Roosevelt officer justified in shooting death of Uintah County man, prosecutors rule


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PROVO — A Roosevelt police lieutenant was justified in using deadly force against a Uintah County man who repeatedly pointed a handgun at officers during a standoff in May, according to the Utah County Attorney's Office.

"Based on the totality of the circumstances, Lt. (Pete) Butcher did/could have had a reasonable belief that he or others were at risk to be killed or seriously injured by Mr. (Kevin) Norton," deputy Utah County attorney Mariane O'Bryant wrote Wednesday in a letter to Roosevelt Police Chief Rick Harrison. "Therefore, the state declines to file charges against Lt. Butcher."

Jill Norton decried the prosecutor's decision, telling KSL-TV her husband had struggled in the past but was nearly off probation for a pair of 2012 felony convictions and had plans for the future.

"Our plans were cut short, and I don't see any possible way that any of this is justified," she said, questioning whether police actually used less lethal tactics to try to subdue her husband.

"There's a lot of things that just don't make sense, and I think eventually all of that's going to come out," said Jill Norton, who left a Wednesday morning meeting with O'Bryant immediately after the prosecutor announced that she would not be filing charges.

On the afternoon of May 3, officers from a number of police agencies responded to reports of a suicidal man armed with a gun near Uintah Basin Medical Center. The officers said they found Kevin Norton — the target of their search — in a wooded area that borders a residential neighborhood near the hospital. He had a .22-caliber derringer, investigators said.

"Officers spoke with Mr. Norton in an effort to de-escalate the situation and obtain the gun, which Mr. Norton repeatedly placed under his chin in a firing stance, then waved toward the officers who surrounded him," O'Bryant wrote in her letter to Harrison.

After the incident, investigators found a live round in the gun and a spent shell casing from a bullet that "had been fired sometime prior to (the May 3) incident based on the difficulty in removing it from the gun," the prosecutor's letter states.

Norton repeatedly demanded that the encounter be recorded, and officers tried to reassure him that it was being recorded, telling him he could watch the video at the police station, O'Bryant wrote.

"Officers also agreed that Mr. Norton would not be handcuffed during the trip to the police station," she wrote, "but Mr. Norton refused when officers would not allow him to retain his gun on the way to the police department."


The officers in this situation tried talking to Mr. Norton and used several less-lethal options to get him to drop the gun — all without success.

–Heather White, Roosevelt Attorney


Norton then handed a glass pipe commonly used for smoking methamphetamine to Harrison and told the police chief he had recently smoked the drug, investigators said.

As the negotiations continued, police said Norton "moved forward with the gun to his chin and stated, 'They're going to kill my wife and kid,'" O'Bryant's letter states. Butcher asked Harrison whether he should retrieve a shotgun and some less-lethal "bean bag" rounds from his patrol vehicle in case force was necessary, O'Bryant wrote. The chief approved the request.

Butcher grabbed the shotgun and three of the less-lethal rounds, the letter states. He was only able to load two of the rounds, though, "without racking the shotgun, which action Lt. Butcher believed might antagonize Mr. Norton further," O'Bryant wrote.

The shotgun in Butcher's hands was now loaded with two bean bag rounds and four "live rounds" as he returned to the wooded area, the prosecutor said.

Norton still refused to drop his gun, investigators said, telling officers he feared the weapon might get scratched if he did. An officer put a baseball cap in a nearby tree and told Norton he could put the gun in the hat so it wouldn't be damaged, O'Bryant wrote.

"Mr. Norton stepped forward, placed the gun in the cap, stepped back, then reached forward again, grabbing the gun," the prosecutor wrote.

An officer deployed a Taser and Norton fell to the ground, investigators said. Officers didn't believe the Taser had been effective, though, because they said Norton pointed his gun at an officer while on the ground and then began rolling down a hill.

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Butcher then fired the first bean bag round as another officer fired a Taser at Norton, O'Bryant wrote. "Neither the bean bag round nor the Taser appeared to be effective," she wrote.

"Mr. Norton continued to hold onto the gun and appeared to be attempting to regain his footing," the prosecutor wrote. "Lt. Butcher fired another bean bag round. Mr. Norton came back up to his knees, facing officers to the other side of Lt. Butcher."

Norton was still holding his gun "despite continual orders" to drop it, O'Bryant wrote, noting that this was when Butcher fired a "live round" into Norton's back, fatally wounding him.

"At the time he fired the third shot, Lt. Butcher believed that the shot was another bean bag round, rather than a live round," O'Bryant wrote, pointing out that the use-of-force analysis for lethal and less-lethal actions is the same because "less -lethal actions present a risk of death, although to a lesser degree than live rounds."

"During the entirety of this incident, officers at the scene believed that Mr. Norton could and might fire upon any of them at any time," O'Bryant wrote. "Several officers stated that Mr. Norton pointed the gun at them, and all the officers believed that Mr. Norton's actions put their lives or the lives of others at risk.

"After Mr. Norton retrieved his gun from the hat, several officers indicated that they would have fired upon him but for the concerns about injuring other officers in crossfire," the prosecutor wrote.

Once officers realized Norton was critically hurt, Butcher dressed the wound and administered CPR as the injured man was driven to the hospital in the bed of a police truck, investigators said. Norton, 36, died a short time after reaching the emergency room.


I think it should be made available not only to us, but to the public for viewing for proper determination of whether or not this is justified.

–Antonio Romanucci, Norton family attorney


The shooting was investigated by agents with the State Bureau of Investigation and reviewed by the Utah County Attorney's Office to avoid any potential conflicts of interest, according to Duchesne County Attorney Stephen Foote.

Heather White, an attorney for Roosevelt, said the city is pleased with O'Byrant's decision and extends its condolences to Norton's family.

"The officers in this situation tried talking to Mr. Norton and used several less-lethal options to get him to drop the gun — all without success," White said.

Butcher, a veteran law enforcement officer with 17 years' total experience, has worked for the Roosevelt Police Department since 2008. He has been on paid leave since the shooting. A date for Butcher's return to duty had not been set Wednesday, according to the police chief.

The standoff and the shooting that ended it were captured on two body cameras worn by Duchesne County sheriff's deputies involved in the incident. The videos were not released Wednesday.

Antonio Romanucci, a Chicago-based attorney who represents Norton's family, said he believes the recordings should be made public, now that the use-of-force investigation is over.

"I think it should be made available not only to us, but to the public for viewing for proper determination of whether or not this is justified," he said, adding that Norton's family will take its own look at the evidence before deciding whether to file a lawsuit.

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Geoff Liesik

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