UTAH -- A man was found guilty in Federal Court Tuesday for the murder of a Millard County sheriff's deputy in 2010.
It’s a complete reversal of what happened in state court in 2012 when Roberto Roman was found not guilty of the murder of Deputy Josie Greathouse Fox.
Fox was Millard County’s first female deputy. She was also the first woman in Utah law enforcement to be killed in the line of duty.
“For seven years we have waited for justice in Utah, the family, the county and all the people of Utah have waited for this day," said U.S Attorney John Huber.
Millard County has had a rallying cry of "Justice For Josie" ever since 37-year-old Fox was shot and killed during a traffic stop near Delta on January 5th, 2010.
“This brings to end an ugly chapter in the law enforcement history of Millard County," said Millard County Sheriff Robert Dekker.
Roman was found guilty on all eight counts against him.
Dekker said one word sums up the verdict: "peace."
“From the time my phone rang that morning January 5, until now, I haven’t felt that and I do now," said Dekker.
According to the county and the Fox family, there was a time they wondered if there’d ever justice.
In 2012, Romano was found not guilty in state court. He blamed Fox’s brother, Ryan Greathouse, for the murder. Ryan committed suicide three months after his sister’s death.
“Today justice was also served in that regard, that this complete and utter fabrication was proven and found to be false," said Huber.
The defense attorney said he didn’t think it was fair that Roman was tried a second time for the exact same crime.
“It is double jeopardy and that’s what we saw but the jury saw the evidence and came to the verdict and we’ll live with it," said Steve McCaughey.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said legally, the state and the federal government have the right to their own trials.
“We went through a process to gain approval to seek this prosecution and pursue it, it’s a rare event but we do it when called for," said Huber.
Both attorneys agreed that this time around there was much more concentration on Roman’s story of what happened that night.
“I think they had more evidence and more experts and they concentrated on his defense," said McCaughey.
Roman will be back in court for sentencing on April 27.
