Smithfield man pleads guilty/mentally ill to father’s slaying

A Smithfield man has pleaded guilty, but mentally ill, in the fatal stabbing of his father last spring.

Shane Alan Hallstrom, 25, entered the plea Thursday to one count of first-degree felony murder in Logan's 1st District Court.

Hallstrom will now be evaluated by mental health experts to determine whether he should be incarcerated in prison or at the Utah State Hospital, his attorney Bryan Galloway said on Friday.

A hearing to review evaluators' findings is set for Dec. 13, Galloway said.

Hallstrom had been previously found competent to stand trial, since no evaluator has been able to pinpoint an exact diagnosis, even though it's clear he is suffering from some form of mental illness, Galloway said.

Court papers say that Calvin Hallstrom, 58, arrived at his son's Smithfield home about 5:30 p.m. on April 28 in an attempt to repair their broken relationship.

Witnesses said the elder Hallstrom was greeted with a hug, but then Shane Hallstrom jumped on his father's back and stabbed him in the neck with paring knife.

According to police, Shane Hallstrom's mother, who is divorced from his father and lived with her son, interceded in the attack, pulling her son's hand off of the knife and pulling it out of Calvin Hallstrom's neck.

While on the phone with 911 dispatchers, she said she saw her son "slamming Calvin's head on the concrete," a jail document states.

jdobner@sltrib.com