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The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday agreed the parents of a woman killed in the Trolley Square shootings cannot speak at the sentencing of a man who illegally sold a handgun to the killer.
A three-judge panel of the Denver-based court described the case as "difficult." However, it decided, U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball in Salt Lake City was not "clearly wrong" in his conclusion that Vanessa Quinn was not a victim of the gun sale eight months earlier.
Mackenzie Glade Hunter has pleaded guilty to two charges in connection with his sale of a .38-caliber Smith & Wesson to Sulejman Talovic, who killed five shoppers and injured four at Trolley Square mall on Feb. 12.
Quinn, 29, was the only one killed with the handgun. Parents Sue and Ken Antrobus of Cincinnati hoped designating her a victim under the federal Crime Victims' Rights Act (CVRA) would allow them to argue for a stiffer sentence of 99 months for Hunter.
Sue Antrobus said Friday she is disappointed, adding that a long sentence could help prevent the illegal transfer of guns.
"If you can just stop one gun from getting on the streets, you might save one life or maybe 10," Antrobus said.
Paul Cassell, a University of Utah law professor representing the Antrobuses, said he plans to ask the full 10th Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court to review the appeal because courts have differed on what standards should apply to CVRA cases.
"Sadly, it appears that the Antrobuses would have won if their case had been filed in New York or California," he said.
Appellate Judge Timothy Tymkovich joined the unanimous decision but criticized Kimball and prosecutors for not giving the Antrobuses access to evidence that might show Talovic's crime was a "reasonably foreseeable result of the illegal gun sale."
Hunter thought Talovic might use the gun to rob a bank, a crime that reasonably could result in a shooting, Tymkovich noted. Kimball had declined to release sections of a pre-sentence report to the couple.
Melodie Rydalch, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Utah, said requests for such information must be made under the federal Freedom of Information Act and sent to the Department of Justice for an expedited review.
"The Crime Victims' Rights Act does not provide an avenue for the U.S. Attorney's Office to provide criminal investigative reports to a victim," she said in a statement.
* Mackenzie Glade Hunter, 20, will be sentenced Monday; he has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of transferring a handgun to a juvenile - Trolley Square gunman Sulejman Talovic, then 17 - and a felony count of being a drug user in possession of a gun.
* Prosecutors contend the gun was stolen and seek an enhanced term of 15 months; Hunter's attorney wants up to nine months, saying Hunter bought the gun from the owner's son.
Four men were accused of illegally selling Sulejman Talovic the two guns he used in the Trolley Square shootings. Mackenzie Hunter is the last to be sentenced; the others each received one year of probation and fines.
* Brenden Taylor Brown, 21, of West Jordan, sold the handgun with Hunter to Talovic. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of selling a handgun to a minor.
* Matthew Hautala, 21, of Rock Springs, Wyo., saw Hunter acquire the handgun in Wyoming. He pleaded guilty to aiding in the transfer of a firearm to a juvenile.
* Westley Wayne Hill, 39, is a licensed gun dealer and sold Talovic a pistol-grip shotgun at Sportsman's Fast Cash Pawn in West Valley City. He pleaded guilty to failing to indicate on a form whether Talovic showed a second form of identification, required because Talovic, a Bosnian, was a legal alien.