By Tracie Sullivan, For Iron County Today
A 5th District judge has ruled that Matthew Sorber-Petrie, accused in the January shooting death of 17-year-old KayLee Dutton, will stand trial on murder and multiple firearm charges.
In an oral ruling issued this week, Judge Meb Anderson rejected defense arguments that the charges violated Sorber-Petrie’s due process rights.
“Mr. Sorber-Petrie’s arguments have no basis in Utah law,” Anderson said, noting that accomplice liability is not treated as a separate offense under state statute. “It is well settled that accomplices incur the same liability as principals.”
Under Utah law, that means a person can be held just as responsible for a crime if prosecutors show they helped plan it, provided the weapon, or encouraged the act — even if they weren’t the one who pulled the trigger.
The judge cited case law including State v. Gonzalez (2002) and Utah’s accomplice liability statute, adding: “Mr. Sorber-Petrie has adequate notice of the charges against him, and the state’s second amended information does not violate his due process rights.”
After reviewing evidence from the August preliminary hearing, Anderson ruled the state had met the burden of probable cause.
That standard allows a case to proceed if prosecutors show enough evidence that a crime likely occurred and the defendant may have been involved. It is a far lower threshold than at trial, where guilt must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
“The state provided evidence that Mr. Sorber-Petrie not only helped plan this attack, but he may have been the driving force in the paranoia that brought it about,” Anderson said. “Evidence was presented that he recklessly supplied the firearm used in the attack … and that he encouraged or desired that outcome.”
Dutton was shot five times and died at the scene. Her passenger, Sydney Neal, survived but told the court she suffered two physical injuries related to the gunfire.
Following the August 29 preliminary hearing, Anderson had already bound Sorber-Petrie over on six counts, including obstruction of justice and weapons charges. With his latest ruling, he ordered the 23-year-old bound over on the remaining counts: one charge of murder and seven counts of felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, all first-degree felonies.
Sorber-Petrie is scheduled for arraignment Oct. 21 at 1:30 p.m., to be held by WebEx.