Utah Couple Kills Alleged Drug Dealer To Get Cash
On Friday, a Utah couple accepted the crime they did 2 years back on 23rd of November 2012; they tempted their alleged drug dealer to go with them to a vacant parking lot then robbed and killed him to get cash for Christmas.
28-year-old Stephan A. Sutton, moments after pleading guilty to first-degree felony murder in 4th District Court said, “I am the one who pulled the trigger”. He also pleaded to the charges of first-degree felony aggravated robbery; second-degree felony obstruction of justice and third-degree felony escape from custody.
Tied with chains and wearing a striped jail jumpsuit, Sutton was briefly emotional as he said sorry to the family of 28-year-old Jeff Vern Jensen, whom he killed for money.
As friends and family of Jensen entered the courtroom gallery, he said, “I know there is nothing in the world that could take this back. I wish I could. Jeff was a good guy, and I’m sorry that this has happened”.
An aggravated murder charge was changed to murder and two charges of failure to stop at the command of police were dismissed as part of Sutton’s plea agreement.
After Sutton entered his guilty plea, his girlfriend, 22-year-old Chaelisa J. Nielson, accepted in the court before Judge Lynn Davis that she assisted in planning the crime. She pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree felony murder. Charges of aggravated robbery, obstructing justice and failure to stop at command of the police were dismissed as part of her plea deal. “I’m sorry that my selfishness and greed led to Jeff’s death. We planned on robbing him, but we didn’t plan for it to go this far”, she said in court.
On 13th of January, when they are sentenced, they both faced up to a life in prison.
The charging documents showed that for almost a week, the couple had planned to rob Jensen of drugs and money so they could have money for the holidays and purchase a ring for Nielsen.
They purchased oxycodone pills by paying an amount of about $1,000 and met Jensen at a vacant, parking lot of the old Flying J in Payson where there were no lights. The incident happened on 23rd of November 2012 when Jensen died because of a gunshot wound.
According to the court documents, Sutton drove up to the meeting with a shotgun on his lap, pointed the gun at Jensen and demanded what he had. When Jensen didn’t give, Sutton shot him in the chest then loaded the gun again and gave it to Nielsen, said the police.
The charging documents stated that Nielsen encouraged Sutton to shoot Jensen and that the 2 had always planned to kill Jensen so there will be no witnesses of the crime. After the shooting, Sutton searched Jensen’s body and took the victim’s money, drugs and cellphone.
As the couple escaped the parking lot, they were concerned about where they should take the truck to wash off Jensen’s blood. A Payson officer saw the truck travelling too close to another vehicle and gave order to the driver to stop. Sutton attempted to avoid the cop and threw the shotgun out the window.
Sutton stopped and escaped on foot, Nielsen did the same. She was hiding in some bushes and calling a person to pick her up and take her to another place. She was found by police officers hiding in a garage.
When Payson officers found Sutton, he asked them to shoot him as shown by the charging documents. The cops used a Taser to take him under control. Sutton was covered in blood, and police found a bundle of bloody money and 2 knives in his pants.
Police officers told that when they attempted to have Sutton checked by paramedics, he escaped from the scene again on foot and had to be tackled. After that they put him into the back seat of a patrol car from where he managed to escape once again on foot and fled several blocks with his hands cuffed behind him as the police officers did that to keep him under control. He was then found by the police officers hiding under a vehicle.
News Source: www.Sltrib.com
