Judge rules Shaun Cowley will not stand trial for manslaughter in death of Danielle Willard
SALT LAKE CITY A judge tossed the manslaughter case against former Westpatagonia guide jacket varsity2 Valley City police detective Shaun Cowley, accused in the death of Danielle Willard. Dever dismissed the case against Cowley, who threw his patagonia vest men better sweaterhead back and heaved a sigh of relief.
stated all along, from the first interview I believe I did with you guys, the evidence would show I be acquitted, Cowley told FOX 13. good. was charged with manslaughter after Salt Lake Cpatagonia better sweater reviewsounty District Attorney Sim Gill ruled the Nov. 2, 2012 shooting of Willard unjustified. But in his ruling on Thursday, Judge Dever said the prosecution own witnesses said Cowley could have reasonably believed his life was in danger.
state primary expert testified the defendant could assume Ms. Willard was attempting to kill him and deadly force was an appropriate response, Judge Dever said. testimopatagonia guide jacket varsity0ny establishes reasonable belief that the circumstances provided legal justification for the defendant conduct. the judge ruling here:
Cowley insisted he fired his gun in self defense, after he and Det. Kevin Salmon encountered Willard in a West Valley City apartment complex parking lot. They identified themselves as law enforcement officers, the judge said, and attempted to speak to Willard when she put the car in reverse.
Cowley defense said he fired his gun out of fear for his life, believing Willard was going to run him over.
Speaking to reporters outside of court, Salmon blasted the district attorney for leveling charges and accused Gill of lying to bring them, claiming a panel convened to consider the case recommended against it.
district attorney is amazing! He will stop at nothing to pass his political agenda and fulfill his promise of nobody above the law, said Salmon. if nobody above the law, let hold Sim accountable for his lies and his actions in this matter. said he quit the West Valley City Police Department on Thupatagonia ultralight down shirt reviewrsday mornipatagonia guide jacket varsity1ng, unhappy with the direction it has been going. Cowley was fired over accusations of mishandling evidence, and is fighting to get his job back.
Outside court, deputy Salt Lake County Attorney Blake Nakamura denied any wrongdoing in bringing the case, and said they continue to believe the evidence was sufficient to support the charges. Gill later released a statement saying:
respect the process of our judicial system even if it produces results that we may not agree with. As I have always said, the process needs to be respected, they are the rules by which we engage when we have differences of opinions.
The Salt Lake County District Attorney s office has a responsibility to forward cases for judicial review when we believe conduct violated the law and calls into question the actions of public servants.
We filed the criminal charges patagonia nano air hoody reviewthat we believed were appropriate. Consistent with our system of law, we accept the Court s determination. mother, Melissa Kennedy, left the courthouse in tears and declining to comment to FOX 13. She has a wrongful death lawsuit pending against West Valley City over her daughter death.
best we can say for the prosecution it was inadequate and the worst it was completely incompetent, said Scott Simons, a friend of Kennedy whose daughter was also shot by police officers.
Cdiscount patagonia ski jacketsowley hugged his lawyers and family after court. Supporters wore blue T shirts that read Cowley. last two years have taken a toll on my life and my family that people cannot understand. I have seen how people form hateful opinions without knowing any of the facts of the case, he said. been forced to watch the media as they reported false truths and occasionally downright lies. would not say if he plans to continpatagonia outlet store las vegasue to work in law enforcement.
Cowley has been villainized over the last two years, said his attorney, Lindsay Jarvis.
I totally agree, thank God that justice prevailed and that the Judge who actually HAD all the evidence in front of him, saw that this shooting was justified. I just lopatagonia better sweater jacket for menve all the people who comment that this was an unfair ruling, and that they should sue him in civil court etc. Some of you fine people comment, and make accusations like you were there THE JUDGE HAD ALL THE EVIDENCE, you didn so stop trying to vilify all cops. The Judge has all the information. and he made a decision and followed the due process. Let us not patagonia discount code for southwestforget that Danielle Willard was a drug addict and has prior convictions, right, wrong or indifferent, she had responsibility to all of this. Shaun Cowley has been held responsible to his actions: pain for his family, lost his job, name dragged through the mud, etc all by doing his job of protecting all of us.
You have no idea what you talking about. You read bias news apparently and haven been keeping up on this case. How can you be run over while standing to the side of a car? I seen it in COPS plenty of times. Suspect is in a car, cop is on the side. They decide they want to run, like Danielle more than likelpatagonia everlong review dishwashersy did, but the smart cop and the one that is following protocol get out of the way and don need to shoot. Then they can chase them. You really don have to pull out your pistol every time and shoot people. Go back to the other news source you been reading and stay there.
Wow really Michael??? you come on here claiming to be military trained and suggest shooting out the tires a moving car close proximity to you??? clearly you have never been in combat, oversees or in a situation where your life is on the line. I have close relatives that have been overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan and they all said, if a vehicle refuse to stop for them they shoot engine block with the big .50 cal or just shoot the cabin until the car stops moving. the reason know that the driver intends to kill them. So please dont bring your military stuff into this, i hate to have to say this to you since i have a deep respect for our service men and women.
I have one simple question in all of the pictures of the scene Why is there a Jeep blocking the path of the forester? as if she backed into it? looking at the scene and if its tpatagonia guide jacket varsityhe way the dirty cop says then the jeep would have prevented him being ran over and one other issue at hand, Cowley stated he drew his gun prior to her backing her car, as a Show of force, Ive dealt with the neighborhood narco team in the past they are not uniformed they are plain clothed and often times neglect to wear a badge. This is why we need a review board of citizens, who police the police? Lets get the serial killers off opatagonia guide jacket varsity3f the force.
For months now its only been negative comments and police haters that comment on these forums. I being an officer myself have thought that there are no supporters out there of Police, and at times it seems disparaging. But now I see, the crowd of society wait for the facts, they wait for due process, that is re assuring. It is good to see good people of society finally sticking up for justice and now that a judge has spoken, the true defenders of citizens are speaking out. This was a bad incident and tragic.