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In the 10 months since his death, Sevier County sheriff's Sgt. Franco Aguilar has had a public funeral and his family has been recognized on the floor of the Utah Senate and House of Representatives. Later this year, Aguilar's name will be added to the wall at the state Capitol remembering peace officers killed in the line of duty.
But it remains to be seen if any criminal charges will be filed in his death. The Utah Highway Patrol has recommended negligent homicide be filed against the then-18-year-old driver whose sport utility vehicle slid into another car and knocked Aguilar off a bridge on Interstate 70.
That recommendation was made in June, but the case has remained with the Sevier County attorney. No charges have been filed. The Salt Lake Tribune is not naming the driver of the SUV because charges have not been filed against him.
"No decision has been made," the county attorney, Dale Eyre, said Friday in an e-mail to The Tribune. "The investigation is complete and it has been submitted to my office."
Eyre did not respond to further questions.
Aguilar's youngest brother, Octavio Aguilar, wants charges filed and believes the punishment should be greater than the maximum one-year jail sentence that a negligent homicide charge would bring.
"The family did agree he should be punished for his actions," Octavio Aguilar said. "A one-year punishment — I think that's ridiculous, and it should be more."
Franco Aguilar, 36, died April 29 while helping a Toyota Camry driver whose car had spun on an icy Fish Creek Bridge. The Camry was facing the wrong direction while sitting on the right shoulder. The Sevier County Sheriff's Office has said Aguilar was standing at the driver's door when a Chevrolet Suburban driven by a teenager from Saratoga Springs slid.
The Suburban hit the Camry, which then struck Aguilar and knocked him over the side of the bridge. He fell about 250 feet.
Police believe the Suburban was exceeding the 70 mph speed limit on the bridge. Court records do not show a criminal record for the Suburban driver. He was issued a speeding ticket in 2008.
Brian Hyer, a spokesman for the Utah Department of Public Safety, confirmed troopers recommended the negligent-homicide charge and said it is "unknown what the county attorney's decision will be."
Utah law says someone commits criminal negligence "when he ought to be aware of a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the circumstances exist or the result will occur."
Joel Kittrell, a Salt Lake City criminal defense attorney who represents defendants in traffic cases and once had a client in a negligent-homicide case, said prosecutors will need to show there were signs of risk.
"If he's aware there's cars on the shoulder, like a trooper, and he chooses to ignore that … that's arguably negligent homicide," Kittrell said.
Without substantial signs of risk, Kittrell said, a defense attorney may be able to argue the driver's behavior was dangerous but not criminally negligent.
In Utah, there is a four-year statute of limitations on negligent homicide.
Octavio Aguilar said prosecutors have not spoken to his family about the case. Franco Aguilar's widow and his five children still live in Richfield.
"He was a father, he was a husband, he was a son and he was a brother, and we lost him and can't get him back," Octavio Aguilar said.