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OGDEN — A possible plea deal is being discussed for a 16-year-old girl facing two counts of murder after police say she deliberately crashed into another vehicle in a suicide attempt, killing two people.
Tara Isaacson, one of Marilee Gardner's attorneys, confirmed Thursday that conversations are ongoing with prosecutors about possibly resolving the case.
Part of that consideration, Isaacson said, is Gardner's age. Though charged as an adult, Gardner is allowed to remain in a juvenile facility while the case is litigated.
"I think that's the right place for her. I mean, she's still really young," Isaacson said. "We'd like to see her stay in that facility as long as possible. … That's the discussion that we're in right now is just trying to figure out how we would resolve this long term, so we've got to see if we can figure that out."
A hearing for Gardner had been scheduled for Wednesday. She returns to court March 1.
Police say Gardner stole a Chevy Tahoe from her parents' home in Layton on June 29. She later told officers she had been on her way to meet a 17-year-old friend in Roy and was planning on "purchasing drugs, taking the drugs and then crashing her mother's car with both of them inside in an attempt to kill themselves," charging documents state.
She was fleeing from an officer who tried to pull her over when she slammed into the back of another car while going almost 100 mph, killing the occupants of the other vehicle, 20-year-old Maddison Haan, of West Point, and 19-year-old Tyler Christianson, of Ogden. The crash occurred about 1:10 a.m. on June 30 in Roy near the intersection of 3500 West and 6000 South.
Gardner, who had turned 16 almost three months before the crash, is charged as an adult under Utah statute which specifies that murder charges for juveniles who are 16 or 17 years old are directly filed into district court. Murder charges against a juvenile who is 15 years old or younger must be filed in juvenile court.
Gardner's attorneys argued unsuccessfully in September to move the case into the juvenile system.
