Utah
Utah’s self-defense laws in spotlight following two high-profile cases
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Utah’s self-defense laws are in the spotlight following two high-profile cases. A law that went into effect in 2021 allows defendants to challenge the charge before trial by proving their use of force was justified.
The law requires the state to present “clear and convincing evidence” that a defendant’s use of force was not justified, with a judge deciding the outcome. If the prosecution fails to meet this burden, the case is dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can never be refiled.
At the time, House Bill 227 chief sponsor, state Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, said she was trying to decrease the risk to Utahns whose lives could be upended with lengthy and costly prosecutions and incarceration after trying to protect themselves. 2News Investigates asks if the justification hearing is working as Rep. Lisonbee intended while prosecutors claim it is an even more rigorous review for them that could be resulting in fewer cases filed.
MORE | Previous Reports
Body Camera Footage Captures Matt Alder’s Statements Following “No Kings” Shooting
On June 14, 2025, Arthur Folasa “Afa” Ah Loo was shot in the head during the “No Kings” march in downtown Salt Lake City. A safety volunteer, previously called a “peacekeeper,” Matt Alder told police that he saw a man later identified as Arturo Gamboa holding a rifle and told them he believed Gamboa was preparing to open fire on the protesters. Alder shot at Gamboa three times, injuring him and fatally striking Ah Loo.
Body camera footage from another safety volunteer at the scene captured Alder telling him what he saw prior to firing his gun. To be clear, Alder’s attorney, Phil Wormdahl, gave 2News Investigates permission to use the footage of his client. Police body camera footage from that day is not being released while the case is pending.
Matt Alder: Guy was around the corner, had an AR — he was ducked in around the corner like this — he was like loading his rifle and sh*t. I saw him. I fired a couple shots at the building to try to warn him off, get him to stop and he just took off.
Matt Alder: I can’t believe it. I fu**ing saw him, he was fu**ng loading an AR right fu**ing there.
A man asks Alder, “Did you just freeze for a second, couldn’t fu**ing believe it, or did you go for your gun?”
Matt Alder: For like half a second I pulled my gun, got behind the column, and I took shots at him.
Matt Alder: I saw him loading the fu**ing rifle like that dude was definitely not there for fu**ing fun.
Alder then asks about the man on the ground.
Matt Alder: F**k me, I hope that guy’s all right.
Earlier in the footage, he is seen kneeling down on the ground around responders who were trying to tend to Ah Loo.
Matt Alder Charged With Manslaughter 172 Days Later
It took nearly six months for the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office to file criminal charges in this case. On Dec. 3, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill and Deputy District Attorney Josh Graves filed one count of Manslaughter, a Second-Degree Felony, against Alder in connection with Ah Loo’s death. The information filing states that the “defendant did recklessly cause the death of another.”
That same day, DA Gill held a press conference at his office. He explained the screening process in this case.
“We went through a very sort of arduous process internally with our entire homicide team, and we tried to turn every stone we could,” Gill said.
He also said they weighed the evidence against Utah’s self-defense laws and the state’s self-defense justification law.
On December 3, 2025 Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill and Deputy District Attorney Josh Graves charged Matt Alder with one count of Manslaughter, a Second Degree Felony. (KUTV)
Road Rage Case Involving Death of Pat Hayes
Another example for the 2News investigation is the Sept. 25, 2024, shooting death of Pat Hayes in Wasatch County following a road-rage incident between Hayes and Greg DeBoer at Jordanelle State Park in the Ross Creek area. That deadly shooting was captured by surveillance cameras atop the buildings.
Greg DeBoer: “Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.”
Pat Hayes: “You want to get out. Come on ***** boy. Come on. Come on ******. What’s wrong, what’s wrong. Come on. Come on, you little *****.”
Pat Hayes: “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.”
In October, Jim Bradshaw, the civil attorney for Hayes’ family, questioned why the Wasatch County Attorney’s Office won’t let a jury decide this case. Bradshaw told Judge Jennifer Mabey, “The conduct in this case is taking Pat Hayes life. And I don’t think anyone disputes that Mr. DeBoer did that — he’s admitted that.”
In a statement to 2News Investigates, County Attorney Scott Sweat wrote, “The Wasatch County Attorney’s Office does not believe that there is a likelihood that the evidence can disprove beyond a reasonable doubt the assertion of self-defense in this case.”
An excerpt from Wasatch County Attorney Scott Sweat’s statement in the Greg DeBoer case as to why his office could not disprove self-defense. (KUTV)
No homicide charge. No justification hearing. DeBoer is charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly hiding the gun used to kill Hayes under a rock in his backyard.
The Justification Hearing Law
In 2021, Utah State Representative Karianne Lisonbee (R-District 14) was the chief sponsor of House Bill 227, creating a new hearing called a “justification hearing.”
During that hearing, prosecutors must prove to a judge that self-defense does not apply and the defendant’s use of force was not justified.
It’s a lower standard here in that self-defense does not apply by “clear and convincing evidence.” But during a jury trial, it’s “proof beyond a reasonable doubt.” The judge then decides whether the use of force was justified. If the judge finds that it was justified, the court dismisses the case with prejudice. If the judge rules it was not justified, the defendant can still present a self-defense claim to a jury.
Rep. Lisonbee Says the Law Is Working as She Intended
Rep. Lisonbee was not available for an on-camera interview for this report but says the law is working as she intended. 2News Investigates asked her about both cases, that of Matt Alder and Greg DeBoer. Rep. Lisonbee criticized the delay in Alder’s case, attributing it to failures in the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s office. She maintained that the law is functioning as intended, allowing for prompt and appropriate charges if evidence supports it. She issued the following statement to 2News Investigates.
Utah State Representative Karianne Lisonbee criticized the Salt Lake County District Attorney for the length of time it took his office to file a criminal charge against Matt Alder. (KUTV)
2News Investigates provided Rep. Lisonbee’s statement to DA Gill and asked for a response to her criticism.
Keith Chalmers, communications manager for the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office, sent the following response via email:
“The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office requested the grand jury on Oct. 6, the earliest date available to do so. The panel denied the grand jury on Nov. 5, but Gill said a similar case in Massachusetts helped shine some light on a path forward on charges. Furthermore, our ballistics test results, which were looking at whether the bullet that killed Mr. Ah Loo was a ricochet, did not come back until Nov. 20,” said Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill’s response to 2News Investigates regarding Rep. Lisonbee’s criticism. (KUTV)
Former Prosecutor Weighs In on How Law Affects Prosecutors
Nathan Evershed, a former Salt Lake County deputy district attorney, spent eleven years working in Gill’s office, reviewed both cases and spoke on camera with 2News Investigates for this report. He has prosecuted several of Utah’s high-profile cases. He is now a criminal defense attorney. He said the justification law has had an impact on the screening of cases for criminal charges by prosecutors.
“A justification hearing causes the prosecutors to rethink their case — that is for sure. Because they know that they will have to answer to the evidence that they have presented much sooner than a jury trial in the court hearing,” Evershed said.
He had this to say about the justification law itself: “The justification hearing law is forcing prosecutors to really evaluate their cases and to make sure that they can get through a justification hearing by clear and convincing evidence.”
He further said, “What is needed for a justification hearing and at the end of the day what is needed for trial is evidence. The prosecution needs evidence in order to disprove self-defense.”
Additionally, he said, “There’s two bites at the apple: the defendant has to assert self-defense claims, so does it cause a greater onus on the prosecutors to make sure that they can disprove self-defense — absolutely. That part of the law I think has come to fruition in terms of what the prosecutors are doing. They’re analyzing cases much more thoroughly for self-defense issues, and one big reason that they do that is under our system of law — the defendant doesn’t have to prove anything.”
Evershed said evidence is of the utmost importance. “It really comes down to the evidence, and so now prosecutors are in a place where they have to really strategically and meticulously look at the evidence and see if they can get through a justification hearing in order to get to a jury trial.”
And as a result, he told 2News Investigates, “Less cases are probably being filed because of that.”
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SALT LAKE CITY — The Environmental Protection Agency awarded Utah and Salt Lake County a total of $3.5 million in grants to assess potentially polluted properties for eventual cleanup and redevelopment.
The agency announced a $2 million grant to Utah’s Department of Environmental Quality and $1.5 million to Salt Lake County to conduct environmental assessments and inventory brownfield sites for cleanup. Brownfields are sites that may be difficult to redevelop or expand because of “the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant,” according to the agency.
“These brownfields grants will help Utah communities clean up contaminated sites and unlock opportunities for redevelopment and investment,” EPA Regional Administrator Cyrus Western said in a news release announcing the grants earlier this week. “By transforming underused properties into community assets, EPA is helping create healthier neighborhoods and stronger local economies.”
The two grants awarded to Utah and Salt Lake County are among more than $248 million awarded to nearly 200 communities nationwide for brownfield assessment and cleanup. Utah’s Department of Environmental Quality plans to focus the resources on several areas in Ogden, Heber City and Fillmore, among others, according to Bill Rees, who leads Utah’s brownfield cleanup program.
“What we do is work to secure the funding and then begin to reach out to our communities across the state, say, ‘Listen, there’s opportunity to do some assessment work in your community if you’re interested,’ and then work with our rural partners, work with our urban partners to see if there are sites that will fit that bill,” he told KSL.
The state has received similar grants in the past, and Rees said the money can help local governments determine what to do with ailing properties such as old schools, hospitals or private property that have gone to waste.
“Is there asbestos in it, or is there hazardous material in it? Or could there be something that’s impacting the soil or the groundwater, and a policymaker needs to make a decision?” asked Rees. “Knowledge allows you to make good decisions.”
The $1.5 million awarded to Salt Lake County is the largest brownfields assessment grant the county has ever received, according to a county press release.
“This grant is a real win for our communities,” said Mayor Jenny Wilson. “This funding will let us do vital environmental work on a larger scale and in more neighborhoods. It reflects exactly the kind of partnership between local and federal government that gets results for residents.”
The county grant funds will be used to help create cleanup plans in three areas, including a vehicle storage yard in Salt Lake City’s Ballpark Neighborhood, a 4.26-acre vacant lot in Millcreek and a small commercial building in Magna that was damaged during an earthquake in March 2020, according to the EPA.
Contributing: Don Brinkherhoff
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
The National Weather Service in Salt Lake City issued red flag warning Friday morning as emergency workers continued to battle one of the state’s largest wildfires in its history.
The red flag warning, issued when critical fire warnings are occurring or imminent, was to be in place through midnight Saturday.
“This is the FIRST Particularly Dangerous Situation Red Flag Warning issued in NWS Salt Lake City history. This is an exceptionally rare event,” the federal agency said in its warning.
A map of the area under the warning covered much of central and southwest Utah, with an area of the southwest, central and southern mountains also outlined as “particularly dangerous red flag.”
The particularly dangerous area includes the Cottonwood Fire, near the town of Beaver, which started Monday and had grown to covering almost nearly 71,000 acres by Thursday, 15 News reported. The fire forced evacuations.
The NWS warned that gusty winds and dry conditions would lead to rapid fire growth.
Utah also was dealing with the Iron Fire, which started June 19, and nearly destroyed the town of Eureka. The fire was about 27% contained Friday morning.
The fire danger led Utah Gov. Spencer Cox to issue executive order restricting fireworks statewide during the July 4 holiday, which marks the nation’s 250th birthday this year. The ban is in effect through July 5.
“Nothing about this decision was easy,” Cox said in a statement issued by his office Thursday.
“This is unlike anything we’ve seen in recent memory. We’re seeing fires spread farther and faster under conditions that defy historical expectations” Jamie Barnes, Utah state forester and director of the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, added in the statement.
Cox allowed cities and local communities to set aside areas where fireworks could be safely used. The city of Provo announced it would enforce a citywide prohibition on fireworks and would not designate a safe area for fireworks.
“This year is different,” Provo Mayor Marsha Judkins said in a statement. “The wildfire danger facing our community is real, and protecting lives, homes, and our natural spaces must come first.”
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Earlier this month, 2News Investigates brought you a former inmate’s federal lawsuit alleging Utah Department of Corrections leaders failed to address reports of alleged sexual assault by correctional officers. Now, 2News Investigates examines another key claim in that lawsuit.
MORE: Federal lawsuit alleges Utah prison leaders covered up guards’ sexual assaults on inmates
The lawsuit alleges a mass cross-gender strip-search operation – women being viewed by men was intended to further silence female inmates.
Federal law generally prohibits cross-gender strip searches of female inmates except during emergencies or when conducted by medical personnel. UDC says that during body-search procedures, male correctional officers are not allowed in the immediate area and inmate privacy is maintained. Former inmates say that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Three former inmates agreed to speak with 2News Investigates but asked that their identities not be revealed.
“It was very traumatic.”
According to the lawsuit, on May 13, 2025, UDC carried out a large-scale operation known as a “reset” in women’s housing units at the Utah State Correctional Facility (USCF) in Salt Lake City.
Wendy: “They call it a reset. What do you call it?”
“A violation.”
“It’s like a rape.”
The lawsuit alleges UDC Deputy Warden Derick Zorn and Warden Sharon D’Amico directed the operation, along with more than a dozen members of the Critical Incident Response Team, or CIRT.
According to the plaintiffs, officers stormed dormitories, shouted profanities, and issued conflicting commands.
The women say and the lawsuit states they were ordered to pack their belongings into totes and change into state-issued uniforms in front of male CIRT officers. They were then marched to the Emerald Building for processing.
“It felt almost like we were at a concentration camp.”
The lawsuit alleges the women were required to undergo body scans and then strip completely naked. Plaintiffs claim they were ordered to lift their breasts, spread their buttocks, and cough while visible to male staff.
Women who were menstruating allegedly were instructed to remove menstrual products in full view of others.
“Just use one hand to remove it. Hold it up in front of you.”
“I felt really small and worthless.”
The lawsuit alleges some women were forced to hold soiled menstrual pads while performing physical maneuvers.
“I just did what I was told. I just wanted to get it over with.”
The plaintiffs also claim they were required to sit on toilets or squat to provide urine samples while completely naked and visible to male officers.
“It was humiliating. It was degrading.”
The lawsuit further alleges cell doors were left open, exposing naked women to other inmates and male staff.
An overhead observation booth with reflective glass overlooked the strip-search area. Plaintiffs say they observed movement inside and believed they were being watched from above.
The lawsuit alleges the female inmates were being watched from above during a mass strip search on May 13, 2025
“I could see in the overhead, the two-way mirror. There were multiple men walking around up there who had direct vision inside those cells.”
The lawsuit alleges Captain Jared Beers and Lieutenant Matthew Coombs were inside the booth and that Deputy Warden Derick Zorn observed women in various states of undress.
“I made eye contact with Officer Arroyo, and I also saw Deputy Zorn.”
“I knew if I could see the male officers, they could see me.”
One former inmate described the experience as state-sanctioned sexual violence.
“When that happens, and you’ve gone through the same kind of thing as a child, it’s very traumatic.”
The lawsuit alleges Warden D’Amico knew male officers were viewing naked female inmates and “ratified, condoned, and failed to stop it.”
An allegation in the lawsuit filed on May 15, 2026
“You’re pretty much a hostage.”
UDC Executive Director Jared Garcia declined repeated requests for an on-camera interview. A letter sent said:
“During the body search process in female living areas, male correctional officers are not allowed in the immediate area, and privacy is maintained. In general, resets are conducted routinely, according to UDC policy and under strict protocols designed to ensure safety while also preserving the privacy and dignity of incarcerated individuals.”
“The manner matters.”
Walter Mason represents the plaintiffs.
He told 2News Investigates, “The law protects inmates from being exposed to members of the opposite sex viewing their naked bodies unless there’s an emergency. Unless there’s what the law calls an exigent circumstance, the prison can take necessary actions to protect safety. There was no emergency. There was no exigency.”
UDC says the reset involved approximately 150 trained staff members and was conducted according to department policy.
UDC’s letter goes on to say:
“Every effort was made to treat belongings with care and document confiscated items appropriately. UDC stands by our methods and policies, which are intended to maintain the highest standards of integrity, safety, and efficiency during the reset process.”
Written response from the Utah Department of Corrections regarding 2News investigations
I asked UDC whether any exigent circumstances existed on May 13, 2025, during the reset operation.
The response:
“No exigent circumstances occurred on May 13, 2025.”
I also requested information about what items were confiscated. UDC said it could not provide a specific list.
Response to questions posed by 2News Investigates to UDC regarding mass strip search and if exigent circumstances existed that day
The lawsuit seeks a jury trial and accuses the defendants, all supervisors, of participating in a “coordinated effort to humiliate, mock, and psychologically degrade the plaintiffs … operating with a brazen and intentional disregard for clearly established law, fueled by an institutional custom of impunity.”
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