Landmark Utah sentence

FARMINGTON — Roger Martin MacGuire was sentenced to prison Thursday in a landmark murder case that changed Utah law regarding when human life starts.

Second District Judge Michael Allphin sentenced MacGuire to 20 years to life for the capital murder shooting death of MacGuire's ex-wife, Susan, and six years to life for deliberately killing the unborn baby she was carrying, a first-degree felony homicide.

The sentences will run concurrently, and the judge gave MacGuire, 50, credit for the more than three years behind bars in the Davis County Jail.

At the time she died in 2001, Susan MacGuire was about 13 to 15 weeks pregnant by another man she planned to marry.

Roger MacGuire originally was charged with two counts of capital murder, one of which he appealed early in the case. He argued he could not be charged with homicide at all regarding the fetus because Utah's law did not clearly define who was covered by the term "unborn child."

However, the Utah Supreme Court rejected that idea and ruled that the 1983 murder statute had obviously been written with the unborn child language intended to cover all fetuses.

"The common-sense meaning of the term 'unborn child' is a human being at any stage of development in utero," the ruling states.

The Utah State Legislature in 2002 amended state law to distinctly state that it covers a fetus "at any stage of its development."

Prosecutors took the death penalty off the table as part of a plea bargain that all parties agreed would spare the families involved from going through a trial.

MacGuire had appeared cheerful and almost unconcerned about the proceedings during some previous court appearances. But he was somber at his sentencing, hands shaking as he tearfully read a statement to the court, apologizing for his actions and the suffering he has caused.

"I hold myself accountable for this appalling tragedy, for her murder and the life of the child that died with her," MacGuire said, turning to face Susan MacGuire's relatives in court.

Recalling his ex-wife as having a "magical charm and charisma," MacGuire lamented the fact that his "horrific, outrageous" act deprived Susan MacGuire's six other children of her company, as well as her parents, Doreen and Gordon Christensen, and her three siblings.

While in jail, MacGuire has embraced the Jehovah's Witness faith and through scripture study has become a changed man, said his spiritual adviser, Keith Iarussi.