The 16-year-old West High student accused of murdering a man Sept. 13 could spend a life term in prison if found guilty.
Prosecutors have charged Justin Kruger in 3rd District Court with one count of murder. He was also charged with four counts of aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony.Kruger is being held at the Salt Lake County Jail.
Prosecutors believe Kruger shot and killed Soloman Garcia-Vasquez during a robbery attempt at a Rose Park intersection. After police arrested the high school sophomore at his Rose Park home, he admitted shooting the man while robbing him, according to the charges. He is being held on $500,000 bail.
Deputy District Attorney Kent Morgan said state law required him to charge Kruger as an adult. First-degree murder suspects older than 14 are automatically tried in district court instead of juvenile court, according to the state's 1996 Serious Youth Offender Law.
The night of the attack, Police found Vasquez, 21, at 1032 W. 600 North shortly after midnight, less than half a block away from where he was shot, said Salt Lake Police Lt. Phil Kirk. Vasquez was unconscious in the driver's seat and his car was in the middle of the road. He had been shot once in the chest. Paramedics transported him to LDS Hospital, where he died in surgery.
Police arrested Kruger and booked him into jail for investigation of capital murder. But prosecutors charged him with the lesser crime of murder.
"We looked at the facts with the police and the death penalty didn't seem to be appropriate in this case," Morgan said.
Kruger doesn't have a history of serious crimes. His only previous crime was a charge in juvenile court for a Parks and Recreation violation when he was 14. He paid a $40 fine.
Prosecutors, however, believe he was involved in at least two other robberies the night of the murder:
- A man and a woman told police they were walking home near 850 N. 900 West when "an individual held them up at gunpoint and demanded that they hand over their money," according to court charges. They protested that they did not have any money and instead gave him a can of beer.
- Another woman told police she and a friend were waiting to use a pay phone at a convenience store, 950 W. 1000 North, when "Kruger held them up at gunpoint and demanded that they hand over their money," the charges state. One of the women laughed at him, but the other woman handed him $5 and he left.
- Four days earlier, prosecutors say a man was driving near 1000 North and 1300 West when Kruger "held him up at gunpoint and demanded that he hand over his wallet," the charges state. The driver complied and Kruger allegedly fled with the man's wallet, containing credit cards and about $13.
- On July 27, a clerk at 7-Eleven, 515 N. 300 West, was held up at gunpoint by Kruger, the charges state. The robber fled with about $150.
Kruger has admitted to the four robberies, the charges state.