This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
St. George • A southern Utah man has been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison after being convicted of murder in the death of a woman whose throat was cut during a night of violence that left two women dead.
The Spectrum reports that 35-year-old Brandon Perry Smith was sentenced Wednesday.
Smith was convicted in February of the death of 20-year-old Jerrica Christensen, who was killed while helping acquaintances move out of a St. George town home in 2010.
Prosecutors sought the death penalty, but they dropped it so the case could move quicker.
Smith's lawyers said he was manipulated by a friend who was later convicted in the death of 27-year-old Brandie Sue Dawn Jerden. A man was also shot that night but survived.