Trial set in killing of teen
 
By Pat Reavy
Deseret Morning News
 
WEST JORDAN — An 18-year-old man accused of shooting and killing his girlfriend during a party at his apartment after she refused to have sex with him has been bound over for trial.

During a preliminary hearing Wednesday, 3rd District Judge Terry Christiansen found there was sufficient probable cause to advance the case against Parley Jeffs Dutson on the charges of criminal homicide and aggravated sexual assault, both first-degree felonies.

He is accused of killing 15-year-old Kara Hopkins at the Willow Cove Apartments near 9300 S. Redwood Road on April 7.

During Wednesday's preliminary hearing, four people who were at Dutson's apartment the night of the shooting, including cousins and long-time friends, gave similar accounts of Dutson being high from taking hallucinogenic mushrooms and smoking marijuana prior to the shooting. Each gave similar accounts of Dutson being paranoid about someone named "Curtis" who was coming over to the apartment to "get him," prompting him to carry a gun in his waistband for 30 to 45 minutes before the slaying.

Also during that time, Hopkins continually rejected Dutson's requests for sex, which he demanded in crude, blunt terms, according to witnesses. At one point he began waving his gun around the room and pointed it at Hopkins before dropping it to his side, witnesses said. That pattern of pointing the gun at Hopkins and dropping it continued for several minutes.

At one point, when the gun was at his side, Hopkins began walking away from Dutson with her back turned to him, when Dutson suddenly lifted the gun again and shot her in the back of the head, witnesses said. Just prior to the shooting, another friend was trying to get the gun away from Dutson by convincing him that no one was coming over to harm him.

"Well, Kara's coming," were Dutson's final words before firing, according to 16-year-old Michelle Raynolds. After he fired, Dutson continued to say, "I love you, Kara," according to her friend.

Several witnesses testified that Dutson had eaten the "caps" off four hallucinogenic mushrooms before the party while others had mixed up what was described as "mushroom tea." Those who went to the party say from the minute they walked in they saw an obvious change in the normally quiet, laid-back Dutson.

"Parley's eyes were red and he was slurring (his words)," said 16-year-old Cody Rabbit.

"I knew that he was high," concurred 19-year-old Daniel Pipkin.

Christopher Musser, who also drank some of the mushroom tea, said Dutson may have been hallucinating like some of the others who had taken drugs. Musser said he thought patterns in the carpet were moving. He said another friend was seeing characters from "The Simpsons" walk around the room.

"He could have been seeing so many different things," Musser said. "Who knows what was going through his head."

Several times throughout the night Dutson proclaimed he wanted to have sex with Hopkins. All of the witnesses said at one point Dutson removed Hopkins' belt from her pants.

"He kept trying to grab her around the waist and unzip her shirt," Rabbit said. "She kept saying, 'No, maybe later. Not in front of everyone.'"

When two apartment security guards arrived at the apartment after the shooting, they found Dutson wearing only boxer shorts and a T-shirt sitting on the floor with Hopkins' nearly naked body. The guards testified Dutson was talking really fast and repeating the same things over and over.

Defense attorney Brian Gardner said that his client, who did not take the witness stand Wednesday, does not remember anything from that night.

Dutson sat in a tan jail jumpsuit with only one hand in cuffs during the hearing. The other hand was used to write notes on a pad. A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for June 26.

E-mail: preavy@desnews.com
 
deseretnews.com
Originally published Tuesday, June 26, 2007
 
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