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ST. GEORGE — Prosecutors have withdrawn their intent to seek the death penalty for a man charged with slitting a woman's throat in a St. George town house, according to court filings.
Brandon Perry Smith, 34, is charged with aggravated murder in the 2010 slaying of Jerrica Christensen, 20. A second woman, 27-year-old Brandie Sue Dawn Jerden, was also killed, and a man was injured in the incident.
Prosecutors had argued that Smith killed Christensen to keep her from testifying about her friend's death.
Paul Ashton, 34, is serving a sentence of life without parole after pleading guilty in Jerden's death.
Smith has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, and aggravated assault, a third-degree felony. His attorneys, Gary Pendleton and Mary Corporan, said in November they wanted to depose all 29 of Utah's county attorneys to show that the death penalty is unfairly applied in the state.
Prosecutors have asked for a two-week jury trial in the case. Dates for the trial will be scheduled later this year.
