ST. GEORGE — A 38-year-old St. George man pleaded guilty to first-degree murder after a man was beaten to death in Emery County in July 2023 — an incident witnessed by the defendant’s minor son.
File photo shows Emery County Courthouse in Castle Dale, Utah, date not specified | Photo by Flickr, St. George News
Zachary James Tuttle appeared in 7th District Court in Castle Dale Friday and entered a guilty plea to first-degree murder. The remaining charges — aggravated kidnapping, aggravated child abuse and obstruction of justice — were dismissed in exchange for the guilty plea.
The incident
Emery County Sheriff’s Office responded July 22, 2023, to a store in Castle Dale and were met by a distraught juvenile who was waiting outside. He told police that his father, Tuttle, had been fighting with an individual and beat the man “pretty bad,” according to the arrest documents filed at the time of the arrest.
Deputies went to the victim’s home on North 300 East in Castle Dale, where they were met by Tuttle, who approached the front door from the hallway with “blood on his hands.”
When deputies asked about the homeowner, Tuttle reportedly said the man “was good.” Deputies entered the home and began calling out for the victim and noticed “a lot of blood in the hallway — the same hallway where I saw Zach come from,” the deputy wrote, and further into the home they found the victim lying face-up in a pool of blood and severely beaten.
When the deputy checked for a pulse he found none, nor did he find any other signs of life. Emergency medical responders later confirmed the man had died.
Tuttle was arrested and transported to the Emery County Jail in Castle Dale facing multiple charges.
Meanwhile, deputies spoke to the juvenile who said that during the altercation, the defendant backhanded him in the jaw, which knocked him into the wall. When the boy tried to back away, he said Tuttle followed him and told the boy to go and sit on the couch “or he would kill him.” Tuttle returned to where the victim was lying and started punching the man in the face, while the juvenile was eventually able to run out of the house to get help.
Following the arrest, protective orders were filed in the case and the victim has yet to be identified in the court record.
Competency and continuances
By October, Tuttle’s defense attorney, Aaron Wise, became concerned that his client was not competent enough to proceed with the case and filed a petition for a competency evaluation.
The petition was based on conversations between the attorney and Tuttle at the jail, during which the attorney wrote that Tuttle appeared to be suffering from some delusions and couldn’t focus enough to discuss the case.
At one point, the defendant mentioned having been a federal marshal, Wise wrote, which Tuttle had never been, to the attorney’s knowledge. This left Wise to suspect that Tuttle may not have the mental capacity to know the reality of circumstances around him, or that he would be capable of assisting in his own defense.
Wise also wrote Tuttle was not competent enough to have a factual understanding of the proceedings, nor would he understand any specific punishment if one were rendered in the case.
In response, the court appointed two psychologists to examine the defendant and a report was to be presented at a competency hearing scheduled for December.
During the hearing, the findings were submitted indicating that Tuttle was competent to answer to the charges as filed and the court ordered the case to proceed.
Stock image | St. George News
Over the next four months the case was marred by motions to continue scheduled hearings until April 17, when the final motion was denied. During a preliminary hearing three weeks later, Wise told the court his client wished to waive the preliminary hearing and Tuttle was ordered to answer to the charges.
It was during that hearing that Tuttle pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder charge, while the remaining charges were dismissed in the case.
A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for June 26 in 7th District Court in Castle.
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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