Jury returns guilty verdict for Salem man charged with murder

Jury returns guilty verdict for Salem man charged with murder

(Utah County Jail)


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PROVO — After deliberating for about eight hours, a jury found a Salem man guilty of murder Friday night in the shooting death of his wife.

Tracy Scott, 48, was charged with murder, a first-degree felony, in the March 23, 2013, death of Teresa Scott. The jury began deliberating around noon Friday, which marked the fifth day of trial.

At about 5:30 p.m., the jury said it was "at an absolute impasse," but 4th District Judge David Mortensen asked the jury to take more time to consider the case, according to Tracy Scott's attorney, Richard Gale.

The jury reached the verdict about 8:30 p.m.

Gale said he was aiming for a conviction of manslaughter under extreme emotional distress but that the eventual verdict was no surprise.

"We're disappointed because I thought that there was a lot of emotion involved," Gale said. "I think when somebody takes somebody else's life under a lot of stress and emotion, it shouldn't be the same as when somebody does it when they're in their right mind. But we were prepared for this and understood that it was a possibility."

In a 911 call, the caller identified himself as Tracy Scott and admitted to shooting his wife.

"She was going to take a picture of me, and it just went off," he said in the emergency call.

Police officers testified that when they responded to the area, a man's voice yelled at them from down the street.

"I just shot my wife. She's dead," Salem police officer Roger Lowe recalled the man saying.

The man then closed the door and went back inside but was compliant when he was asked to come back outside. Lowe testified that Tracy Scott put his hands up, knelt down and got in the prone position.

When backup officers arrived, the man began "crying uncontrollably," Lowe testified.

Salem police officer Austin Cobbley, who knows Tracy Scott, said the man told him, "I just snapped."

A pistol was found on the floor in the entrance of the couple's Salem house at 445 E. 300 South. Officers found Teresa Scott, 45, sitting up in her bed with her crocheting or knitting still in her lap.

After checking for a pulse and breathing, police determined she was dead.

A medical examiner determined Teresa Scott was shot three times, with the fatal bullet entering through her chest.

Tracy Scott will be sentenced Oct. 7.

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