Trial ordered in Wasatch County killing

HEBER CITY — The prosecution moved forward Wednesday toward trial of a man who authorities say gave the "green light" for the murder of a woman at Jordanelle State Park last December.

Joshua Binkerd, 23, was bound over for trial in 4th District Court on a charge of aggravated murder, a first-degree felony.

Judge Derek Pullan moved the case forward after weighing the status of an hour-long videotaped interview of Binkerd's self-described "partner in crime," 20-year-old Christopher Alvey.

Shortly after the April interview, Alvey pleaded guilty to aggravated murder, admitting he shot Ashley Sparks, 21, several times. He was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole and agreed to testify against Binkerd.

On the tape played in court Wednesday, Alvey tells investigators he and Binkerd first met Sparks several months before the slaying when she came to their house looking for a pipe to smoke methamphetamine. She developed a romantic interest in Binkerd that was somewhat returned, Alvey said.

But according to Alvey, Sparks eventually became an annoyance, and then an outright threat when she told the men she was "snitching" to cops about their drug-selling and check-forging operations. At times on the video, Alvey says he and Binkerd had "an equal partnership," while at others he says Binkerd was "the boss" of their two-man gang.

Regardless, Alvey says he obeyed an order from Binkerd to kill Sparks after two associates learned she had copied numbers from their phones and had a tape recorder. According to Alvey, Binkerd said, "Don't let her come back."

But Binkerd's defense attorney, Edward Jones, argued that Alvey, who said he smoked meth every day, was so high he misinterpreted Binkerd's suggestion to ditch Sparks in a remote location, as they had done in the past.

Most telling, according to Jones, is Binkerd's statement to Alvey that he did not want Sparks to find out where he was living.

"If he did want her killed, it wouldn't matter if she came to his apartment or not," Jones said.

Instead, Binkerd had his associates drop Sparks off down the street from his apartment in Taylorsville. Alvey said he then drove her up to the park in a van and ordered her out.

"I told her to walk toward the lake," Alvey said. "She turned around, I pulled the trigger and then the rest is just a blur."

He said the next thing he remembered was calling Binkerd on the drive back to say, "It's done."

Jones argued that Binkerd's remark later that night that "murder doesn't happen every day" was simply an offhand comment by someone unaware the killing had taken place.