Defense team for accused police-killer calls Utah County “un-American” for limiting hours on the case
Dec 3, 2025, 6:50 PM | Updated: 6:59 pm
Michael Aaron Jayne, the Indiana man accused of intentionally running down and killing a Santaquin police officer, was holding a woman against her will when officers pulled him over, according to the Utah County Sheriff's Office. (Utah Department of Public Safety)
(Utah Department of Public Safety)
SALT LAKE CITY — The defense team for a man accused of killing a Santaquin Police Sergeant wants more funding to handle the case.
The defense team for Michael Jayne, who is charged with capital murder for the death of Santaquin Police Sgt. Bill Hooser, is pushing Utah County for more funding and the same type of treatment they say accused Charlie Kirk assassin, Tyler Robinson, is receiving.
On Nov. 20, J.G. Askar, one of Jayne’s attorneys at the time, filed a motion requesting more funds to allow the team to spend more time on the case. Askar accused the county of being “un-American” for limiting the time Jayne’s team could spend on the case, but not limiting Robinson’s team. A footnote in the motion reads:
“Could anything be more un-American than Utah County trying to tell Mr. Jayne, ‘We’ve arbitrarily decided your attorneys can only spend so much time on your case — even though we’re totally fine letting Tyler’s attorneys choose how much time they need to allocate toward his defense’ …?”
Utah County has not granted the request. Five days after filing the motion, Askar requested to withdraw from the case, which was granted.
Jayne still has two other attorneys on the case, Rudy Bautista and Jonathan Nish.
