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SALT LAKE CITY — A special panel of five Utah judges acted within its proper legal prerogative in 2013 when it denied a request to summon a grand jury in the case of a former West Valley police officer who shot and killed Danielle Willard, the Utah Supreme Court ruled Friday.
The decision eliminates yet another prosecutorial threat to Shaun Cowley, whose Nov. 2, 2012 fatal shooting of Willard during a botched undercover drug operation was found to be not legally justified by the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office.
District Attorney Sim Gill announced in August 2013 that his office would seek criminal charges against Cowley. In an October 2013 request, the details of which are clouded by the secrecy of grand jury procedures, Gill asked a panel of five Utah district court judges to call a grand jury in Cowley's case.
The request, which drew strong criticism at the time from the Utah chapter of Fraternal Order of Police and others opposing criminal charges against Cowley, was denied by the judicial panel. Gill later petitioned the Utah Supreme Court to review that decision, "claiming that the panel abused its discretion," the high court explained in Friday's ruling.
While the Utah Supreme Court was still reviewing Gill's petition, Cowley was directly charged by the district attorney's office in June 2014 with second-degree felony manslaughter. But in an unusual legal decision, 3rd District Judge L. A. Dever dismissed that case in December, saying evidence against Cowley was not sufficient enough to proceed to a jury trial. The district attorney's office asked the Utah Attorney General's Office to appeal the dismissal, but it declined.
Related:
Danielle Willard shooting not legally justified, DA says
More than nine months after a woman was gunned down in a parking lot by two West Valley City police officers, the district attorney has determined the shooting was not legally justified. (Photo: KSL File)Friday's ruling is another victory for Cowley. The Utah Supreme Court found "no error to correct" in the five-judge panel's decision-making process, it said in a 15-page decision.
The panel was made up of 3rd District judges Terry Christiansen and Kate Toomey; Steve Hansen, 4th District judge; Brent West, 2nd District judge; and Eric Ludlow, 5th District judge. Together, the judges argued their deliberations were not subject to review by the Utah Supreme Court.
The high court disagreed, claiming jurisdiction over Gill's petition against the panel. But the court also ruled that the panel acted properly in its review and eventual denial of Gill's request for a grand jury.
"(The panel's) decision was not influenced by factors it lacked authority to consider, and it showed no signs of inappropriate bias," the court's ruling states. "Instead, the panel acted exactly as the statute directs it to act, employing its discretion with the care and impartiality we expect judges to employ."
Because the panel conducted its review appropriately, Friday's written decision stated, the Utah Supreme Court isn't entitled to re-evaluate Gill's original request for a grand jury and make its own separate conclusions.
