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Teen accused in Utah County sergeant’s murder to go to trial

Posted at 8:57 PM, Mar 30, 2015
and last updated 2015-03-30 22:57:43-04

PROVO, Utah -- The case of a Draper teen involved in the fatal shooting of Utah County Sheriff's Sgt. Cory Wride is headed to trial on murder charges.

Meagan Grunwald went before a judge Monday for a final pretrial hearing. This was the 18-year-old’s last court appearance before her trial, which is set to begin next month.

Prosecutors have offered Grunwald a plea deal but she and her attorney to-date have refused.

The Draper teen, who was 17 at the time of the shooting is facing murder charges in addition to several other felonies after investigators say she helped her boyfriend Jose Angel Garcia-Juaregui ambush and kill Wride in January of last year.

Juargui was killed in a shootout with police.

The judge ruled Monday on all motions in terms of which evidence would be permitted in the trial.

Prosecutors seem pleased with where the case stands as they prepare to head into trial.

"This is a very difficult case for so many reasons emotionally and in terms of compass liability, which is not a common method of charging a case but we feel that we have all of our ducks in a row and most of the evidence we wanted ready to go,” said Sam Pead, Utah County deputy attorney.

Grunwald’s attorney, Rhome Zabriskie also seems confident.

“We've been working on this for a long time now there's not going to be any surprises in the case at this point for either side,” he said.

Deputy Greg Sherwood was also injured in the shootout with Grunwald's boyfriend but survived.

The Trial is set for April 28.