IAPE Evidence Blog

The Asso­ci­ated Press, The Salt Lake Tri­bune, KSL Broad­cast­ing
Link to Article

Moab, UT

MOAB, Utah (AP) — A 43-year-old for­mer Utah police offi­cer has been sen­tenced to 30 days in jail for steal­ing $900 from his department’s under­cover drug account.

Edward Arvel Guer­rero was sen­tenced Tues­day in Moab’s 7th Dis­trict Court. A judge ordered him to begin serv­ing his sen­tence Saturday.

Guer­rero also has to pay $958 in fines and will spend the next two years on probation.

Guer­rero pleaded guilty in May to mis­de­meanor theft, and pros­e­cu­tors agreed to drop a felony bur­glary charge.

He was accused of break­ing into the Moab Police Depart­ment and steal­ing the money some­time between Aug. 15 and Oct. 6 of last year. Author­i­ties say the money was intended for mak­ing under­cover drug buys. 

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org

The Salt Lake Tri­bune
By Nate Carlisle
Link to Arti­cle

Salt Lake City, UT

But ex-BYU stu­dent must say why and how he killed classmate.

The man accused of mur­der­ing a Brigham Young Uni­ver­sity stu­dent in 1974 is “very likely” to plead guilty in the case, one of his lawyers said Tuesday.

One agree­ment under dis­cus­sion also would require the defen­dant, Ger­ald W. Hicker, explain how and why he killed 21-year-old Bar­bara Jean Rocky.

“There’s a pos­si­bil­ity at this point he is going to plead,” said Deputy Salt Lake County Dis­trict Attor­ney Vince Meis­ter. “What we’re talk­ing about as part of that plea is he will allocute.”

One of Hicker’s defense attor­neys, McCaye Chris­tian­son, said it is “very likely” her client will plead guilty. She did not say to what charge. Hicker is charged in 3rd Dis­trict Court in Salt Lake City with mur­der in the first degree, a cap­i­tal crime.

Hicker, 58, on Mon­day waived the remain­der of his pre­lim­i­nary hear­ing, essen­tially con­ced­ing there is enough evi­dence to pro­ceed to trial. Hicker is accused of shoot­ing and killing Rocky on March 11, 1974, in Big Cot­ton­wood Canyon. A util­ity worker found her naked body the next day.

No arrests were made until 2007, when re-tested evi­dence allegedly found a trace of Hicker’s DNA, plac­ing him at the crime scene. Wit­ness tes­ti­mony at a pre­lim­i­nary hear­ing ear­lier this year claimed Hicker, who was a BYU class­mate of Rocky at the time, dis­cussed set­ting up Rocky for a rob­bery because she roman­ti­cally rejected Hicker. A wit­ness also said Hicker knew how many times Rocky was shot with a pistol.

Hicker is sched­uled for arraign­ment Aug. 31. He has been in the Salt Lake County jail since his arrest in Novem­ber 2007.

ncarlisle@sltrib.com

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org

The Asso­ci­ated Press State and Local Wire

Salt Lake City, UT

A Utah man con­victed of ille­gally pos­sess­ing dozens of rub­ber boa snakes can’t sue author­i­ties over the death of almost all of them while they were in state cus­tody.  The Utah Supreme Court ruled Fri­day the Utah Divi­sion of Wildlife Resources is immune from claims of negligence. 

Ryan Hoyer, a 35-year-old Clearfield accoun­tant, says the DWR kept the 65 rub­ber boas in an evi­dence room where all but three died of dehy­dra­tion or star­va­tion. Hoyer, who was fined $800 in Oper­a­tion Slither, says he’s dis­ap­pointed that he can’t hold author­i­ties account­able for their “ter­ri­ble care.”

The court rejected Hoyer’s argu­ment that author­i­ties will­fully let the snakes die. A spokesman for DWR, an agency that is closed on Fri­days, didn’t imme­di­ately return a mes­sage from The Asso­ci­ated Press.

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Inter­na­tional Asso­ci­a­tion for Prop­erty and Evi­dence
“Law Enforce­ment Serv­ing the Needs of Law Enforce­ment”
www.IAPE.org