PROVO — Utah County prosecutors turned up the heat on a Springville couple Wednesday by filing first-degree murder charges against them.
The new charges, which are in addition to felony child-abuse homicide charges already pending against Richard and Jennete Killpack, increases the maximum penalty for the couple if they are found guilty of causing the death of their 4-year-old adopted daughter.
If convicted, they could be sentenced to life in prison.
But the murder charges also increase the burden of proof needed by the prosecution to win a conviction.
To win on the murder charges, prosecutors must show that the couple knowingly or intentionally caused the death of Cassandra Killpack, who died from water intoxication.
Police contend the couple forced the girl to drink a lethal amount of water as punishment for bad behavior. Deputy Utah County Attorney Sherry Ragan said that by retaining the old charges, 4th District Court Judge James Taylor will have the option to require the couple to stand trial on the lesser charges if it is determined there is not sufficient evidence to support the murder charges.
The amended charges come in the midst of a preliminary hearing that was put on hold last month after defense attorneys questioned the validity of the child abuse homicide charge, a recent addition to Utah's criminal code. Taylor asked defense attorneys to file a brief outlining their challenge and allowed prosecutors time to respond.
Those briefs prompted the filing of the new charges.
Ragan and defense attorney Phil Danielson said outside court Wednesday that they do not know how the new charges will affect the current preliminary hearing. Ragan said witnesses may have to be recalled to the stand to provide the additional testimony needed to support the intent requirements of the murder charges.
In a worst-case scenario, the current hearing may have to be scrapped and a new hearing held.
Danielson said he plans to file a motion challenging the filing of murder charges but would not comment on his legal argument, citing a judicial court gag order imposed on the case.
Taylor gave Danielson two weeks to file his motion challenging the new charges.
Richard and Jennete Killpack are accused of killing their adopted daughter on June 9.
They allegedly tied the girl's hands behind her back and forced her to drink an estimated 2.5 liters of water as punishment for taking a sibling's drinking cup.
According to testimony from the Springville ambulance crew that responded to a 911 call from Richard Killpack on the day the girl died, Cassandra Killpack was found unconscious with a distended belly and pink foam coming from her mouth.
A doctor at Primary Children's Medical Center testified the girl literally drowned in her own bodily fluids as the excess water began seeping from her lungs.
Doctors determined that Cassandra Killpack died from a condition known as water intoxication, in which the over-abundance of water in her system caused sodium levels in her body to drop, resulting in a fatal swelling of her brain.
The couple say they were following advice given to them by a local therapist.
Danielson said he feels the prosecution will have a hard time proving to a jury that his clients intended to cause the death of their daughter. He also said the higher burden of proof placed on prosecutors increases the chances that a jury will find his clients innocent. But his clients also face a higher risk if convicted — life in prison.
In court, Ragan noted that a recent article in the Deseret News cited the prosecution's plans to refile charges. Ragan asked the court to remind all parties in the case of the gag order, which bars parties from discussing the facts of the case.
Taylor admonished both sides but said he has no plans to hold an inquiry into who leaked information about the case to the newspaper.
E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com