The 20-year-old Cuevas-Landa’s sentencing had been scheduled to occur Monday morning, but Judge Michael Edwards called off the proceeding after defense attorney Ronald Fujino filed a motion to postpone the sentencing, or in the alternative to withdraw the guilty plea to first-degree felony murder.

Fujino said a psychologist’s report received this weekend included new statements attributed to Cuevas-Landa, such as, “I assumed she wanted to kill me and had a gun … I was too scared and paranoid … I honestly thought she was going to shoot me.”

Shilo Marie Stewart, 34, of Fruit Heights, gave Cuevas-Landa a ride on Aug. 16, 2020, according to Stewart family members and charging documents. Soon, she was dead on I-15 and Cuevas-Landa was arrested in Farmington, shirtless, bloody and missing a shoe. He told police he had taken LSD and smoked marijuana, the arrest affidavit said.

The West Valley City man told police Stewart “looked at him wrong” and he pulled a knife and stabbed her multiple times, the arrest affidavit said. Cuevas-Landa then unbuckled her seat belt and pushed her out of the vehicle, the charging documents said.

Cuevas-Landa pleaded guilty as charged on Sept. 20. The murder charge carries a sentence of 15 years to life in prison.

But in his motion dated Sunday, Fujino said the psychologist’s report should be considered “newly discovered evidence.”

“Obviously, a reduction of his conviction from murder to manslaughter takes the current sentencing proceeding out of a perfunctory imposition of a 15 year prison sentence,” Fujino wrote. “A self-defense claim may also exist.”

Fujino said the new information may indicate Cuevas-Landa may have a right to withdraw his plea, because guilty pleas are only accepted under state law if the plea is made “knowingly and voluntarily” and with “sufficient awareness of the relevant circumstances and likely consequences” of the guilty plea.

Fujino also asked the judge to seal the psychologist’s report. “Such documents are confidential and, like other protected documents under HIPAA, should not be publicly accessible,” Fujino said.

Efforts to contact Nathan Lyon, the deputy Davis County attorney prosecuting the case, were not immediately successful. After Cuevas-Landa pleaded guilty in September, Lyon said, “The crime was pretty horrific, heartbreaking and violent and there was simply going to be no plea bargain.”

Edwards set another hearing in the case for Dec. 20.