PROVO — A judge scheduled a preliminary hearing next year during court proceedings Tuesday for the man accused of a shooting and killing a Provo man and woman outside an Orem greenhouse last summer.
Both the prosecution and defense told 4th District Judge Steven Hansen that they plan to call witnesses during the preliminary hearing for Seth Rollins Broomhead, 20, of Riverton.
Hansen scheduled two days for the hearing, April 7 and 8.
Broomhead has been held without bail since he was charged Oct. 27 with two counts of capital murder. Hansen said he would review a motion for reduced bail and determine whether to officially appoint public defenders to represent Broomhead at a hearing on Jan. 6.
Hansen conditionally appointed public defenders Tom Means and Richard Gale to represent Broomhead after he told Hansen he could not afford to pay for his own defense. Hansen has been concerned that Means and Gale carried to large a caseload at the Utah County Defenders Association to provide an adequate defense under Utah law.
Means is the executive director of the association, which contracts with the county to represent poor defendants. He told Hansen Tuesday that the Utah County Commission had made a decision on funding for Broomhead's defense that would reduce the caseload in his office but that he still has not seen the 2004 budget for the Utah County Public Defenders Association or the county's proposed contract for representing Broomhead.
The contract is expected to be in excess of $100,000.
Hansen ordered Means and Gale to continue their conditional representation of Broomhead since Means and Utah County Deputy Attorney Sherry Ragan said they were comfortable with the arrangement.
"We're continuing to work on the case with investigators," Means said. "We're just going to proceed without any delay whatsoever."
Broomhead could face the death penalty if convicted in the shooting deaths of Maritza Aguilar and Pablo Montoya. Montoya and Aguilar died June 13, each shot once in the head. Montoya, who was 20, was found the following morning a few feet away from Aguilar, 22, who was sitting in her Honda Civic.
Police said Broomhead called Aguilar the day she died and asked for drugs. According to court documents, police said Broomhead confessed to the killings.
Means said he looks forward to the preliminary hearing.
"I've reviewed all the evidence the state has given me so far," he said. "It has raised some questions for our investigators. The defense might want to take a day or maybe more during the preliminary hearing to call some witnesses ourselves."
Ragan has said prosecutors will not accept any plea arrangement.
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