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PROVO — With the Utah Supreme Court’s reversal of the murder conviction of a woman who drove a getaway car after her boyfriend shot and killed a sheriff’s sergeant, the Utah County Attorney’s Office is deliberating whether to prosecute her case a second time.
Utah County Attorney David Leavitt said Monday he plans to “carry out this decision and every other duty with deliberate thoughtfulness, sound judgment and a reasoned approach,” according to a news release.
Meagan Grunwald was 17 years old in 2014 when she and her boyfriend, Angel Garcia-Juaregui, 27, encountered Utah County Sheriff’s Sgt. Cory Wride. Wride had pulled over to check on Grunwald’s stopped truck, which was stopped on the side of a road in Eagle Mountain. As the sergeant sat in his parked patrol vehicle, Garcia-Juaregui shot and killed him and the pair fled.
After a chase that included Garcia-Juaregui shooting and wounding another deputy, Garcia-Juaregui was killed in a shootout with police in Juab County. While Grunwald didn’t fire a shot that day, she was charged with aggravated murder in Wride’s death and a jury found her equally liable as an accomplice to the crimes of her boyfriend.
In a decision released Friday, the court found that a jury might not have convicted Grunwald had it not been for faulty instructions they received, saying “our confidence in the guilty verdict is undermined.”
Related:
Utah Supreme Court overturns murder conviction for girlfriend of man who shot, killed sergeant
Meagan Grunwald did not fire a shot the day of Sgt. Cory Wride’s death but had been found equally liable as an accomplice.Leavitt, who is in his first term in office, said, “This case was tried before my election to this office, and I want to assure all that I feel keenly the responsibility to review the facts and balance the rights of the accused and the victims as we determine appropriate action.”
Leavitt learned of the decision to overturn Grunwald’s conviction late Friday and said his office is currently reviewing the opinion from the Utah Supreme Court.
He said a group of attorneys will screen the case and look at the investigation and evidence provided by law enforcement. After that, a recommendation will be made.
“I will review the screening division’s findings and make a final determination,” Leavitt said, adding that his decision would not be “reactive ... pressured, bullied or based on emotion.”
I want to assure (Wride’s widow, Nanette Wride-Zeeman), we take this responsibility seriously. I also want to recognize the heightened emotions for the brotherhood that exists in law enforcement.
–Utah County Attorney David Leavitt
Leavitt acknowledged the “renewed pain” of Wride’s widow, Nanette Wride-Zeeman. After the court’s decision was released Friday, Wride-Zeeman told KSL she feels “completely betrayed by a system my husband believed in.”
“I want to assure her, we take this responsibility seriously,” Leavitt said in his statement. “I also want to recognize the heightened emotions for the brotherhood that exists in law enforcement. We understand their reaction to the loss of Sgt. Cory Wride and to the Supreme Court’s decision.”
In 2018, the Utah Court of Appeals tossed Grunwald’s conviction for attempted murder of Utah County sheriff’s deputy Greg Sherwood, who survived after Garcia-Juaregui shot him in the head when he pursued the truck. The court upheld Grunwald’s convictions of aggravated murder and aggravated robbery, and she appealed to the Supreme Court.
Grunwald has been incarcerated at the Utah State Prison since 2015.
