OGDEN — While a defense attorney was able to get gang enhancements deleted from charges against three people accused in a Christmas Day 2020 fatal shooting, one of the defendants now faces potential harsher punishment as a habitual violent offender.

A deputy Weber County attorney, Branden Miles, agreed in 2nd District Court on Wednesday with a motion by defense attorney Randall Marshall that challenged the gang enhancements against Liam Gale, Rayburn Bennett Jr. and Brittany Ann Rogers.

The three are charged in the death of Trevor Anthony Martin in Riverdale. Charging documents allege the two men barged into Martin’s trailer, fatally shot him and severely wounded his girlfriend, while Rogers allegedly waited outside.

Marshall’s motion pointed out that the Utah Legislature changed the gang enhancement provision in 2021 to specify that an upgraded change can be filed against a suspect if three alleged accomplices were involved. The old law said only two accomplices need be involved to justify a gang enhancement.

Miles told Judge Camille Neider that prosecutors consulted the Utah Attorney General’s Office on the matter and agreed with Marshall’s motion. As a result, Miles filed amended charges against the three, changing some charges from first-degree to second-degree felonies. First-degree felonies draw longer potential prison sentences.

All three are charged with aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, aggravated assault and obstructing justice. The two men are charged with aggravated murder and Rogers is charged with murder, a non-death-penalty offense. Gale also faces two weapons charges.

Meanwhile, Miles said the amended charges against Gale now include enhancements for his alleged status as a habitual violent offender. State law allows the enhancement if a suspect has been convicted and sent to prison on two or more violent felonies previously.

Court records show Gale had a pair of convictions in 2015, one for robbery and the other for attempted aggravated robbery.

A defendant convicted of being a habitual violent offender is sentenced at the first-degree felony level if he is charged with a second- or third-degree felony. If the charge is a first-degree felony, the person convicted cannot be put on probation, and the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole is required to consider the habitual offender status as an aggravating factor in the determination of parole dates.

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