the dispatcher he shot Sidwell and left the body while he went upstairs to call dispatch.
Strate's attorney Ron Yengich said a jury will ultimately have to decide if he acted in self-defense.
He said, "I think that is exactly what it's about, and I think that is what the evidence is going to ultimately show, but we'll leave that up to a trier of fact, but certainly that's, as we have looked at it at this point, we think there was a clear issue of self-defense here."
Yengich told the judge the bail for Strate was too high. The judge set a bail hearing during which Yengich will argue to have it lowered. Strate surprised prosecutors when shortly after his arrest he made his $1 million cash-only bail with a cashier's check.
"They've had to collect that money from friends and family to post that amount of money, and I think it's simply too high," said Yengich. "There were a lot of people who wanted him out as opposed to waiting for a bail hearing to get it reduced and get him out."
It turns out family members and friends, who were at the hearing, helped contribute to get him released.
Yengich said, "He is well liked in the community and as was indicated by the number of people who just showed up, we didn't ask anyone to come, family came, we knew this would be quick, a lot of people just came to show their support for him."
Strate was hoping the bail would be reduced so he could get some of the money back to those who collected it.
Prosecutor Craig Johnson said prosecutors will fight any attempt to have the bail lowered. They also said they have concerns now that Strate is out of custody.
"It's the ultimate public safety hazard to have him out, and a million dollars, we thought, was enough to keep him in," said Johnson. "If he were to not appear, a million dollars is a fair price for him to be out."
Strate will return to court on Dec. 3.
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Story compiled with contributions from Randall Jeppesen and Sam Penrod.
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