Utah County reaches settlement in lawsuit filed by man charged with capital murder

PROVO — Attorneys representing Michael Jayne in a lawsuit seeking more funds for his defense said they reached a settlement with Utah County on Friday.

Utah County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in a case against Jayne, 44, who is accused of hitting and killing Santaquin Police Sgt. Bill Hooser. He is charged with aggravated murder, a capital offense.

Jayne filed a lawsuit in April claiming his defense was compromised because it did not have the funding needed for a death penalty case. He compared the money for his case — a $200,000 cap on attorneys' fees, with $140,000 for other expenses — with the $1 million initially approved for Tyler Robinson's defense.

Jayne, 44, of Garrett, Indiana, is accused of killing Hooser on May 5, 2024. He left a traffic stop in a semitruck he was driving, flipped around on I-15's northbound lanes near Santaquin and drove into Hooser, according to charging documents. His attorneys claim Jayne did not see Hooser and did not intentionally kill the sergeant.

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