Federal judge rejects victim request in Trolley Square gun case

A request by Vanessa Quinn's parents to be recognized as victims in a federal gun case involving the Trolley Square mall massacre has been denied.

In a ruling issued Thursday afternoon, U.S. District Court Judge Dale Kimball denied a request by Ken and Sue Antrobus to legally recognize them as victims in Mackenzie Hunter's gun case.

"Because the court concludes that Quinn is not a 'crime victim' under the (Crime Victims Rights Act) and there is no basis for exercising its discretion to allow allocution at sentencing, the court denies the Antrobuses' motion to have Vanessa Quinn recognized as a crime victim, to be recognized as her representative, to make an in-court victim impact statement, and to receive restitution," Kimball wrote in his order.

Explaining his decision, the judge said that when he sold 18-year-old Sulejman Talovic the .38 Special that was later used to kill Quinn, Hunter did not know at the time what the gun would be used for.

"Quinn and the Antrobuses are undoubtedly the victims of Sulejman Talovic's crimes," Kimball wrote. "But the nexus between Hunter's act of selling a firearm to a minor and Talovic's deadly rampage at a shopping mall eight months later is too factually and temporally attenuated."

Hunter, 20, pleaded guilty earlier this year to selling Talovic the handgun. Federal prosecutors have said that Hunter believed at the time that Talovic was going to use it to rob a bank, not go on the Feb. 12 shooting rampage at Trolley Square that killed five people and wounded four others. Talovic was shot and killed by police.

Three other people have pleaded guilty to federal charges in the case, including a West Valley City gun dealer who sold Talovic the shotgun, which was primarily used in the killing spree.

In a letter to the judge, the Antrobuses asserted that they are victims, and sought to speak at his Jan. 14 sentencing, recommending 99 months in federal prison and seeking $107,000 in restitution.

"My husband and I cry every day, we struggle to get through each and every day, you wake up with it, you carry it through your day and it goes to bed with you every night," Sue Antrobus wrote. "All you can do is hope tomorrow will be a little easier then (sic) today. February 12 has never ended for us; it feels like one long continuous day that will never end."

The judge took note of the pain of the victims' families, but said that Talovic alone was responsible for the mayhem.

The Antrobuses' attorney, Greg Skordas, called the decision "disappointing."

"We knew that this was a difficult case," he told the Deseret Morning News late Thursday. "We understood this was a new area of law. It's something that hasn't been addressed before."

In court documents, Skordas said the Antrobuses would likely file an emergency appeal to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. Skordas said that he would speak with his clients before making a final decision.

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com