Teen will face trial in shooting death

WEST JORDAN — An 18-year-old man accused of shooting and killing his girlfriend during a party at his apartment after she refused to have sex with him was bound over for trial during a preliminary hearing Wednesday.

Third District Court Judge Terry Christiansen found there was sufficient probable cause to advance the case against Parley Jeff Dutson on the charges of criminal homicide and aggravated sexual assault, both first-degree felonies.

He is accused of the April 7 shooting death of 15-year-old Kara Hopkins at the Willow Cove Apartments near 9300 S. Redwood Road.

During Wednesday's preliminary hearing, four people who were at Dutson's apartment the night of the shooting, including cousins and long-time friends, gave similar accounts of Dutson being high from taking hallucinogenic mushrooms and smoking marijuana prior to the shooting. Each gave similar accounts of Dutson being paranoid about someone named "Curtis" who was coming over to the apartment to "get him," prompting him to carry a gun in his waistband for 30 to 45 minutes before the slaying.

Also during that time, Hopkins continually rejected Dutson's requests for sex, which he demanded in crude, blunt terms, according to witnesses. At one point he began waving his gun around the room and pointed it at Hopkins before dropping it to his side, witnesses said. That pattern of pointing the gun at Hopkins and dropping it continued for several minutes.

At one point, when the gun was at his side, Hopkins began walking away from Dutson with her back turned to him, when Dutson suddenly lifted the gun again and shot her in the back of the head, witnesses said. Just prior to the shooting, another friend was trying to get the gun away from Dutson by convincing him that no one was coming over to harm him.

"Well, Kara's coming," were Dutson's final words before firing according to 16-year-old Michelle Raynolds. After he fired, Dutson continued to say, "I love you Kara," according to her friend.

Several witnesses testified that Dutson had eaten the "caps" off four hallucinogenic mushrooms before the party while others had mixed up what was described as "mushroom tea." Those who went to the party say from the minute they walked in they saw an obvious change in the normally quiet, laid-back Dutson.

"Parley's eyes were red and he was slurring (his words)," said 16-year-old Cody Rabbit.

"I knew that he was high," concurred 19-year-old Daniel Pipkin.