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SARATOGA SPRINGS — A memorial sits along Redwood Road and Harvest Hills Boulevard in Saratoga Springs — a signed jersey and a bouquet remembering 16-year-old Ammon Blake.
On Friday, March 24, a Utah County jury decided Daniel Stanislav MacBeth, 29, was guilty of manslaughter, a second-degree felony, for causing the crash that killed Blake in May 2021.
Blake, a student at Westlake High School, was driving home from the gym and making a left turn at the intersection of Redwood Road and Harvest Hills Boulevard when a car driven by MacBeth sped through the intersection, pushing Blake's car off the road and into a rock retaining wall, according to testimony at trial.
The jury trial for MacBeth began on March 20 and the jury reached its verdict on Friday after multiple days of testimony from witnesses and officers.
MacBeth, of Sandy, was charged in November 2021 and accused of running a red light before hitting Blake's car — while driving under the influence and on a revoked license.
He pleaded guilty on March 1 to driving with a measurable controlled substance in the body, being an alcohol restricted-driver, class B misdemeanors; and driving on a suspended or revoked license, a class C misdemeanor. In the plea, MacBeth admitted to driving a vehicle with a "measurable amount of benzoylecgonine," which indicates recent cocaine use.
At the trial, his attorney Benjamin Aldana argued MacBeth's actions were not "reckless," a standard that needed to be proven by prosecutors to justify the manslaughter charge.
Deputy Utah County attorney Sandi Johnson argued MacBeth's speed, between 84 and 99 mph, along with reports of MacBeth's driving before the accident, meet the requirements for recklessness. Multiple people testified they noticed him moving faster than traffic or speeding toward a yellow or red light.
Shortly before the crash, an off-duty officer saw MacBeth tailing him, and later accelerating significantly as he drove past.
The date of MacBeth's sentencing has not yet been set.
