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- A Utah judge has denied bail for 16-year-old Haegan Sagers, who is charged as an adult with murder in the shooting death of his 14-year-old stepbrother, Malaki Porter, in Vernal.
- Sagers' attorney says a struggle over a gun led to the shooting, but the prosecutor says Sagers was angry and wanted to hurt Porter but not kill him.
- A judge cited Sagers' potential flight risk and public safety concerns as reasons for denying bail.
VERNAL — Sixteen-year-old Haegan Sagers appeared at his bail hearing flanked by staff from the Split Mountain Youth Center in Vernal. His short, curly hair was brushed to the side, and he held a focused frown while his attorney John Easton petitioned the court for the boy's supervised release.
Sagers is charged as an adult with murder and discharge of a firearm causing serious injury, first-degree felonies, in the shooting death of his stepbrother, 14-year-old Malaki Porter, in northwest Duchesne County on Sept. 22.
Easton said if the shooting "happened a few months previously, we'd be in juvenile court, possibly discussing if this would get certified to district court as an adult," Easton said. "The state, under the statute, filed this directly in adult court because he is 16 and because he's charged with the murder."
The autopsy has been conducted, but no report has been released yet, and the state is investigating all angles with many search warrants and discovery requests in process, according to the lawyers present. Additional details about the events on Sept. 22 emerged during the hearing, most drawn from a short arrest affidavit included in a request for detention.
Sagers lived with his father, his father's girlfriend and her son, Porter, during the time in question, according to Easton. His grandmother, who lives near Price, has guardianship.
"Haegan disclosed that he and (Porter) got into an argument that escalated to (Porter), the alleged victim, coming after Haegan with a gun. ... The alleged victim pointed a gun at Haegan, and Haegan and the alleged victim wrestled over that gun, and then the victim was shot," Easton said Thursday.
But prosecutor Michael Goodrich questioned Easton's version of events. He said Easton "used the word wrestle a number of times, wrestling over a gun. That is not actually found anywhere in either (arrest affidavit) statement you mentioned or any of the reports that we have so far."
Goodrich said Sagers told investigators that Porter "went and got a gun. Haegan was angry at him, took the gun from him and pointed it at him, and then said that he was angry and wanted to hurt him, but not kill him. And that's when he pulled the trigger. ... I think that wrestling is mischaracterizing what actually went down."
He added that the preliminary evidence "kind of counters, or seem to call into question (Sagers') version of what transpired."
The prosecutor said Porter's body was found with the "rifle underneath his right shoulder," and the angle of the bullet wound, traveling through his "upper left chest area, down through the heart and lungs and into the liver," was "not consistent with the explanation that (Sagers) gave."
After the shooting, Sagers then ran to the girlfriend's father, who lives in a trailer on the property, and they called the police, Goodrich said. The first phone call was disconnected, but dispatchers were able to call back and speak to the man.
"The narrative that I have says Haegan took this gun from (Porter), pointed it at (Porter), and shot (Porter). Haegan confessed that he shot (Porter) because he was angry and wanted to hurt (Porter)," 8th District Judge Samuel Chiara said.
"I don't know whether he intended to kill him or just wanted to injure him, or just wanted to stop a fight," Chiara said. "I don't know about any of that, because I'm limited to this narrative."
Chiara denied the motion to release the teen, citing Sagers' flight risk and potential risk to public safety. Easton said Sagers ran away from home last winter but turned himself in "cold and hungry" to a local officer in Salt Lake City after a few days. Goodrich says there may have been more runaway calls to local police.
An advocate from the Split Mountain Youth Center where Sagers is being held called the boy a "model youth," and said he has been doing a lot of writing in a notebook, with no physical confrontations.
"He's doing well there. He's able to pursue his education and there I know that he is secure and isn't going to harm another person, nor is he going to run away," the judge said. He expressed an openness to reevaluating his decision to hold Sagers, as more information, including a mental health assessment, comes in.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 23 in Duchesne.
Correction: A previous version said the shooting death happened in Vernal. It happened in northwest Duchesne County.
