Man ordered to stand trial in capital case in killing of Santaquin police sergeant

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

Michael Aaron Jayne was ordered to stand trial in the killing of Sgt. Bill Hooser in a written ruling on Monday.
Jayne faces 15 criminal charges including aggravated murder, a capital offense, and two counts of attempted aggravated murder.
His attorneys claim he did not act intentionally, but the judge found there are reasonable inferences that he did. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

PROVO — The man accused of killing Santaquin Police Sgt. Bill Hooser was ordered to stand trial for each of the 15 charges filed against him, including aggravated murder, a capital offense.

On May 5, 2024, Hooser and a Utah Highway Patrol trooper stopped Michael Aaron Jayne, who was driving an 18-wheeler semitruck, and a woman exited the truck and claimed she had been held against her will, based on testimony in the preliminary hearing earlier this year.

As officers were preparing to arrest Jayne, he started driving forward and then turned his semitruck around and drove toward the officers, footage shows.

The Utah County attorney has said he is seeking the death penalty for Jayne.

Fourth District Judge Thomas Low issued the ruling that brings the case one step closer to trial on Monday through a 16-page written order. It cited testimony from the preliminary hearings on Jan. 6 and March 26.

Jayne, 44, will be standing trail on one count of aggravated murder, a capital offense; two counts of attempted aggravated murder and aggravated kidnapping, first-degree felonies; three counts of theft of a vehicle, a second-degree felony; property damage, two counts of failure to stop at the command of police and attempted theft of a firearm or vehicle, third-degree felonies; and misdemeanors of reckless endangerment, possession or use of a controlled substance, driving under the influence.

Jayne's attorneys argued that prosecutors did not provide evidence of his mental state, whether he acted intentionally or knowingly, which is required for being found guilty of aggravated murder or attempted aggravated murder. Instead, his attorneys argued he was having hallucinations and delusions and could not act intentionally or knowingly.

Rudy Bautista said "this was never and is not an intentional murder."

He claimed the collision with Hooser was inevitable after Jayne did a U-turn on the freeway.

Low disagreed, saying there is a "reasonable inference" that Jayne was aware the officers were parked closely behind him and that he was angry with the woman, Christine Hinckley, for speaking to officers and "desired her death."

"Based on Mr. Jayne's reaction of locking his door and starting to drive away when trooper Griffiths asked him to exit his vehicle, there is a reasonable inference that Mr. Jayne was exhibiting a desire to end his cooperation with police. Rather than drive forward and enter I-15 going northbound with traffic, Mr. Jayne made a U-turn back toward the on-ramp, driving into traffic. There is a reasonable inference that this was done for the purpose of hitting and killing the officers and Ms. Hinckley," Low's order said.

He said Jayne jerked his vehicle slightly to the right, tracking the movement of Hooser, as he was driving toward the officer.

In response to six of the criminal charges, Jayne's attorneys argued the 4th District Court does not have jurisdiction to address them. This includes charges based on alleged actions outside of Utah County while Jayne fled from police including stealing trucks, damaging a home, acting recklessly and not stopping for officers.

Low's order said jurisdiction is not a consideration during a preliminary hearing, but that afterward, Jayne's attorneys could file a motion to ask the court to rule on whether they should have been filed elsewhere.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.