Death penalty on the table / Confessed killer of Ogden prostitutes in fight for his life
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No Comments [ Add Comment ]By TIM GURRISTER
Standard-Examiner staff
tgurrister@standard.net
OGDEN -- Prosecutors have told a 2nd District Court judge and the defense they intend to seek the death penalty against Jacob Ethridge in the July shooting of two woman in downtown Ogden.
"This changes the face of the case significantly," Ethridge's public defender, Roy Cole, said Thursday. "The fight changes now. ... It's a fight for his life."
Prosecutors, in a telephone conference Wednesday with Judge W. Brent West and Cole, indicated the formal papers to upgrade the charges against Ethridge from murder to aggravated murder would be filed shortly.
West set a status conference for Oct. 15, canceling an Oct. 24 date because of scheduling conflicts.
Cole said he hadn't seen the formal notice of intent to pursue the death penalty but said, "Supposedly, they are going to file it Wednesday."
Weber County Attorney Mark DeCaria said neither he nor anyone in his office would comment.
"We haven't filed yet, so no comment," he said. "It would be unethical of me to comment at this time on something we haven't filed."
Cole said he anticipates two more public defenders will have to be added to the defense team.
"This makes the case much harder, more complicated. We're going to have to have a team appointed instead of just me.
"There are standard motions that have to be filed ... such as constitutional challenges to the death penalty itself."
Ethridge was found competent to stand trial last month after two psychological examinations.
Ethridge, 31, of Harrisville, was arrested hours after the July 13 shootings. Police said he confessed to both his parents and detectives that he killed Teresa Rene Tingey, 43, and Rosanna Marie Cruz, 25.
Police say Ethridge went to Adams Avenue in Ogden and, in separate incidents, approached the two women, who worked as prostitutes, asked them for sex, then shot them with a .40-caliber handgun.
Ethridge then went to his parents' Roy home, where he was living, and told his mother and father what he had done. They went with him to the Ogden Police Department.
In 2006, two days before Christmas, police responded to Ethridge's Harrisville home and found him in the front yard, holding a gun to his head after threatening his wife, whom he has since divorced.
He surrendered to police and was booked briefly into a mental health ward at McKay-Dee Hospital Center before serving three days in jail on a charge of domestic violence disorderly conduct.
Earlier that same year, Ethridge was briefly hospitalized after a suicide attempt in which he slashed his wrists, Harrisville police say.
The Ethridge case will be the second active one in Weber County in which prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Last year, in the first death penalty case in Weber County since 2001, prosecutors filed aggravated murder charges against Riqo Perea in a shooting that killed two people. Perea's trial is scheduled to begin in January.
Death penalty facts
Utah's capital homicide statute lists factors in 21 categories under which prosecutors may file aggravated murder charges.
They include:
* The killing of two or more people, or taking the life of a police officer, judge, prosecutor, juror, other court official or a firefighter.
* The killing of a public official, or a candidate, if the homicide is related to the victim's official capacity.
* A killing to prevent an arrest, stop a witness from testifying or to escape from official custody.
* Any homicide while incarcerated or against a victim under the age of 14.
Source: AdministrativeOffice of the Courts
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