HEBER CITY -- A Heber man was found guilty of negligent homicide Thursday in connection with the 1998 shooting death of his best friend.
But Jason Westergard, 31, did not intend to kill William J. Miller, nor did Westergard act recklessly, a Wasatch County jury found. Prosecutors had asked the jury to convict Westergard of murder, a first-degree felony, or manslaughter, a second-degree felony.Instead, the four-man, four-woman jury found Westergard guilty only of the class A misdemeanor, ruling that he acted with criminal negligence in causing Miller's death. Miller was shot once in the head June 27, 1998, while conversing with Westergard in a Heber City apartment.
Westergard contended that Miller put the gun to his own head, and it went off when Westergard tried to wrest it from Miller's hands. Prosecutors said it was more likely Westergard held the gun when it went off because forensic tests showed little sign of blood on Miller's left hand, which Westergard said held the derringer when it fired.
Jurors deliberated nearly seven hours Thursday before issuing the verdict.
"Murder in the state of Utah is more than acting stupid," defense attorney Ron Yengich told jurors in closing arguments. "This was an accident."
Yengich argued that Miller and Westergard, both of whom had been drinking heavily for two days prior to the shooting, regularly engaged in horseplay with firearms. As they talked in the kitchen just before Miller was shot, Westergard said he was despondent over marital problems and talked about suicide, Yengich said.
Westergard told police that Miller put the gun to his own head and said, "Buddy, I'll go before you." When Westergard tried to stop him, the gun went off, Westergard said.
Wasatch County Attorney Derek Pullan told jurors that Westergard became upset earlier that evening when police confiscated $500 worth of fireworks and alcohol. After that, Westergard told two women in the apartment, "Someone or something is going to die tonight," Pullan said.
Pullan said Westergard was seen pointing the derringer at his dog's head and had indicated he was "ready to shoot it out with police." The woman who lived in the apartment feared for her safety and locked herself and her child in a bedroom to get away from Westergard, Pullan said.
"At some point he stops caring about his own life and the safety of those around him," Pullan said.
Three women who had been in the apartment with Westergard and Miller were outside when the shooting happened. When they came back in, Westergard told one of them Miller had shot himself.
But later, Westergard told a Wasatch County jailer, "I shouldn't have shot him. I should have just kicked his a--."
Yengich called the prosecution's case speculative. He admitted to jurors that facts about what happened in the kitchen were sketchy because there were no eyewitnesses, but he said prosecutors did not meet the burden of proving Westergard's guilt.
No sentencing date has been set. Westergard could face one year in jail.