ST. GEORGE — The teen charged with aggravated murder in the fatal shooting of a man inside his Washington City apartment made an initial appearance in 5th District Court where he has been charged as an adult.
Simeon Gail Calnimptewa, 17, appeared via video from the Washington County Juvenile Detention Center where he has been held since his early-morning arrest on June 30 by officers in Washington City. Calnimptewa faces six first-degree felonies, including aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and three counts of discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury.
District Judge Eric A. Ludlow presided over the Monday morning proceedings.
The case was filed following a shooting reported in one of the units of an apartment complex on North Red Trail in Washington City where officers found a man in the kitchen with a number of gunshot wounds who later succumbed to his injuries, according to charging documents filed at the time of the arrest.
The victim was later identified as 30-year-0ld Bransen Bryels-Nechanicky, who was shot and killed in his apartment, according to a statement released July 3 by Washington City Police Department officer and spokesperson Greg Lovell.
The report alleges the victim was shot during the early morning hours of June 30 when he and his girlfriend returned home and encountered the teen during what appeared to be a burglary in progress.
Within seconds of entering the apartment, the victims found a pile of their belongings in the living room and then encountered the suspect wearing a ski mask and a dark-colored hoodie walking out of one of the bedrooms and pointing a gun in their direction.
As soon as the intruder was confronted, a physical altercation ensued and the suspect reportedly shot the man at least three times. The suspect then ordered the woman to open the apartment door at gunpoint, grabbed a jar of money and fled the apartment on foot, the report said.
Officers found the teen asleep in the apartment unit he lived in with his family and he was taken into custody and transported to the Washington County Juvenile Detention Center.
The Washington City Police Department called the case a “tragic homicide” and as such, the Washington County Attorney’s Office filed the aggravated murder charge, thus requiring Calnimptewa to be charged as an adult.
In Utah, whenever a 16- or 17-year-old juvenile has been charged with murder or aggravated murder, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 25 years to life, the minor must be charged as an adult, according to documents filed on July 3, by Deputy Washington County Attorney Lane Wood, who is the prosecutor in the case.
Moreover, the state cannot seek the death penalty when a case involves a minor, since the court is prohibited from imposing such a sentence, nor can a minor be sentenced to life without parole under Utah law.
During the hearing Monday, Wood represented the state, while the defendant told the court his family was working on retaining an attorney to represent him.
Due to the seriousness of the charges, the judge then appointed defense attorneys Douglas Terry and Ryan Stout to serve as temporary counsel while the family works to retain a private attorney. The defendant was ordered to remain in custody at the juvenile detention center and a review hearing will be scheduled in the case.
This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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