Court overturns conviction for accomplice in officer death

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Utah Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of a woman convicted as an accomplice in a police officer's killing in 2014.

There is a reasonable possibility the jury would not have found Meagan Grunwald guilty if there hadn't been an error in jury instructions, wrote Chief Justice Matthew Durrant in an opinion released Friday. He wrote that “our confidence in the guilty verdict is undermined.”

Justice Thomas Lee dissented.

Authorities said Grunwald drove the car for her boyfriend during a deadly 2014 police chase that resulted in the death of Utah County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Cory Wride.

Grunwald, who was 17 at the time, and her boyfriend Jose Angel Garcia-Juaregui were stopped along a highway when Garcia-Juaregui fatally shot Wride in his cruiser, authorities said.

Grunwald was convicted of 11 charges including first-degree aggravated murder and was sentenced in 2015 to 30 years to life in prison.

Grunwald's attorneys argue she shouldn't be imprisoned for the crimes of her boyfriend, who was killed after he shot the two deputies.

Brent Jex, president of the Utah Fraternal Order of Police, told The Salt Lake Tribune he considers the Supreme Court decision a “huge injustice.”

“The Utah FOP is calling for Utah County prosecutor David Leavitt to commit to trying this case again,” Jex said. “Cory Wride and Greg Sherwood deserve nothing less than the full weight of the Utah County Attorney’s Office behind securing a second conviction.”