A 27-year-old Kearns woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to manslaughter and obstruction of justice in the death of a man she ran over with a stolen trailer last year.
Jeanette Teddie Miner cried as she entered her pleas in 3rd District Court to the two second-degree felonies. She faces up to 30 years in prison when she is sentenced July 18.
As part of a plea agreement, a first-degree felony murder charge against Miner was reduced to manslaughter and first-degree felony counts of robbery and burglary were dismissed.
A preliminary hearing for her two co-defendants — 41-year-old Jay Richard Urry, of Taylorsville, and 34-year-old Jess Floyd Searle, of West Valley City — is slated for July 20. They are charged with the same four felonies that Miner originally faced: first-degree felony murder, robbery and burglary, and second-degree obstruction of justice.
The three have been held on $1 million bond each since their arrests in December in the death of 49-year-old Eric Carter in West Valley City. The victim was killed while attempting to stop them from driving away with a Wells Cargo utility trailer that belonged to a friend of his, according to charging documents.
A probable cause statement alleges Searle and Urry went to the area of 4840 West and 4500 South between midnight and 1 a.m. Dec. 22 in Miner's pickup truck to steal items that they believed had been abandoned, and stole the trailer. They allegedly returned at 5:30 p.m., this time with Miner, to steal more property.
Carter confronted them and demanded that they not steal the trailer, which was attached to the pickup truck, according to the probable cause statement. As the three defendants left, with Searle driving, Carter jumped into the truck bed and called 911 to report the theft.
Searle drove to a nearby church, where he got out of the pickup and walked away, and Miner got behind the wheel. She caught up with Searle and said, "Get him out of the truck," the probable cause statement says.
Searle allegedly pushed Carter, who fell, and Miner quickly accelerated and felt a bump as the trailer traveled over him, the statement says. Searle allegedly fled and discarded his sweater to avoid being identified, while Miner and Urry abandoned the trailer in West Valley City and the truck in Kearns. According to the probable cause statement, Miner reported her truck had been stolen in an attempt to avoid going to jail.
pmanson@sltrib.com
Twitter: @PamelaMansonSLC
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