ST. GEORGE – The Washington County Attorney’s office will be filing charges today against Jason Kenneth Alley, whose actions engaged multiple law enforcement agencies in high-speed chase and standoff on I-15 for the better part of 10 hours yesterday.
Alley was arrested* and booked into Purgatory Correctional Facility last night on multiple counts, including evading and fleeing by vehicle, reckless endangerment, failure to yield to emergency vehicle, seatbelt violation, failure to stop at a stop sign, license plate visibility, failure to use signal.
Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap said that charges essentially like to those on which Alley was booked would be filed against him today.
“There is a booking statement that was filed [last night], we [the County Attorney’s office] will file about ten o’clock this morning.”
Alley’s “First Appearance” will be made at 1 p.m. today in Fifth District Court. “Typically, he will appear by video,” said Belnap. “The judge will ask him if he can hire an attorney, will go through the process to determine if he can afford an attorney.”
Belnap said that is all that will likely happen today. There is no arraignment until Alley has had a preliminary hearing.
“Since he’s being charged with a felony, there is no arraignment [presentation of charges and defendant’s entering of a plea] until after he’s had a preliminary hearing.”
Belnap explained that the preliminary hearing is like a mini-trial. Its purpose is for the judge to screen the evidence for probable cause. “To weed out improvident prosecutions is what we call it,” said Belnap. It insures that there is sufficient evidence to proceed to prosecution.
*Persons arrested and charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or other determinor of fact.
Twitter: @JoyceKuzmanic and @STGnews
Copyright 2012 St. George News.
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2 Comments on "County Attorney to file charges related to the I-15 standoff"
i thought you don’t post the names? Can we expect to see the names and photos of people charged now?
I’m glad you asked because I’m sure others are also unclear on our policy. Generally speaking, we do not post names on arrest. Once charges are filed, we may include names in some cases, the prosecutor taking it one step farther in the process. As explained in this story, there is a process from law enforcement booking, to county attorney’s charging statement, to preliminary hearing, to arraignment. All these steps take place in felony charge cases before a case proceeds towards trial.
In this case, the incident had such a large impact on the community, the name is widely known and public, and there is no question that he is the individual involved in the incident. Whether or not the Judge determines he can be held over for trial will take its course but we do not risk branding someone with a charge who was not involved.
We hope this clarifies our editorial judgment, and I do appreciate the question!