‘Justice delayed is justice denied’ judge says to man sentenced to prison for attack on Turkey Farm Road

Sentencing hearing for Kade Robert Shearer following 2018 attack on Turkey Farm Road is held in 5th District Court in St. George, Utah, Nov. 22, 2022 | Court pool photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — The man convicted of the aggravated attempted murder of another man, who was severely beaten and robbed in April 2018, appeared for sentencing in 5th District Court last week – when the judge ultimately rejected an 18-page brief to suspend sentencing that was filed by the defense attorney the previous day.

R-L: Zachary Weiland and Joseph Hood representing the state during Kade Shearer’s sentencing hearing held in 5th District Court in St. George, Utah, Nov. 22, 2022 | Court pool photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

On Nov. 22, Kade Robert Shearer, 25, appeared for sentencing after a jury found him guilty of first-degree felony aggravated attempted murder, aggravated robbery and aggravated kidnapping, along with aggravated assault, a second-degree felony, and misdemeanor tampering with evidence, threat of violence.

The five-day trial was held in December 2019. And after the verdict, District Judge Eric A. Ludlow said the sentencing hearing would be scheduled once the presentence report was provided to the court.

That hearing would be delayed for nearly three years, when four months later the court was closed to all in-person proceedings and Shearer remained in jail waiting until the court was reopened for in-person appearances to allow the defendant to be sentenced in person. The defendant then changed attorneys twice and a series of postponements were filed by both sides in the case.

In fact, sentencing was postponed for more than two years after the trial, which the judge made note of last week on Tuesday.

“This hearing has been postponed 14 times and sentencing will take place today – that is it,” Ludlow said.

The night of April 15, 2018, on Turkey Farm Road

The state’s case is that Shearer, who was 21 at the time, masterminded a plan to have his co-defendant, Sasha Davis lure a man to Turkey Farm Road in Washington County on April 14, where she and Shearer mauled him, tied him up, shocked him with a stun gun, dragged him by a rope tied around his neck and stole his wallet and phone in retribution for an alleged sexual assault of Davis by the man.

The state’s position was that Davis assisted in the crime, but much of that participation was under the direction or suggestion of Shearer, while Shearer’s defense attorney Edward Flint said Shearer’s actions were fueled by anger over the sexual assault of his girlfriend and that the altercation was a physical fight that “went too far.”

The state, however, said the sexual assault of Davis had little, if anything, to do with the crime and that it simply served as an excuse for Shearer to allegedly rob and murder the man.

2019 file photo of Sasha Davis testifying against co-defendant, Kade Shearer during aggravated attempted murder trial, St. George, Utah, Dec. 10, 2019 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

The jury deliberated for less than two hours and returned with a verdict of guilty on all charges.

Shearer did not act alone 

While Shearer was looking at life in prison, Davis fared much better after agreeing to testify against the defendant. During a hearing held Dec. 14, 2018, prosecutors dropped the attempted murder and drug charges as part of a plea deal with Davis, while the felony charges of aggravated robbery, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated assault and a misdemeanor for tampering with evidence remained.

What came out during the trial is that Davis actually pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated kidnapping, attempted aggravated robbery and aggravated assault, as well as the misdemeanor charges. Two months after Davis’s guilty plea, the attempted aggravated kidnapping charge was amended to kidnapping.

These reductions made a significant difference in sentencing and registration requirements. Davis will have to register on the kidnapping/sex offender registry for four years for kidnapping as opposed to a lifetime registry requirement that goes along with attempted aggravated kidnapping. It also takes the possibility of “life without parole” off the table.

For Davis, it took prison off the table entirely.

Three prison terms, two one-to-15-year sentences and one up-to-five-year sentence, were all suspended. Instead, Davis was sentenced to three years in jail, with a review hearing in two years, with the option of going into a treatment program directly from jail, which is what happened when she was released in 2020 and entered a treatment program a few months after Shearer’s trial.

2020 file photo of Vincent Montel Rodabough, 51, booking photo taken Feb. 26, 2020 in Davis County, Utah | Photo courtesy of Public Police Records, St. George News

There also was a third defendant, Vincent Montel Rodabough, who took part in the scheme and originally was charged with second-degree felony aggravated assault and obstruction of justice, a third-degree felony, two months after the incident took place. The state filed the charges and a summons was issued on June 28, 2018, meaning Rodabough was not arrested on the charges, nor was he ordered to serve any time in custody in connection with the case.

Instead, during a resolution hearing held in May of the following year, the aggravated assault charge was dismissed. Rodabough pleaded guilty to the obstruction charge and was placed in the drug court program. When he completed the program in August, the state reduced the felony obstruction charge to a class B misdemeanor, a two-level reduction as part of the plea agreement.

While Davis avoided a prison sentence, and Rodabough avoided jail and prison altogether, Shearer was looking at the possibility of life in prison – a decision that came down to the judge’s ruling should the charges be ordered to run consecutively.

Sentencing hearing derailed by a motion to arrest judgment

During Tuesday’s hearing last week, the judge noted Shearer’s absence, stating the defendant refused transport from the jail to the courthouse. In response, Shearer’s defense attorney, Patricia Geary Glenn, out of Park City, advised Ludlow that she told her client he did not need to be present in person, since she had filed an 18-page motion to arrest judgment in the case the day before. As such, Glenn said she believed the sentencing would be postponed until a ruling could be made on the motion.

The motion was based upon several issues, the first of which was that Shearer, the defense contends, rejected a plea offer presented by the state prior to the trial without being fully advised of the penalties should he lose at trial, which left the defendant ill-informed of the prison sentence he could be looking at if he was convicted of the charges. In essence, Shearer had ineffective counsel during the plea phase, the defense alleged.

“Life in prison without parole is the hammer the state never produced in this case,” Glenn wrote.

Sentencing hearing for Kade Robert Shearer following 2018 attack on Turkey Farm Road is held in 5th District Court in St. George, Utah, Nov. 22, 2022 | Court pool photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

She said the state threatened Shearer with life without parole, using it as a weapon prior to trial, when actually, Glenn said, “life in prison was never on the table.”

During this time, Shearer relied on his attorney to advise him as to whether he should take any offer by the state, but what happened in this case, she alleged, is that Shearer based his decision to go to trial on faulty information that was not true.

In fact, the record states that Ed Flint, Shearer’s attorney during the trial, told the court he had not reviewed the statute on aggravated kidnapping recently that close but said he had advised his client that if he went to trial the state would be seeking life without parole.

Glenn said the state basically laid out Shearer’s entire defense during voir dire, the process by which the state and defense use to select an impartial jury, and then indoctrinated the jury by asking whether they believed in “an eye for an eye.” Those who said they believed in it were then disqualified.

The premise for the “eye for an eye” was that the defendant alleged that he attacked the victim to avenge his girlfriend’s honor after Davis told him she was sexually assaulted by the victim.

Then, one day later, during Flint’s opening statement, Glenn said the attorney used the phrase “an eye for an eye” and then went over the entire bible verse, saying his client was avenging the wrongs done to his girlfriend – a statement that was met by a jury that had already assured the state they would not accept such a defense, which Glenn alleged made the guilty verdict delivered three days later all but certain.

Sentencing

During the sentencing hearing held last week, the courtroom was void of any witnesses, as neither side had asked anyone to testify on behalf of the victim or the defendant during the proceedings, as is typical, which was an issue that also was brought up that morning.

Prosecutor Joseph Hood told the court that he had not asked any witnesses to testify, since he was also under the impression that sentencing would be postponed until the motion to arrest judgment was resolved. The defense was under the same impression, Glenn said.

The judge saw things differently and said he was unaware that any such motion had been filed, and went on to say it was customary to notify the court that such a motion was being filed, particularly when it is filed less than 24 hours prior to sentencing.

Ludlow took a recess and told both sides to be back in court for sentencing at 3 p.m. and also advised the defense to have Shearer in the courtroom as well.

The state speaks prior to sentencing 

Following the recess, the prosecutor opened by describing the incident as “a cold, calculated, cruel and prolonged attack on Mr. Lambert,” adding that the victim was lured to Turkey Farm Road by the defendant who was hiding in the trunk of one of the vehicles. Then, when the victim was distracted, Shearer attacked the man with either a tire iron or a hammer before dragging the victim around in the desert for an extensive period of time.

Lambert believed he was going to die that night, Hood said, and regardless of Shearer’s claims of protecting his girlfriend, he proceeded to rob the victim – actions for which the prosecutor said the defendant feels no remorse.

Lambert suffered extensive injuries in the attack, the prosecutor said, including an injury to his throat that continues to cause him pain and has made swallowing difficult. He also sustained nerve damage to his right eye, as well as damage from the blows he suffered to his head that required multiple staples to repair.

The prosecutor said that after listening to several jail calls made by the defendant following the trial, it became clear the defendant took no responsibility for his actions that night. The prosecutor closed by saying that due to the extent of the injuries suffered, combined with the lack of remorse on the part of the defendant, Shearer should be ordered to serve each of the sentences consecutively.

District Judge Eric A. Ludlow presides over Kade Shearer’s sentencing hearing held in 5th District Court in St. George, Utah, Nov. 22, 2022 | Court pool photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News

The defense submits formal objection 

The defense told the judge that she objected to the proceedings and said the hearing should not be taking place with an open motion before the court.

Ludlow replied by saying, “I’m going to make this crystal clear. I am not continuing sentencing again.”

‘Justice delayed is justice denied’

Ludlow advised the defense that the motion to suspend judgment was filed incorrectly, and after hearing oral arguments, he denied the motion shortly after 3 p.m. and the sentencing hearing resumed.

The judge then opened by saying it has been more than two years since the jury returned with their verdict of guilty on all charges, adding, “Justice delayed is justice denied.”

He continued by describing the 2018 incident on Turkey Farm Road as “one of the most heinous, gruesome cold, calculated crimes I’ve ever seen.”

Without any further comments, the judge sentenced Shearer to serve 15 years to life in Utah State Prison on aggravated attempted murder and also ordered that he serve six years to life on the aggravated kidnapping charge. He also ordered the defendant to serve five years to life on the aggravated robbery charge and one to 15 years on aggravated assault.

On the misdemeanor charges, the judge ordered that Shearer serve one year on the tampering with evidence and six months on the threat of violence offense. These sentences were ordered to be served in prison, as opposed to county jail.

Finally, Ludlow ordered that all six counts run consecutive, meaning Shearer was sentenced to serve more than 28 years in prison, barring any appeals. The amount of time the defendant will ultimately serve is up to the Board of Pardons and Parole.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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