Clearfield man could spend life in prison for trying to kill woman, fleeing from police

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OGDEN — A man from Clearfield will spend at least three years and up to life in prison for trying to kill a woman and assaulting a parole officer with his truck while fleeing from police in March 2022.

A jury found Christopher Anthony Nelson, 30, guilty in May of attempted murder, a first-degree felony; attempted assault on a peace officer, a second-degree felony; and failing to stop or respond at the command of law enforcement, a third-degree felony.

Nelson appeared before Judge Noel Hyde in the 2nd District Court for sentencing Tuesday, where he received one to 15 years in prison for injuring a parole officer and a three-years-to-life sentence for attempted murder, which will run concurrently. He was also sentenced to up to five years in prison for evading police, an order set to run consecutively with the others.

The man was then transported from Weber County Jail to the state prison to serve his time.

In March 2022, Adult Probation and Parole agents converged on a house near 5600 South and 3100 West in Roy to apprehend Nelson as a parole fugitive, according to charging documents.

Nelson was in the driver's seat of a Ford F-350 parked in the driveway of a house, talking to a woman through the window of the truck, a police booking affidavit says. The parole agents showed up and parked their car "bumper to bumper" with the Ford, emergency lights flashing, and began approaching him.

As soon as agents saw Nelson throw his truck into reverse, they scrambled back to their vehicle, the affidavit says, but Nelson put the truck in drive and aimed straight for the woman he was talking to.

She "was able to jump out of the path of the oncoming truck, narrowly missing being run over," charges say, but Nelson aimed his truck at the agents' car, crashing into it and pinning an agent "between the car frame, the door and the truck, crushing his hand, wrist and forearm."

Nelson was able to get away and was later found and arrested in Carbon County by a Utah Highway Patrol trooper who had to ram the back of his truck to force Nelson to stop, the affidavit says.

Later, investigators found text messages Nelson sent to the woman involved, saying "I'll kill u," "U did this and I'm going to enjoy watching u beg for ur pathetic life..." and "I'm ready to give my life are u."

A prosecutor wrote Nelson "has expressed extreme animosity towards (the woman) and AP&P (Adult Probation and Parole), blaming them for his current incarceration."