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ST. GEORGE — A defense attorney concerned that publicity might taint a jury pool asked a state judge to bar the public and the press from pre-trial hearings in a double murder case.
Lawyer Aric Cramer represents Paul Clifford Ashton, one of two men charged in the December shooting deaths of Brandie Sue Dawn Jerden, 27, and Jerrica Christensen, 20.
"There is no alternative short of those sought in this motion to preserve Mr. Ashton's right to a fair trial," Cramer wrote in court papers filed this week in 5th District Court.
There is no alternative short of those sought in this motion to preserve Mr. Ashton's right to a fair trial.
–Aric Cramer
Cramer told The Associated Press on Friday he is not seeking to close Ashton's trial.
Washington County prosecutors charged Ashton, 32, with two counts of aggravated murder, a capital offense; attempted murder, a first-degree felony; and drug possession, a third-degree felony. Brandon Perry Smith, 29, is also charged with aggravated murder and aggravated assault, a third-degree felony.
Neither man has entered a plea in their cases, which are being adjudicated separately in the St. George court. If convicted on the aggravated murder charges, both men could face the death penalty.
Ashton and Smith remain jailed at the Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane. Bail is set a $1 million.
Smith's defense attorney, Gary Pendleton, is not seeking to have his case closed.
In court papers, Cramer contends that there is a need to keep sensitive case information, such as inadmissible statements or unreliable or illegally obtained evidence, out of a pending trial and argues that the hearing must be closed in order to keep that information private.
Washington County prosecutors have until Aug. 10 to file a response to Cramer's request. Judge James Shumate is expected to hold a hearing to take arguments on the motions in late September, Cramer said.
St. George police found the Christensen and Jerden bodies in a Main Street apartment on the morning of Dec. 11. A third person, James Fiske, 28, was also shot in the shoulder, but survived. Ashton, who shared an apartment with Jerden, is accused of shooting one of the women and wounding Fiske.
Christensen's mother, Ellen Hensley, has said her daughter was enlisted by Fiske to help move Jerden out of the apartment.
A possible motive for the killings has not been released.
