COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS — Retired Judge Stephen L. Henriod, who served 16 years on the bench in Salt Lake County, was found dead Thursday at his home. He was 67.
Henriod's body was found in his yard. The death is not considered suspicious and is being investigated as a suicide, said Cottonwood Heights Police Chief Robby Russo.
Henriod was appointed to the 3rd District Court in November 1994 by Gov. Mike Leavitt. He received a law degree from the University of Utah College of Law in 1975. Henriod served on the Supreme Court's Advisory Committee on Criminal Jury Instructions and the Supreme Court’s Advisory Committee on Civil Jury Instructions. He was also, at one point, one of the presiding judges over Drug Court. Henriod retired in 2010.
During his career, Henriod handled cases like Gayle Gilbert Benavidez, a convicted felon sentenced to prison for the 1976 cold case slaying of a Salt Lake woman, and in 2001 ruled on the district court level in the case of a man who wanted to pray to "Our Mother in Heaven" before the Murray City Council.
In 2007, Henriod told a man convicted of child abuse homicide that he hoped he served "every single day" of his prison sentence. In 2009, Henriod sentenced a Tooele mother of four to 30 days in jail for contempt of court. The woman was in the courtroom observing a hearing for her husband, who was sick, and texting him updates.
"We are saddened by the passing of our colleague Judge Stephen L. Henriod. We are thankful for his 16 years of service to the Utah State Courts and the people of Utah. We extend our sympathies to his family," Chief Justice Matthew Durrant said in a prepared statement.
Henriod's career also had moments of controversy. In 2005, he took a two-week leave from the bench and was allowed to come back after agreeing to undergo counseling.
A court spokeswoman confirmed at the time that Henriod was in intensive care in a hospital cardiac unit. The leave of absence also came on the heels of a string of police calls to his house.
Names in police reports obtained at the time were redacted, but on Jan. 15, 2005, Salt Lake County sheriff's deputies seized three guns during a domestic violence call at his home. On Feb. 18, 2005, a woman called deputies reporting that a man had threatened suicide. On April 23, 2005, deputies received another call in which a man attempted suicide. In that case, a gray-haired 58-year-old man was reported to have overdosed on pills and was taken to Cottonwood Hospital in serious condition, according to a police report.
Email: preavy@deseretnews.com
Twitter: DNewsCrimeTeam