PROVO — Fourth District Judge Claudia Laycock will take possession of one of the most high-profile and controversial homicide cases in Utah County when she moves from hearing civil and domestic cases to handling felony criminal cases on Jan. 1.
And her first order of business as the third judge to handle the case involving Richard and Jenette Killpack will be to determine if the first judge erred in ordering a trial for the Springville couple accused of causing the death of their 4-year-old daughter by forcing her to drink a fatal amount of water. They face a second-degree felony charge of child abuse homicide.
Cassandra Killpack died on June 9, 2002, hours after her parents allegedly bound her hands with a rope and forced her to drink a lethal amount of water as punishment for taking her sister's drink. The unusual nature of the case has drawn national attention — prosecutors and defense attorneys have appeared on NBC's "Today" show and ABC's "Good Morning America" as well as on network newsmagazine shows.
Judge Steven Hansen recused himself from the case last week when he learned that his law clerk is the roommate of Richard Killpack's supervisor at a Utah Valley software company, according to court documents.
Hansen handled the case for just two months after taking over for Judge James Taylor. That change was part of the 4th District's normal shifting of judicial assignments. Judges rotate through three stations with varying lengths of service — the criminal division (18 months), municipal division (12 months) and civil/domestic division (30 months).
Hansen's recusal order declared the case would be assigned to Judge Fred Howard, but he will rotate out of the criminal court on Dec. 31 and be replaced by Laycock, said Paul Sheffield, 4th District trial court executive. Howard is shifting to civil cases and will keep just one criminal case; he is scheduled to sentence convicted murderer Robert Steven Hatch on Jan. 27.
Laycock rotates over from handling civil cases at the start of the new year and will pick up the rest of the felony cases Howard has been overseeing, including the Killpacks. That means she must get up to speed on their case and then rule on a motion by the Killpacks' attorneys to quash Taylor's order to stand trial. The next scheduled hearing is Feb. 4.
The 35-page motion to quash filed Nov. 14 disputes whether prosecutors met their burden of proof at the preliminary hearing that Taylor conducted. It also contends that the Utah law governing child abuse homicide is flawed. Prosecutors have yet to file a response to the motion.
Taylor reviewed similar motions at the time of the preliminary hearing when prosecutors failed to persuade him to allow them to enhance the charge from a second-degree felony to first-degree murder. A gag order issued by Taylor bans attorneys from commenting on specifics of the case. Court observers say it is unlikely that Laycock will overturn the bindover order.
Laycock will begin presiding over felony cases for the first time since being appointed to the bench by former Gov. Mike Leavitt in January 2001. Prior to her appointment, Laycock prosecuted criminal cases for 12 years as a deputy Utah County attorney. She also spent three years as a public defender.
"I'm looking forward to it," she said.
The judge has compiled a strong record in the municipal and civil divisions, said Sherry Ragan, criminal division chief for the Utah County Attorney's Office.
Ragan and defense attorney Phil Danielson downplayed the impact of the judicial change.
"I don't think it's a problem," Ragan said. "All of our judges provide consistent rulings."
Danielson said many jurisdictions commonly have one judge hear a defendant's preliminary hearing and a different judge handle the trial.
Laycock declined to discuss the Killpack case but said she likes the rotation system and doesn't believe catching it in midstream will be much different from long-term cases she handled previously.
"You have to refresh yourself on the details of any case you deal with for a period of months or years because you have so many cases," she said. "Each of the judges in the 4th District has hundreds of cases a month."
Danielson said Hansen's decision to recuse himself avoids any conflict of interest that could potentially have caused a mistrial or provide the basis for an appeal.
"We have no problem with what Judge Hansen did," Danielson said. "He wanted to avoid the possibility of the appearance of impropriety."
E-mail: twalch@desnews.com