SALT LAKE CITY — A 3rd District Court judge on Thursday dismissed the case against former West Valley City Detective Shaun Cowley, who was charged with second-degree felony manslaughter for killing an unarmed 21-year-old Vancouver woman, Danielle Willard, on Nov. 2, 2012.
Judge L.A. Dever’s decision was based on three days of preliminary hearing testimony that ended Wednesday.
Before announcing his decision, Dever went over the manslaughter charge filed by prosecutors, which provided two theories: that Cowley allegedly recklessly caused Willard’s death; or in the alternate, that Cowley caused the woman’s death under a reasonable belief that his actions were justified, though they were not.
“This is not a case of the defendant acting recklessly,” the judge wrote in his ruling. “The testimony establishes that the defendant consciously and deliberately acted.”
Dever added that there was no evidence presented to establish that the “conduct was not legally justifiable,” and said that prosecutors did not establish probable cause that Cowley committed a crime.
In his ruling, Dever outlined the facts of the case: that Cowley and partner Kevin Salmon were undercover and had attempted to make contact with Willard — whom they believed had just purchased drugs — before she put her car into reverse and tried to flee the area.
Minutes after the ruling, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill released a statement, saying, “We respect the process of our judicial system even if it produces results that we may not agree with. As I have always said, the process needs to be respected, they are the rules by which we engage when we have differences of opinions.
“We filed the criminal charges that we believed were appropriate. Consistent with our system of law, we accept the Court’s determination.”
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