MacGuire admits guilt in death of ex-wife, fetus

Roger Martin MacGuire has officially said he's guilty in the fatal shooting of his ex-wife and the baby she was carrying, and he could end up with a life sentence that includes the possibility of parole — but only after serving a lengthy prison term.

MacGuire this week pleaded guilty to one count of capital homicide for gunning down Susan MacGuire, an admission that carries a possible prison sentence of 20 years to life. He also admitted he was guilty of one count of first-degree felony murder in the case of the unborn child she was carrying after he fired bullets into Susan MacGuire's abdomen. That charge carries a potential penalty of five years to life.

Roger MacGuire, 50, confessed to a friend and a police officer only minutes after shooting his ex-wife Jan. 15, 2001, in the Layton office where she worked, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing.

His attorneys appealed his case, challenging the fact that MacGuire had been charged with two counts of capital homicide. Their arguments were that only one count of capital homicide could apply because the law did not define when a fetus becomes a human being and, since Susan MacGuire was about 3 1/2 months pregnant, the unborn child could not survive outside the womb.

The case prompted the Utah State Legislature to revisit the homicide law, and legislators amended it to include the phrase "at any stage of development" to clearly define that an unborn baby was a person.

The Utah Supreme Court in a landmark decision this January ruled that the state's homicide law "clearly encompasses a human being at any stage of development in utero."

Susan MacGuire was pregnant by her fianc and had planned to marry him one month later on Valentine's Day.

Prosecutors chose to remove the death penalty from the table in this case, and negotiations have been under way for some time to arrange a plea agreement.

Davis County Attorney Mel Wilson said prosecutors agreed not to pursue a recommendation of a life sentence without the possibility of parole. But Wilson said he plans to write to the state's board of pardons asking that Roger MacGuire spend a minimum of 25 years in prison before he is considered for parole — 20 years for Susan MacGuire and five years for the unborn child.

"We agreed to submit to the discretion of the court as to sentencing as to whether these should run consecutively or concurrently, or whether weapons enhancements (which would add another year to the five-years-to-life term) should be imposed," Wilson said.

Second District Judge Michael Allphin must decide Oct. 21 what sentence Roger MacGuire will receive.