3 white men charged in stabbing, beating of Hispanic man

SALT LAKE CITY — Attempted murder and aggravated assault charges have been filed against three white men in the stabbing and beating of a Hispanic man last month.

Police say three men with shaved heads rushed out of a car and attacked a Hispanic man in the parking lot of the State Liquor Store at 205 W. 400 South on Nov. 18.

One of the men stabbed the Hispanic man five times, while the other two hit the man, according to charges filed Thursday in 3rd District Court. Witnesses told police the men used racial slurs while beating the man.

The victim was taken to University Hospital in critical condition.

Lawrence Wayne Butterfield, 19, has been charged with attempted murder, a first-degree felony, in connection with the incident. DJ Chanthasack and Alan M. Susaeta, both 18, face single counts of first-degree felony aggravated assault. The charge against Butterfield could be reduced to aggravated assault, according to court documents.

Witnesses wrote down the license plate number of the vehicle the men were in, leading police to Susaeta's residence. The man's mother told police she was driving the vehicle when her son and his friends told her to pull over by the liquor store, the charges state.

The woman said she saw her son and his friends begin fighting, and she then drove around the block. When she pulled up again, the three men got into the car and began yelling at her to drive, according to the charges.

Butterfield also is named a defendant in a jury trial scheduled for Jan. 17-18. In August, he pleaded not guilty to a charge of aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony. The charge stems from an incident in May.

— Jared Page