Jury finds man who killed Eagle Mountain boys guilty of murder

PROVO — A jury found a man who killed two 3-year-old Eagle Mountain boys guilty of murder. The group of three women and five men found he acted with depraved indifference and rejected options for a lesser conviction.

Jurors weighed the case for about nine hours. They began deliberations about 10:35 a.m. Friday and reached a verdict by 7:45 p.m.

Kent Cody Barlow was driving over 120 mph on Tiffany Lane in Eagle Mountain when he hit a bump, lost control, crashed through multiple fences and knocked down supports for horse stalls, according to witnesses who testified over the six days of evidence in the trial. The crash killed the two friends, Odin Ratliff and Hunter Jackson.

Relief

As the verdict was read, multiple parents and grandparents of the two boys let out quiet gasps of relief that were hard to hold in. In the hallways afterward, they hugged each other and members of the prosecution team.

Brooke Jackson, Hunter's mom, said it was a relief to finally hear the boys' names alongside guilty verdicts.

"They finally got their justice after three years," she said.

She said her family can finally move forward and won't have to try to bury their pain and be strong for others — "It's OK to say their names."

Odin's mother, Theresa Ratliff, said it was stressful waiting for the jury throughout the day, but she was grateful the jury took their role seriously.

"Hearing the words guilty of depraved indifference murder is what we've been fighting for. That's what we got because that is what he is guilty of," she said.

She expressed gratitude for the prosecution team and family and friends they have leaned on throughout the process. Theresa Ratliff said the three-year process of the case has felt like both a lifetime and no time; some days, she is "writhing in pain" while other days she doesn't believe she lost her son.

"I'm happy for this chapter of closure to start because now I can do more to celebrate him rather than feeling like I have to hold it in," she said.

Barlow, 28, was found guilty of two counts of depraved indifference murder, a first-degree felony, and possession or use of a controlled substance, a class A misdemeanor. In order to be found guilty of depraved indifference murder, as charged, the jury would needed to determine prosecutors proved Barlow knew that what he was doing created a high likelihood that someone would be killed, but ignored the risk.

He will be sentenced on June 30, and Theresa Ratliff said she hopes he serves the maximum amount of time.

"He took two lives; they were 3 years old. He should serve two full life sentences because that is what they would have lived if they wouldn't have died," she said.

'Signs of life'

In his closing arguments, deputy Utah County attorney Michael Starrs said Cedar Valley Stables was "bustling with life" the evening of May 2, 2022 — including Hunter and Odin, who were chasing cats, grabbing chicken eggs and playing with toy trucks in a place where they should have been safe.

"The signs of life were there; the signs of life were ignored. The signs of life were obvious; they weren't hidden, they weren't concealed. We know that Kent Barlow would have seen all those cars," he said.

He said Barlow turned around and "gunned it," pointing his car toward the stables. He said Barlow is not charged with knowingly killing the boys, but with "depraved indifference murder," arguing it does not matter if Barlow saw the boys — he knew his actions were dangerous.

Starrs said depraved indifference is shown by Barlow going 120 mph on a 45 mph street, ignoring his passengers "begging him, pleading him, stop, stop," and causing danger to other drivers on the road who testified in the trial.

Starrs claimed Barlow was focused on his task of seeing how fast he could drive.

"Trust him when he says that he knows what he's doing — 'Let's race.' 'Let's see how far this car can go,'" the attorney said.

He said Barlow was not so intoxicated he didn't understand what he was doing, citing a previous 2019 conviction he was still under probation for after traveling 107 mph in a populated area while having meth in his backpack. A judge warned him that his actions were dangerous and could have resulted in deaths. Starrs asked the jury to consider how large the zone of destruction was in front of Barlow on that fateful day when Hunter and Odin were killed.

Square peg in a round hole

Barlow's attorney, Justin Morrison, told the jurors their job is to find Barlow guilty of a homicide, but they need to consider which degree. He said prosecutors were "trying to force a square peg into a round hole" by pushing for murder convictions and "doing violence to the truth."

Morrison said Barlow was not acting like he didn't care who lived or died, or with depraved indifference.

"He would have to have been cold and depraved. My client got high and he was having too good a time, but he wasn't a cold-blooded killer," Morrison said.

He argued the facts of the case fit automobile homicide "like a glove," which requires negligent action. He said manslaughter, requiring reckless action, fits the case too, but not as cleanly as automobile homicide.

"The state is overreaching. They are not content to let the facts just speak for themselves. ... He hit a bump and that caused the car to lose control," he said.

Morrison said everyone feels outrage for the boys' deaths, but that should not cloud the truth. He told the jury that justice does not change reality; it demands truth rather than exaggeration. He said murder convictions in this case would be "vengeance disguised as justice."

"Don't let the government's overreach twist this case into something that it's not. … Hold him accountable for what he actually did, that's what the law requires," he said.

'He didn't care'

Deputy Utah County attorney Ryan McBride responded to Morrison's analogy and said the murder charge does fit. He said negligence is not yielding at a yellow light, and recklessness would be weaving through traffic, but what happened in this case is "a far cry from any of that."

"The defendant could see the risk a mile away. ... He accepted the risk when he pushed the launch button, when he put his foot on that pedal and floored it. … He knew of the risk when he floored it and went straight toward Cedar Valley Stables," McBride said.

He said the law did not require Barlow to see the boys but to see the risks he caused. He said Barlow had driven past Cedar Valley Stables three other times that day. He also said passengers in the car could see the risks Barlow was causing, and they asked him to stop at least 11 times.

"He made a decision, he made a decision to use meth and drive at insane rates of speed, nearly killing many people that day. ... It's not that he didn't know; it's that he didn't care," McBride said.

In an interview, McBride said the families of Hunter and Odin are "wonderful, strong people."

"It's our pleasure and our privilege to try to bring justice in some measure to them," he said.

Barlow's attorney declined to comment following the verdict.

Related topics