Provo • As prosecutors Thursday took their turn at questioning murder defendant Meagan Dakota Grunwald, Deputy Utah County Attorney Sam Pead told the 18-year-old that her trial testimony poses something of a "conundrum."
No one can contradict her claim that she was forced by threats of death to drive the getaway car as her boyfriend shot at police on a snowy January day last year. But Pead noted that no one can corroborate it, either.
"Yes, sir," Grunwald whispered in acknowledgment during her second day of trial testimony in 4th District Court.
While on the stand in her own defense on Wednesday, Grunwald testified that during a Jan. 30. 2014, crime spree, her 27-year-old boyfriend, Jose Angel Garcia-Jauregui, demanded she drive or he would shoot her and kill her family.
Utah County sheriff's Sgt. Cory Wride, 44, was killed and Deputy Greg Sherwood was severely injured.
Later that day, Garcia-Jauregui was fatally wounded by other officers.
As Pead continued his pointed cross-examination of Grunwald on Thursday, he asked the teen: "Is it your general explanation that the dead guy who can't contradict anything I say made me do it all?"
Grunwald said that because of her fear of Garcia-Jauregui — who turned suddenly violent toward her just before he killed Wride — she followed his orders and did not try to run from him when she had a chance.
Prosecutors, however, claim Grunwald acted willingly as an accomplice to the crimes committed that day.
They have charged the then-17-year-old girl as an adult with first-degree felony aggravated murder and 11 other counts: two counts of first-degree felony attempted aggravated murder, first-degree felony aggravated robbery, three counts of felony discharge of a firearm, two charges of criminal mischief, and one count each of causing an accident involving property damage, failure to stop at command of police and possession or use of a controlled substance.
Closing arguments and jury deliberation are expected Friday morning, culminating two weeks of testimony. If the jury convicts Grunwald of any of the first-degree felonies, she could be sentenced to up to life in Utah State Prison. She is not eligible for the death penalty because she was a minor when the alleged crimes occurred.
Grunwald appeared to crumble at times during Pead's cross-examination, mumbling tearful "yes" or "no" answers to Pead's sometimes-scathing questions.
Pead pointed out that Grunwald on Wednesday had given contradictory explanations of her relationship with Garcia-Jauregui, calling him at different times friend, tutor or boyfriend to different people in her life.
Pead asked Grunwald about whether she told people she was marrying Garcia-Jauregui. She answered that it was always said in a joking way, but Pead pointed to her cell phone search history, where she had inquired about wedding dresses, cakes and wedding rings.
"Do you remember telling a friend that you were going to live in Mexico with Angel and his children?" Pead asked.
"Yes."
"You've kind of minimized your relationship?" Pead asked.
"Yes, I have," Grunwald answered.
"Because the more serious [the relationship] is, the more it supports a motive [to aid and abet Garcia-Jauregui]?" Pead asked.
"I guess, if you want to call it that," Grunwald answered.
Pead then asked: "With all these stories, how is anybody supposed to know when you are telling the truth regarding Jose Angel Garcia?"
"I don't know how to explain it, but you just had to be in that cab," Grunwald responded.
The teen testified Wednesday that there was no talk between her and her boyfriend that day about hurting anyone or being violent toward police. She said Garcia-Jauregui asked her to go on a drive that morning because he "needed to talk" to her. The couple fought about her impending move to St. George and how she wanted to break off the relationship, she said.
While on their drive, Grunwald said, Garcia-Jauregui received a phone call from his mother informing him that parole authorities had issued a warrant for his arrest.
As she continued driving on Highway 73 near Lehi, she said, she suddenly heard two gunshots ring out — Garcia-Jauregui was shooting out the passenger window.
She pulled her pickup truck over — turning on her emergency flashers so she wouldn't get hit by another car — and demanded he get out of the car, she said.
That's when she heard a tap on her window. It was Sgt. Wride.
"He asked if I was OK," Grunwald cried as Wride's family members sobbed in the courtroom gallery. "He was really, really nice."
After Wride went to his vehicle to check her driver license information, Grunwald said Garcia-Jauregui told her, "If the officer asks again if you are OK, you better make sure you say you are OK."
When Wride came back, Grunwald said Garcia-Jauregui gave the officer a fake name.
When Wride returned again to his own vehicle, Grunwald testified, Garcia-Jauregui "points the gun at my head and says, 'If you don't do what I tell you to do, I'm going to kill you and your f---ing family.' "
Grunwald said Garcia-Jauregui then opened the back window and started shooting at Wride, killing the officer. He then yelled to the girl, "Go! Go! Go! Go!"
South of the fatal shooting scene, in Santaquin, they encountered Utah County sheriff's Deputy Greg Sherwood, who was shot and wounded in the head while chasing Grunwald's pickup truck.
Grunwald said that after she headed back south on Interstate 15, Garcia-Jauregui opened the back window and fired at another officer. Eventually, her tires were spiked by a Utah Highway Patrol officer, she testified, and the truck became disabled at a Nephi off-ramp. The couple fled from the car on foot.
"He's like, 'You better f---ing follow,' " Grunwald testified. " 'You better remember what I said and follow.' I said OK."
After they hijacked a car from a woman who had a baby in the back seat, they got back on southbound I-15, with Garcia-Jauregui at the wheel.
Grunwald said after that car was disabled by tire spikes and began to slow down, Garcia-Jauregui told her, "If I don't die today, I'm going make sure you and your family die."
Dash-cam video shown in court Wednesday showed the couple flee from the stolen vehicle.
"Why did you follow him?" her attorney, Dean Zabriskie asked.
"I was trying to save my family," Grunwald said.
During a subsequent shootout with police, Grunwald said, she saw police officers with guns and thought she was going to be shot. She said she saw Garcia-Jauregui fall and roll down an embankment, gun still in hand.
Grunwald said she eventually laid down on the road, and yelled at officers "He's shot in the f---ing head!"
Grunwald said this was her way of telling officers to stop shooting.
Prosecutors, however, claim Grunwald's words, demeanor and actions during the deadly spree show she was a willing accomplice who would do anything to be with her boyfriend.
jmiller@sltrib.com
Twitter: @jm_miller
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