PROVO, Utah — Prosecutors in Utah filed an aggravated murder charge on May 14 against a truck driver accused of intentionally killing a police officer during a traffic stop, but the Utah County attorney said it he has not yet decided whether to pursue the death penalty for the capital offense.
Michael Aaron Jayne, 42, made a court appearance on May 15 to be informed of the nine felony charges, including two counts of attempted aggravated murder for allegedly trying to run over a Utah Highway Patrol trooper and a woman who Jayne is charged with kidnapping.
Other charges allege Jayne stole other vehicles and broke into a house while fleeing officers following the May 5 traffic stop.
Utah County Attorney Jeffrey Gray said if, after a preliminary hearing, a judge determines prosecutors have enough evidence to go to trial and if Jayne pleads not guilty, he will have 60 days to decide whether to seek the death penalty. An aggravated murder conviction in Utah carries a penalty of at least 25 years in prison, up to life, or the death penalty.
Court documents do not list an attorney for Jayne, but Gray said he would be granted legal representation during the May 15 court hearing.
Gray said he would notify the public when his office decides whether to pursue the death penalty. He declined to take questions after announcing the charges and said he would not comment on the case while it was ongoing.
Santaquin Police Sgt. Bill Hooser and Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Dustin Griffiths stopped the semi-truck at 6:30 a.m. on May 5 in Santaquin, 65 miles south of Salt Lake City after a 911 caller who declined to identify himself reported that a person was standing on the back of a big rig as it traveled north on Interstate 15.
Who, if anyone, was riding on the back of the truck is still being investigated, police said.
Charging documents revealed that it was Jayne who made the 911 call and that he also reported members of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang were after him. It’s not clear why Jayne called 911.
While Jayne was distracted talking to Griffiths, a woman fled from the passenger side and ran behind the truck to Hooser, pleading for help.
She later told police that she had been voluntarily riding with Jayne until they argued at a truck stop in Beaver, Utah. Jayne initially drove off without her but returned several times. When she refused to get back in the truck, Jayne threatened her with a knife and bear spray until she agreed, according to the affidavit.
When Griffiths reached for Jayne’s door handle, the trucker locked the door and drove off, then made a sharp U-turn while the officers were running to their own vehicles. He accelerated toward Hooser, black smoke billowing from his exhaust smokestack, and smashed the officer into a patrol car, court documents state.
Jayne then gunned his truck toward Griffiths and the woman, but they jumped out of the way to escape being hit.
Jayne, whose criminal history dates back over 20 years, took off on foot to a Maverik gas station, where he found a semitruck with the doors unlocked and the keys inside. Police say he stole the semitruck and, later, a 1976 Ford F250, which he drove to a vacant house in Mt. Pleasant.
He entered the home through the garage, stealing boots and the keys to a Ford F150 that he later crashed when police performed a maneuver that caused him to lose control of the vehicle near Vernal, about 160 miles east of Santaquin, investigators said. Jayne was taken into custody at the crash site and driven to a hospital where he was treated for a week.
At Hooser’s funeral, his youngest daughter, Courtney, described her father as a hero and said she was heartbroken that he can’t walk her down the aisle later this year.
“There has been anger, sadness, grief and confusion,” she said through tears. “I’ve spent the last few days thinking about what it was like for my dad to lay there lifeless and what that man took from us with no remorse.”
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox called the suspect a “despicable human being” and assured Courtney that so many dads would honor her father and support her on her wedding day.
Jayne’s court records detail a history of attacking police officers in multiple states, including convictions for assault with a deadly weapon, battery and threats of violence toward police.
In March 2009, he was was charged in Oregon with attempted aggravated murder for trying to strike an Oregon State Police officer with his vehicle in Klamath County. He pleaded guilty to attempted assault and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
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