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Bail has been set at $1 million for the 17-year-old boy accused of killing his 15-year-old girlfriend, Anne Kasprzak.
Darwin Christopher Bagshaw made his first appearance in adult court Monday for a bail hearing, where prosecutors asked that he be held on a higher bail amount for the first-degree felony murder charge.
The $100,000 bail set by the juvenile-court judge earlier this month was too low, Deputy Salt Lake County Attorney Peter Leavitt argued Monday.
"That's wholly inappropriate under these circumstances," Leavitt said of the lower bail. "The defendant is now in adult court facing a first-degree felony murder charge. … Facing those types of charges and those types of consequences gives the defendant very little incentive to return to court."
The prosecutors asked for the bail to be increased to $1 million, a request that Kasprzak's mother, Veronica Kasprzak-Bratcher, supported.
"Since Annie died, his life has not gotten any better," she told the judge. " I am concerned that if he were to leave [jail], he has no reason to stay."
Bagshaw's attorney, Christopher Bown, had asked that the teen's bail remain at $100,000, saying there was no evidence that his client would flee if released. He said Bagshaw has not committed any violent crimes in the past three years.
But 3rd District Judge James Blanch ruled Monday in favor of the higher bail, voicing concern about Bagshaw's family residing out-of-state and the seriousness of the alleged crime.
"If Mr. Bagshaw did commit this act, it's a potential risk to the public," the judge said. "A million-dollar bail in a murder case like this — it's not uncommon at all."
The accused teen pleaded not guilty to the murder charge Monday. He is set to return to court July 17 and is expected to remain in a juvenile detention center until he turns 18 next month.
Bagshaw, who was 14 at the time of Kasprzak's slaying, initially was charged in juvenile court with first-degree felony murder and second-degree felony obstruction of justice.
But 3rd District Juvenile Court Judge Dane Nolan sent the case to the adult criminal-justice system after a preliminary hearing and certification hearing in March. Nolan dismissed the obstruction charge last week, saying that doing so was in Bagshaw's best interest as the murder case goes forward.
The Salt Lake Tribune does not typically identify juvenile offenders, unless they have been certified to stand trial as an adult, as in Bagshaw's case.
Bagshaw is accused of killing Kasprzak in 2012 by brutally beating her and tossing her body into the Jordan River.
Kasprzak was reported missing from her Riverton home March 10, 2012. Her beaten body was pulled from the Jordan River in Draper the next day.
Prosecutors contend the murder was premeditated, saying Bagshaw lured Kasprzak to an isolated spot near the river, where he killed her and dumped her body, then tried to cover up the crime.
Kasprzak had been telling friends and family she was pregnant with Bagshaw's baby, but her stepfather testified she wasn't pregnant.
An autopsy concluded Kasprzak had suffered up to nine blows, which left her skull fractured and her forehead shattered.
Bagshaw was charged in October 2014 and arrested at a residence in Colorado, where he was living.