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Thread: Shaun Patrick French Sentenced in 2018 UT Slaying of Baleigh Bagshaw

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    Shaun Patrick French Sentenced in 2018 UT Slaying of Baleigh Bagshaw


    Annie Knox






    State seeks death penalty for Utahn accused of killing teen girl

    By Annie Knox
    Deseret News

    SALT LAKE CITY — Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for a 26-year-old Utah man accused of killing a teenage girl after she ended their relationship last year.

    Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill filed a notice in 3rd District Court Nov. 8 stating his office’s intent to pursue capital punishment for Shaun Patrick French if French is ultimately convicted of aggravated murder, a first-degree felony.

    He is charged with stabbing 15-year-old Baleigh Bagshaw to death on May 7, 2018, attacking her in her home while she was on the phone with her mother after school. Investigators said they arrived a short time later to find a pool of blood.

    An attorney for French did not immediately return a voicemail and email left Wednesday.

    During his eight years as Salt Lake County’s top prosecutor, Gill noted his office has rarely sought the death penalty.

    “I take these cases extremely seriously,” Gill said. “I did not arrive at that lightly.”

    In a different pending case, he is pursuing capital punishment for Ramon Luis Rivera, charged in the fatal stomping and stabbing of a fellow inmate, 24-year-old Jeffrey Ray Vigil, at the Utah State Prison. A trial date for Rivera has not yet been set.

    Gill’s office filed the same notice in the case of David Fresques, who ultimately pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated murder as part of a plea deal that spared a possible death sentence. He was ordered in 2014 to life in prison with the possibility of parole for the shooting deaths of Omar Jarman, 35; Shontay Young, 34; and Danielle Lucero, 26, inside a house in Midvale.

    Gill said his own process for deciding whether or not to seek the death penalty is “odd.”

    “I set aside like a full day where I just go and do nothing but think about the case,” he said. After consulting his colleagues, “I review the materials. It’s a decision I make and I make alone,” he continued.

    In French’s case, Gill said he consulted with Baleigh’s family but did not say if they are seeking a particular outcome. The task of weighing whether to pursue a potential death sentence, “It’s the most difficult thing in my elected position that I’ve had to do,” he said.

    Gill noted he secured an extension from a judge to make the decision in French’s case and said the recent filing is not a bargaining chip in potential plea negotiations.

    “That’s not a game that I play,” he said.

    During a preliminary hearing in August, French’s brother, Cody French, recalled Shaun French saying he had slit the girl’s throat and testified that his brother discussed suicide after their relationship ended.

    Shortly before Baleigh’s death, she told her mom that she had engaged in a sexual relationship with French during a time when he lived with her family, authorities said. She was 14 years old at that time.

    A Salt Lake police detective testified during the August hearing that French had a friend create a Facebook account that was then used to send intimate pictures of Baleigh to her mother before her death.

    French faces other charges, including sexual exploitation of a minor and newer counts of witness tampering. He has pleaded not guilty to each.

    He was arrested in southeast Colorado following a two-day manhunt after Baleigh was killed.

    He is due back in court Nov. 18.

    https://www.deseret.com/utah/2019/11...ling-teen-girl
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  2. #2
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    Judge denies gag order in Utah death penalty case

    Defense team had sought to prevent attorneys on both sides from speaking publicly about the case

    By Annie Knox
    Deseret News

    SALT LAKE CITY — A judge in Salt Lake City has declined to bar lawyers from speaking publicly about the potential death penalty case for a Utah man charged with killing a teenage girl.

    Defense attorneys for Shaun Patrick French sought a gag order on both the state and the defense, a potential move prosecutors called a “sweeping prior restraint” on their free speech.

    French, 26, is accused of stabbing 15-year-old Baleigh Bagshaw to death in her home on May 7, 2018, after she told her mother of their previous relationship.

    His attorneys argued that Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill made comments last month that would poison the minds of possible jurors. The defense team pointed to reader comments on news websites like “Hang this monster” and “Death penalty is the right choice.”

    Third District Judge Paul Parker said Thursday that Gill’s statements didn’t meet the legal standard for a gag order, meaning they didn’t pose a substantial likelihood of prejudice against French.

    But Parker imposed a lesser restriction. He said he would order attorneys on both sides to observe the standard in their professional code of conduct, which forbids them from giving reporters information that’s not already public and would likely lead to prejudice.

    Parker said he didn’t want either party to do something that would have an impact on the case, so he would direct them to “do what is really obvious and comply with the rules we’re all bound by.”

    “I think it’s absolutely valid,” Gill said after the hearing. “We have ethical rules and we try to follow them meticulously, and we’ll continue to do so.”

    Gill said his statements to reporters last month referenced details already in a publicly available probable cause statement. He had told reporters at the time he did not take the decision to pursue capital punishment lightly, saying it was the third time he had done so and noting that French allegedly killed Bailey to silence her from testifying against him.

    French’s defense attorney Michael Misner argued Thursday that the allegations about his client’s intent are likely to have an effect on a potential jury. Misner emphasized that he wasn’t seeking restrictions on the news media, but rather on attorneys.

    “We think what we’re asking for is reasonable,” he said. “It’s very easy to say ‘no comment’ and move on.”

    Misner said Gill falsely implied the crime is one of the three worst in Gill’s tenure. Moreover, Gill’s disclosure of the extra time he spent on the decision tells potential jurors that someone in authority has already made a decision that should be left to them, Misner said.

    French, who has pleaded not guilty to the capital offense of aggravated murder and other charges, appeared in a yellow jail uniform and did not speak except to identify himself Tuesday. He was arrested in southeast Colorado two days after police said he attacked Baleigh in her home while she was on the phone with her mother after school.

    Prosecutors countered that Baleigh’s death and the two-day manhunt generated widespread news coverage even before Gill filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty. They argued the defense has not shown how publicity would prevent French from getting a fair trial.

    Prosecutor Joey Blanch said Gill gave few facts about the case and reminded reporters a person is considered innocent unless proven guilty. She said it’s publicly known that he has sought the death penalty in only two prior cases.

    And while the online comments Misner referenced are “terrible,” they weren’t necessarily brought about by Gill’s statements, she said.

    Outside the courtroom, French’s attorney, Nick Falcone, said he and his colleagues were pleased with the outcome.

    “It puts all parties — all of us — on notice of what we should and shouldn’t say outside of the courtroom,” Falcone said. He declined further comment.

    https://www.deseret.com/utah/2019/12...h-penalty-case
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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    Utah man pleads guilty to killing 15-year-old girl, sparing him the death penalty

    By Jessica Miller
    Salt Lake Tribune

    A Utah man pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing a 15-year-old girl after she threatened to tell police that he had been having sex with her.

    Shaun Patrick French pleaded guilty to aggravated murder, a first-degree felony that carries the potential of a life sentence.

    French had originally been facing the death penalty in the case, but the plea deal spares him execution. Prosecutors also agreed to drop charges of aggravated burglary, sexual exploitation of a minor and witness tampering charges in exchange for his plea.

    The 26-year-old man is accused in charging documents of admitting to a friend that he killed 15-year-old Baleigh Bagshaw, saying he “damn near cut her head off” when he went to discuss sex crime allegations she’d made against him.

    Five days before she was killed, Bagshaw had told her mother that French had been having sex with her, starting when she was 14. According to court documents, French called Bagshaw 13 times that day. Her mother then received explicit photos of Bagshaw from a newly created social media account that Bagshaw and her mother believed French had created.

    The day after Bagshaw told her mom about French, he called his brother, saying he was going to be charged with rape and wanted to cut his own throat, the charges state.

    Instead, prosecutors wrote, French told a friend a few days later that he was going to Bagshaw’s home to talk to her; when he returned, he had blood on his face and hands and said he’d cut the girl’s throat, according to the court documents.

    Bagshaw was on the phone with her mother when she died.

    After Bagshaw’s death, French returned to his friend and told him they had to leave town, setting off to Evanston, Wyo., to flee police and dump evidence, according to court documents. French reportedly tossed a backpack full of bloody clothing in a convenience store trash can. Salt Lake City investigators searched the Uintah County landfill, where they found a backpack full of bloody clothing, a balaclava, duct tape, rubber gloves, latex gloves and a knife, according to court documents.

    French then went to southeast Colorado, where he called his brother again. This time he admitted he “cut a girl’s throat,” according to court documents. Police arrested French that day in Colorado.

    https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/07/...pleads-guilty/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  4. #4
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    Utah man who killed 15-year-old girl sentenced to life in prison without parole

    The man who killed 15-year-old Baleigh Bagshaw in her family's Salt Lake City home in 2018 was sentenced Tuesday to spend the rest of his life in prison, with no possibility for parole.

    Shaun French, 26, killed the teen on May 7, 2018 while she was speaking on the phone with her mother.

    A neighbor, who went to check on Bagshaw, saw blood inside the home and called police. Officers later found Bagshaw's body on the kitchen floor.

    Court documents state French was considered a suspect because he had previously lived at the home between January 2017 and July 2017. He also allegedly had an unlawful sexual relationship with the Bagshaw, which the teen told her mother about on May 2, 2018. The girl said she was 14 years old when the pair had a sexual relationship.

    Court documents state Bagshaw's mother received sexually explicit photographs of her daughter from French as a form of blackmail. Police said the man called the teen 13 times on the day the girl was murdered.

    French was arrested in Colorado on a warrant for unlawful sexual activity with the teen before he was charged with her murder. At the time he was the only person of interest in the investigation of the girl's brutal murder. French was an associate of Baleigh Bagshaw's brother. He left Utah and police held a press conference and were looking for French's camouflage-painted vehicle before he was located in Colorado.

    Bagshaw was found dead in a home at 1650 West 500 North in Rose Park, Utah.

    "It was a very violent and brutal attack that occurred in the home," Brandon Shearer with the Salt Lake City Police Department said when the crime was being investigated. Bagshaw's mother was in the process of getting a restraining order against French when the girl was murdered.

    During an interview with French's brother, he told police French was depressed and wanted to cut his own throat. He also said French was obsessed with the teen and wanted to marry her, court documents state.

    French was arrested on May 9, 2018, in Colorado after dumping evidence in Evanston, Wyoming. From Colorado, French was later extradited back to Utah and booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on May 23, 2018, after confessing to the murder.

    He faced several felony counts, including criminal homicide, aggravated burglary, obstruction of justice, and sexual exploitation of a minor, court documents state. In November, prosecutors announced they would seek the death penalty against French. The Associated Press reported prosecutors agreed in July to not seek the death penalty as part of French's plea deal.

    According to court documents, French pleaded guilty to aggravated murder on Wednesday, July 2. All other charges against the 26-year-old were dropped.

    https://kjzz.com/news/local/man-sent...-old-utah-girl
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