SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Attorney General’s Office will not appeal a judge’s decision to drop the manslaughter case against former West Valley City Police Department detective Shaun Cowley.
Cowley was one of two officers involved in the fatal shooting of Danielle Willard, and last month a judge dismissed a manslaughter charge against Cowley. The Salt Lake County District Attorney had ruled the shooting as not being justified.
Sim Gill, Salt Lake County DA, asked the Attorney General’s Office to determine whether the judge used the right standards to dismiss the case.
“At the end of the day to bring closure to this we have to go through and exhaust the process… For our office this brings this matter to a conclusion and closes the matter out,” Gill said.
Cowley’s attorney, Lindsay Jarvis, said her team and Cowley are relieved the, “political prosecution is finally over.”
Jarvis said they were confident the Attorney General’s Office would see the judge’s ruling was appropriate.
