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PROVO — State agents assigned to investigate a deadly officer-involved shooting in Roosevelt last month have turned the case over to the Utah County Attorney's Office.
Marianne O'Bryant, a deputy Utah County attorney assigned to review the case, said Friday she has received a "voluminous" amount of information so far and is still waiting for investigators to bring her more.
O'Bryant said it will likely be several more weeks before a decision is reached about whether Roosevelt Police Lt. Pete Butcher was legally justified in using deadly force against Kevin Vance Norton.
Norton, 36, was involved in a standoff with police on May 3 after officers received reports of an armed man acting erratically near Uintah Basin Medical Center.
Officers said they found Norton carrying a loaded handgun in a wooded area that borders a residential neighborhood east of the hospital. They negotiated with him for nearly an hour, then tried to subdue Norton with a Taser and special "less-lethal" shotgun rounds before Butcher shot him, investigators said.
Norton died a short time later at the hospital. His death certificate listed his cause of death as a "shotgun wound to the back."
At the time of the shooting, Norton was on felony probation following convictions in September 2012 for aggravated assault and fraudulently obtaining employment compensation, both third-degree felonies, according to court records. It is illegal to possess a firearm while on felony probation.
The State Bureau of Investigation, which conducted the probe of the incident, has confirmed there is body camera video of the standoff, including footage of the shooting itself. They will not say whether the video provides an explanation for Butcher's decision to use deadly force.
Duchesne County Attorney Stephen Foote asked the Utah County Attorney's Office to review the state investigation to avoid any potential conflicts of interest.
Butcher, a veteran law enforcement officer with 17 years' total experience, has worked for the Roosevelt Police Department since 2008. He remains on paid administrative leave, which is a standard practice following officer-involved shootings.
