Addict is guilty of Utahn's murder

SALT LAKE CITY — A jury returned three guilty verdicts Thursday in the case of Michael Jones, an admitted drug dealer who killed Tara Brennan six years ago this month.

The four-man, four-woman jury deliberated just 3 1/2 hours before convicting Jones of murder and aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony, along with distribution of a controlled substance, a second-degree felony.

Jones will be sentenced April 16.

Frances Nilson, the dead woman's mother, wept as the verdict was read.

Outside the courtroom, she said that justice had been served.

"My feeling is that I am just so grateful to a detective, to the prosecutors, to a crime lab, who worked so hard," Nilson said. "I've waited six years for justice, and I'm so glad that it's over."

As for Jones' sentence, Nilson said she would leave it up to the judge to decide his fate.

Prosecutor Katherine Bernards-Goodman told the jury during closing arguments at the end of the four-day trial that the inside of Brennan's car held the key clues that pointed to Jones — especially his DNA on a cigarette butt, his DNA under Brennan's fingernails, and his DNA on the belt that was used to strangle Brennan.

Prosecutor Katherine Bernards-Goodman told the jury during closing arguments at the end of the four-day trial that the inside of Brennan's car held the key clues that pointed to Jones in the Feb. 24, 2004, crime — especially his DNA on a cigarette butt, his DNA under Brennan's fingernails, and his DNA on the belt that was used to strangle Brennan.

Jones was desperate for the $200 in Brennan's wallet, and drug addicts do desperate things, Bernards-Goodman said.

"When you are a drug addict, money is your master," she said. "That $200 in her wallet is his fix for today and tomorrow. He isn't worried about losing a customer. There are plenty of people driving to Pioneer Park looking for drugs."

Bernards-Goodman said this was a violent crime and, to people who are not substance abusers, killing someone for $200 does not make sense.

"Who does such a thing?" the prosecutor asked. "A doped-up drug addict."

Brennan's car was found by Poplar Grove Park, near 800 South and 1200 West, with a window rolled down. Jones told police Brennan had come to him at a homeless shelter seeking drugs and he helped her buy crack cocaine, which they smoked in her car. They also shared a cigarette, he told police.

However, Jones has insisted all along that Brennan was "fine" when he got out of the vehicle and left.

The 28-year-old woman had graduated from Stanford University, and while there, she became addicted to cocaine. After going into various drug rehabilitation programs in California, she returned to her mother's home in Utah to take part in a 12-step program.