Man accused of killing Sierra Newbold makes first court appearance

SALT LAKE CITY — Extra bailiffs were positioned around Terry Lee Black as he stood at the podium and made a brief initial appearance in Third District Court Friday.

Black, 41, is charged in two cases. In one, he faces aggravated murder, kidnapping and rape of a child charges in the death of 6-year-old Sierra Newbold. In the other, he is charged with robbery and possession of a stolen vehicle for allegedly robbing a bank just before he was arrested.

Black was originally scheduled to make an initial appearance on the robbery charge Thursday but refused to be transported from the Salt Lake County Jail to the Matheson Courthouse. Friday, Judge Elizabeth Hruby-Mills ordered Black to appear an answer to all charges.

Extra security measures were in place for Friday's appearance, including isolating Black from other prisoners. Wearing a yellow county jail jump suit with his hands shackled behind his back, a metal chain stretching around his stomach and his feet also in shackles, Black gave a barely audible response when the judge asked him if he could afford an attorney.

Attorney Ari Chino said he would continue representing Black in his robbery case but that someone from the Salt Lake Legal Defender's office needed to be appointed to represent him for the murder charge, a possible death penalty case.

"It's a huge case, it's going to be very, very expensive. I just don't think he can go forward with private counsel," Chino said.

Chino declined to comment on whether his client had expressed any remorse, explanation or said anything at all about the crimes for which he is accused. Chino said he had gone through some of the evidence in the case as of Friday morning, but not all of it.

Black's family has expressed "shock" over what he is accused of doing, but otherwise have not said much about the case, Chino said.

Black is accused of going into Newbold's West Jordan home on June 26, abducting her and eventually drowning her in a nearby canal following a sexual assault. Black was arrested following a bank robbery three days later, also in West Jordan.

The next court date is July 31 at 3rd District Court in West Jordan before Judge Mark S. Kouris.

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