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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Intent of the assailants who killed a youth treatment facility counselor with a baseball bat should be determined by a jury, prosecutors argued before the Utah Supreme Court.
The high court on Wednesday took under advisement the arguments over whether charges against one defendant should be capital murder.
Jesse Simmons of Wilmington, Del., and Sean Graham of Rockville, Md., both 17 at the time, were accused in the March 8, 2004, death of Anson Arnett, 31, a counselor at the Maximum Life Skills Academy in Cedar City.
Simmons pleaded guilty to first-degree felony murder and was sentenced to five years to life in prison.
Fifth District Judge G. Michael Westfall reduced the charge against Graham from capital murder to first-degree felony murder.
Attorney David Kindopp asked the high court to uphold Westfall's ruling.
Assistant Attorney General Laura Dupaix argued that it was clear both Graham and Simmons intended to kill Arnett before they fled from the group home.
"When the victim fell to the floor, they kept their cool and took his keys," Dupaix said. "They knew he was seriously injured because of the convulsions."
The two locked the counselor in a closet and cut the phone lines to ensure Arnett would not be able to get help, Dupaix said. Any questions about intent should be left to a jury to decide, she said.
Kindopp argued that the state cannot show that Graham had the intent required by law to be charged with capital murder, which carries a possible death penalty.
In his ruling reducing the capital homicide, Westfall said that preliminary hearing testimony indicated Graham did not intend to kill Arnett, just incapacitate him so he could not escape.
Westfall also said the choice of weapon did not clearly indicate intent to kill because a baseball bat is not an inherently dangerous weapon.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
