An inmate has pleaded not guilty to a capital aggravated assault charge filed after a correctional officer here was attacked in October.
Gary Wayne Simmons, who entered the plea Wednesday in 5th District Court, is charged under a little-used statute enacted in 1974.It allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty for inmates convicted of first-degree felonies if they assault anyone in prison and intended to cause bodily harm.
Simmons is accused of assaulting correctional officer Hank Armbruster on Oct. 26.
The law is being challenged by Simmons' attorney, Steve McCaughey, and Salt Lake attorney Ron Yengich, who is defending Utah Prison inmate Ronnie Lee Gardner on a similar charge.
Gardner is on death row after killing a lawyer and injuring a bailiff during a 1985 escape attempt from the Metropolitan Hall of Justice in Salt Lake City. The most recent charge was filed against him following an attack on a fellow inmate at the prison.
"Our challenge is based on it being improper to impose the death penalty when nobody was killed," McCaughey said.
He said he would take the case to the Utah Supreme Court, if necessary, to determine whether the statute used to charge Simmons and Gardner is constitutional.
Simmons is serving 10 years to life for a 1992 aggravated kidnapping conviction in Weber County.