News

Actions

Roman pleads to 3 charges, faces trial in deputy’s murder

Posted at 4:22 PM, Jan 12, 2017
and last updated 2017-01-12 18:27:33-05

SALT LAKE CITY — A man accused in the death of a Millard County Sheriff’s deputy pleaded guilty to three charges, but will go on trial later this month on eight others, including intentionally killing a law enforcement officer.

Roberto Roman pleaded guilty to firearms and immigration violations during an appearance in U.S. District Court on Thursday. It happened a day after he was scheduled to plead. His attorney asked for a delay Wednesday, indicating to U.S. Magistrate Judge Dustin Pead that a plea deal was being contemplated.

File Photo: Roberto Miramontes Roman

Roberto Roman during his 2012 trial. (Courtroom pool photo via Salt Lake Tribune)

It apparently didn’t come together. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Utah insisted Thursday that no deal was offered. Roman’s attorney, Stephen McCaughey, said his client has constantly maintained his innocence.

Roman will now go on trial at the end of the month on the remaining counts in the indictment, accused of the 2010 murder of Millard County Sheriff’s deputy Josie Greathouse Fox. She was shot-and-killed during a traffic stop outside Delta.

Roman was acquitted of aggravated murder in state court, but convicted on lesser drug charges. He claimed at his 2012 trial that Deputy Fox’s brother, Ryan Greathouse, shot her after he and Greathouse had been doing drugs together.

Roman challenged the federal indictment against him, but a judge ruled that it did not constitute double jeopardy. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver upheld that decision.