A Midvale woman and her boyfriend are accused of killing the woman’s husband and then driving up from Salt Lake County to dump his body in Browns Canyon this spring.
The Summit County Attorney’s Office charged them both with murder in April.
But on the heels of the high-profile Kouri Richins trial, which required millions in county resources, a longtime county councilmember asked whether local taxpayers should foot the bill.
Roger Armstrong raised the issue at the council’s May 6 meeting, noting that as a “first-class county,” Salt Lake County is more populous and its budget is bigger. With 43,000 people, Summit County is a third-class county.
“Why is a third-class county covering a first-class county murder with our third-class county budget?” Armstrong said.
Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson said the reason her office took the case is because the Summit County Sheriff’s Office investigated it.
“When a case involves multiple offenses occurring in multiple counties, the prosecutor’s office that has a habitual working relationship with the law enforcement agency that investigated the case most often prosecutes the case,” Olson told KPCW. “Utah law provides for this practice because it best serves the interests of justice.”
She also called the relationship between her office and the county sheriff’s office “strong and irreplaceable.” If the cases go to trial, it’s likely prosecutors will call Summit County deputies as witnesses.
The two people accused in the Browns Canyon case can’t afford their own attorneys, so Summit County is paying their public defenders.
During the county council discussion May 6, Deputy County Manager Janna Young told Armstrong that murder cases require two attorneys per defendant. So the county brought in extra help.
“But we have been very diligent in putting caps … about what they can spend on experts and on their time within that contract, so there are limitations,” Young said.
The topic of public defense came up at the council meeting since Richins, a Kamas-area mother of three, had just been convicted of killing her husband in 2022.
May 13, a 3rd District Court judge sentenced her to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The county spent more than $1 million on Richins’ defense attorneys. It has applied for a state government program to cover the future costs of her expected appeal.
Summit County is a financial supporter of KPCW.
