#Found not guilty today driver#

The court ruled in favor of Biel, saying prosecutors should not be allowed to call a witness who would testify in favor of the defense with the hope of making the jury doubt their testimony by comparing it with prior statements that were not given under oath. Initially, Biel's attorneys objected to having the two witnesses called to testify and their testimonies being compared with their initial police interviews. Both witnesses testified in front of the jury, and the prosecutors played portions of their interviews with police where they said Biel shot the gun. The other passenger told the court that he was drunk that night and did not remember much from the shooting. One of the passengers declined to sign a witness statement that said Biel shot the gun and instead wrote Biel 'had nothing to do with it.' He claimed he changed his statement because De La Torre was in jail and so the witness was no longer afraid of retaliation from him. Two passengers in the car said Biel shot the gun but later recanted their statements. At the jury trial, lawyers presented multiple threatening social media posts from De La Torre about the dog that belonged to Biel's cousin.

Wey's nephew was in a feud with De La Torre, according to court documents, over a dog that De La Torre claimed was stolen and was found in the nephew's possession. In his guilty plea, he admitted to being a knowing party to the offense and driving the car to the area while knowing that Biel intended to shoot the firearm at the house. Six counts of felony discharge of a firearm, a third-degree felony, and one count of obstructing justice, a second-degree felony, were dismissed as part of a plea deal.Īlthough he pleaded guilty to murder, De La Torre did not admit to shooting the gun. He was sentenced in September to between 15 years and life in prison for the murder charge.

#Found not guilty today driver#

Wey died a few days later in the hospital, court documents said.Įuziel De La Torre, 24, who was the driver of the car according to testimony at trial, pleaded guilty to the murder in a related case last year. Her 13-year-old daughter was sitting next to her and held a towel to her head to stop the bleeding.

Salt Lake County Deputy District Attorney Morgan Vedejs said Wey was planning a baby shower when she was shot in the back of the head. The eight-person jury, which deliberated for about five hours, found Beil 'not guilty' on each of the charges.īiel was accused of firing the gun in the fatal drive-by shooting of 48-year-old Jawnie Wey, who was sitting on a couch in a Taylorsville home in front of a bay window on July 10, 2018. He also faced six counts of discharge of a firearm, a third-degree felony. Koak Pal Biel, now 20, was charged with murder as an adult, a first-degree felony, when he was just 16 years old. SALT LAKE CITY - A man incarcerated for four years on a charge of murder in connection with a drive-by shooting in Kearns was found not guilty Thursday.