A former group home resident may face a life sentence in the 2004 beating death of a Cedar City counselor.
A ruling issued Tuesday by the Utah Supreme Court found that state prosecutors had sufficient evidence to bring aggravated murder and aggravated kidnapping charges against 19-year-old Sean Graham. The ruling upholds a lower court's ruling but overturns the same court's decision to reduce the aggravated murder charge to simple murder.
Deputy Utah attorney general Laura Dupaix said the decision means prosecutors will be able to take Graham to trial, since the case has been pending at the preliminary hearing stage. Because Graham was 17 at the time of the slaying, he does not qualify to face the death penalty.
Prosecutors say Graham and Jesse Simmons plotted to escape the Maximum Life Skills Academy in Cedar City, a group home for troubled teenage boys, after counselors caught the pair cheating on their English lessons just one week before they were to be released. For cheating, the teens were told they would be spending another month at the home.
On the night of March 8, 2004, Simmons hid an aluminum bat in his sleeping bag. Using eye signals from Graham, Simmons struck counselor Anson Arnett twice in the head.
The two then frisked Arnett for keys, cut the phone line and stole items, including a drug box. The teens then wedged Arnett, who was unconscious from the blows, upsidedown against a filing cabinet in a locked closet before fleeing in a group home van. Other boys in the home tried to call for help but the phone line was cut. Two boys ran two miles to a counselor's house to get help. Arnett died the following night from blunt force trauma to the head. Simmons and Graham were later arrested in Las Vegas.
Simmons was also charged with aggravated murder but struck a plea deal and was sentenced to five years to life in May 2005. Graham decided to take his case to trial.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court said it was reasonable to conclude that Graham intentionally or knowingly caused Arnett's death. Specifically, the high court noted Graham participated in signaling to Simmons when to swing the bat.
"After Arnett had been hit and was still conscious and mobile, Graham asked Simmons why he 'didn't knock him out the first time.' Through this statement, Graham indirectly encouraged Simmons to strike Arnett a second time, which Simmons did, knocking Arnett to the ground and into convulsions," the ruling states.
The high court also noted that Graham then helped stuff the victim into the closet and that it was Graham who had cut the phone line, preventing a call for help.
The ruling only means there is enough evidence to bind the case over for trial. Dupaix said a trial date is likely to be set within a few weeks. If convicted, Graham faces life in prison either with, or without, the possibility of parole.
Simmons pleaded guilty to felony murder and is serving a five-to-life sentence in the Utah State Prison.
E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com