The Utah Court of Appeals on Friday upheld the conviction of a man accused of fatally shooting a South Salt Lake woman in 2012.
Santiago Diaz Crespo, 58, was convicted of first-degree felony murder, first-degree felony aggravated burglary and third-degree possession of a firearm by a restricted person in 2015.
He appealed the next month, saying the evidence used against him wasn’t strong enough due to what Crespo called the “self-serving and inconsistent testimony of a highly incentivized snitch.”
That snitch was Christopher Grant Sutton, now 41, who was charged in February 2013 with the Nov. 4, 2012, murder of 43-year-old Ann Marie Jensen.
(Courtesy Utah Department of Corrections) Santiago Diaz Crespo was convicted of first-degree murder, first-degree aggravated burglary and use of a firearm by a restricted person over the 2012 shooting of Ann Jensen.
(Courtesy Utah Department of Corrections) Christopher Grant Sutton testified against Santiago Diaz Crespo in a murder trial over the 2012 shooting of Ann Jensen.
In March 2013, Crespo also was charged with the woman’s slaying.
But Sutton’s murder charge was later dismissed, after he testified against Crespo and agreed to plead guilty to other charges related to the homicide: aggravated burglary and obstructing justice.
And although Sutton’s trial testimony was inconsistent, it was corroborated by other evidence, Judge Kate Toomey wrote in the Court of Appeals’ unanimous decision.
The prosecution used other witnesses in addition to Sutton’s testimony, and the Court of Appeals found that there was enough evidence to convict Crespo of all charges.
On the second day of Crespo’s four-day trial in July 2015, he tried to dismiss his appointed lawyers. He believed his attorneys were his “enemies,” according to court documents. But if he chose to fire his lawyers, the court would declare a mistrial and Crespo would have to wait months for another trial. He kept his attorneys.
Crespo wrote in his appeal that his attorneys hadn’t provided sufficient assistance.
But, Toomey wrote, the defense spent plenty of time trying to discredit Sutton and reminded the jury that Sutton had received a favorable deal in exchange for his testimony.
“The jury was unpersuaded and convicted Crespo of murder and aggravated burglary,” Toomey wrote.
Two days before the fatal shooting, Jensen reported to South Salt Lake police that she had been raped by Crespo, who police believed may have been her drug dealer, according to court documents.
According to the Court of Appeals decision, Crespo and Sutton went to Jensen’s apartment the day of the shooting to talk about the rape accusation. Crespo asked Sutton to offer Jensen cocaine as a bribe to get Crespo into the apartment.
Jensen let Sutton in to smoke the cocaine, but she reportedly refused to talk to Crespo or “recant her accusation,” Toomey wrote
Shortly after Jensen let Sutton into the apartment, Crespo appeared in the doorway with his gun drawn, Toomey wrote. He fired three shots, into her head, chest and arm.
In July 2015, Sutton’s prison term of one-to-15-years on the related charges was suspended and he was placed on 36 months of probation. But he was sentenced to prison in June for violating his probation by incurring new weapon and drug charges.
Crespo is serving 15 years to life in the Utah State Prison.