Man accused of killing Utah police officer with semitruck pleads not guilty
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Emily Ashcraft, KSL
PROVO, Utah (KSL) — A man who could be facing the death penalty after being accused of killing a Santaquin Police officer said he was innocent after his attorney said he pleaded not guilty to each of the charges against him.
“I’m innocent of the capital case that the state’s trying to kill an innocent man on,” Jayne said during a hearing on Friday.
Although Jayne did not voice the not-guilty pleas himself, he made multiple comments during the hearing, including a complaint that his hearing was held virtually on WebEx, where he couldn’t talk to his attorneys.
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“I don’t appreciate the court holding these proceedings by Webex on a critical stage of me being arraigned on a capital murder case,” he said.
Fourth District Judge Thomas Low said he would likely grant each request to have a hearing held in person. At this hearing, which had not received a request to be held in person, each attorney attended online, and Jayne attended from the Utah County Jail.
Jayne called the remote hearing a “flagrant 6th Amendment violation,” which he said is “the status quo in Utah County.” He also said his attorney, Rudy Bautista, still has not received any money for representing him and because of that he should not be blamed for any delays.
Bautista did not comment on the virtual hearing, but he said that he has recently reached a new contract with Utah County that should address the problem. Utah County agreed last week to pay $1.8 million towards Jayne’s defense, settling a lawsuit he filed claiming the lack of funding for his defense was violating his rights as a defendant.
Jayne, 44, of Garrett, Indiana, is accused of killing Santaquin Police Sgt. Bill 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.
He is charged with 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 and driving under the influence.
Low is now considering a motion from Jayne’s attorneys to reverse the ruling ordering Jayne to stand trial on five of his charges. The motion also said Jayne planned to argue separately that the court does not have jurisdiction for six of the charges, relating to actions alleged to have occurred outside of Utah County.
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Jayne’s attorneys argued that the judge relied on a “chain of inferences” to make his decision. Their motion said the judge found Jayne had a “desire to kill” despite a witness stating that he did not in her testimony at the preliminary hearing.
Deputy Utah County attorney Chad Grunander argued that Low’s order for Jayne to stand trial was beyond what would be legally required. He said the ruling is “firmly rooted in the evidence” and “very sound.”
He said the evidence in the case is “devastating to the defendant’s guilt.”
The attorneys were also scheduled Friday to present oral arguments on a motion to remove the Utah County Attorney’s Office from the case. His attorneys said in their motion that since Jayne is also charged with stalking them and their families they should not prosecute the case. Bautista asked for more time so he could submit an opinion letter from an ethics and criminal law professor.
A hearing was scheduled on Dec. 1 to address that motion. Low also said he will look for possible trial dates ahead of that hearing.
Prosecutors said they believed they would need 11 weeks for the trial, while Jayne’s attorneys said they thought the trial would take 14 or 15 weeks.