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Farmington • Seven years ago, Utah lawmakers passed a law allowing prosecutors to seek the death penalty if a child dies during an act of abuse, sexual assault or kidnapping — even if the defendant does not intend to kill the victim.

Since then, the accused killers of five Utah children have been charged under "Shelby's Law," but none have gone to trial, which leaves the statute as yet unproven before a jury and untested by an appellate court.

However, Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clinton, said the law is doing exactly what it is supposed to by giving prosecutors a "bargaining chip" when bringing charges against someone accused of killing a child.

"I think it is serving its purpose," said Ray, who sponsored the 2007 bill. "Nobody has said, 'This is not effective' or 'There's a flaw and we can't use it.' "

Some have been critical of the law, saying it is unconstitutional for a defendant to be condemned to death if they never intended to kill the child. The attorneys for Nathan Sloop, who earlier this year admitted that he caused the death of his 4-year-old stepson, Ethan Stacy, had said they had planned to challenge the law had the case gone to trial, however, Sloop ultimately took a plea deal.

Of the five charged under the 2007 statute, two people — Stephanie and Nathan Sloop — took plea deals and pleaded guilty to aggravated murder under the Shelby's Law statute, while two others — Victor Gardea in 2009, and Jeremy Marshall in 2014 — resolved their cases by pleading guilty to first-degree felony murder, admitting that they "knowingly or intentionally" caused the children's deaths.

All four defendants were sentenced to spend up to life in the Utah State Prison.

The fifth defendant, Sun Cha Warhola, a Layton mother accused of killing her two children in 2010, is also charged under Shelby's Law, but her case stalled after a judge ruled she is not competent to stand trial. A competency review hearing is set for June 2015.

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Shelby Andrews • Shelby's Law is named after 10-year-old Shelby Andrews, who died in 2006 in Syracuse after a year of abuse at the hands of her parents.

In an effort to control and discipline the girl, her father and stepmother beat her, forced her to eat her own feces and shut her inside a cramped linen closet.

Ryan and Angela Andrews did not face a potential death sentence because existing law did not allow prosecutors to file aggravated murder charges unless they could prove the parents intended for the girl to die. The Andrewses pleaded guilty to first-degree felony murder and were sentenced to spend 15 years to life in prison.

Paul Boyden, executive director of the Statewide Association of Prosecutors, has said that there was public outrage over Shelby's death, and people questioned why the parents could not be charged with a capital crime. That public outrage spurred Utah lawmakers to craft Shelby's Law, which was signed into law by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.

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Intent • With the Shelby's Law amendment to Utah's homicide statute, the death penalty can now be sought without prosecutors having to prove a killing was intentional.

When filing a traditional first-degree felony aggravated murder charge, state law says prosecutors must show that the defendant "intentionally or knowingly" caused someone's death. With Shelby's Law, it must only be proven that the defendant was a "major participant" in a death, and that he or she acted with "reckless indifference to human life."

"For any other death penalty case, it has to be an intentional kill," Boyden said in an interview with The Tribune last year. "You have to intentionally kill them. In this classification, it is 'reckless indifference to human life,' and there has to be causation. They have to cause the death and the person has to be a major participant in the commission of the crime."

Last July, Nathan Sloop's attorney Richard Mauro attacked Shelby's Law during oral arguments at his client's preliminary hearing, saying the law was too broad, "very poorly written," and that the term "reckless indifference to human life" is never defined in the statute.

"We don't have a definition or limiting factor," he said.

Kent Hart, executive director of the Utah Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, also said the language in the current statute is problematic.

"It doesn't narrow the class of people who should be eligible for the death penalty," Hart said last week. "Maybe they had 'reckless indifference,' but what is a 'major player'? More than 51 percent involved? I don't know, it's just kind of fuzzy."

Hart added that the death penalty is designed for the "worst of the worst," and not every murder case is eligible for the death penalty unless there is some aggravating factor.

"There has to be a specific classification that distinguishes them from the run-of-the-mill murder," he said.

Mauro said last year that he planned to argue that it violated Nathan Sloop's constitutional rights to be put to death for an unintentional murder, but Ray was dismissive of this constitutional argument, chalking it up to a "desperate defense attorney" claim.

"There's nothing anywhere that states that with the death penalty, that you have to prove intent to kill," he said last week.

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Risk? • After Stephanie Sloop took a plea deal in her case last Monday — pleading guilty to aggravated murder and obstruction of justice in Ethan's death — Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings said the Layton woman's attorneys would have made a similar challenge to the constitutionality of Shelby's Law, if the case had gone to trial.

Rawlings said that prosecutors do "have issues and concerns" with the law, and said the Sloops' plea deals were offered in part because of those concerns, along with the couple's potential defenses — that Nathan Sloop had mental health issues and Stephanie Sloop suffered from "battered spouse syndrome."

"Nobody wants to take it off the books," Rawlings said of Shelby's Law. "We all think there is a chance that the constitutionality of it might be upheld. But with this particular case, we didn't want to run that risk and be looking at doing another trial all over again."

Rawlings added that he has not heard of anyone advocating that the law be changed, and said the Utah attorney general's office is prepared and "willing to take on that battle" to defend the law, if a case were to be taken to the Utah Supreme Court.

"[But] all of us acknowledged the honest, frank reality that the constitutionality of it is somewhat questionable and we don't know what would happen on appeal," he said in regard to Stephanie Sloop's case.

Ray said he would expect an appeal of Shelby's Law if a future case goes to trial, but he said he is confident the law would hold up.

"It's working as it should," he said. "There's zero concern. If it ever does go to a challenge, we would prevail."

But Hart said those legal challenges in death penalty cases end up being a costly endeavor for Utah taxpayers.

"That is why we have the death penalty in Utah, so that prosecutors can bargain," Hart complained. "The cost of these cases are horrendous. Prosecutors ought to be able to do their job without hanging this incredibly expensive hammer over people's heads. ... I think every citizen in Utah should ask if the death penalty is worth the price. Ultimately, if we are giving life sentences anyway, why are we spending all the money?"

jmiller@sltrib.com Twitter: @jm_miller —

Shelby's Law

Five people have been charged with aggravated murder under "Shelby's Law," according to Utah court officials:

Victor Gardea • In 2008, Gardea killed his 4-month-old daughter after punching her twice when she would not stop crying. The Provo man pleaded guilty to first-degree felony murder and was sentenced to spend 15 years to life in the Utah State Prison.

Nathan and Stephanie Sloop • The Layton couple was charged in 2010 after 4-year-old Ethan Stacy's badly beaten body was found buried in a shallow grave near a Weber County ski resort. The couple was accused of beating, burning, drugging, isolating and malnourishing the boy in the days before his death. Nathan Sloop pleaded guilty to aggravated murder in February, and was sentenced to spend 25 years to life in prison. Stephanie Sloop pleaded guilty to the same charge last Monday, and was given a 20-year-to-life prison sentence.

Sun Cha Warhola • The Layton mother is accused of strangling her 8-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter in 2010, and is charged with two counts of first-degree felony aggravated murder. She was found incompetent to stand trial on the charges in 2011, and has a competency review hearing in June 2015.

Jeremy Marshall • Kennedy Lucille "Baby K" Marshall died in 2011 after Jeremy Marshall shook his girlfriend's child and hit her head on her crib. The Ogden man pleaded guilty to first-degree felony murder and was sentenced to spend 15 years to life in prison.