SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — The mother of a murder victim is outraged at the continuances, postponements, and cancellations amounting to serious delays in the criminal case against the man charged with her daughter’s murder. The preliminary hearing for Fred Jason Edwards, 48, has been cancelled, not once, not twice, but three times to include as recent as this morning. Jontue Chavez’s daughter Esperanza was shot to death on January 20, 2024. Unified Police said a “witness” made a “distressing” call Saturday after 6 in the morning after finding a body near a dumpster at 3994 South 300 West in Millcreek. Unified Police and prosecutors from the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office say they have surveillance footage of Edwards trying unsuccessfully to dump her lifeless body in a dumpster. It has been a year, and a half and the case has not yet reached a preliminary hearing, a critical step in a criminal case where prosecutors put on evidence and a judge decides if there is probable cause a crime was committed and if so, binds the accused over to stand trial. This is not sitting well with Jontue who is critical saying, “They let him get away with extension after extension after extension. It’s insane.” She says she’s frustrated with what she characterized as extensive delays and being given excuse after excuse. Deputy District Attorney Bradford Cooley is the prosecutor on the case with Edwards being represented by Amy Powers and Tamara Theiss. Third District Court Judge Todd Shaughnessy is presiding over the case.
On January 26, 2024, Edwards was charged with first-degree murder, felony discharge of a firearm, obstruction of justice, possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, abuse or desecration of a dead human body, all domestic violence related charges. Approximately nine months after Esperanza’s murder, a 2News Investigation scrutinized questionable plea deals in previous domestic violence cases, given to Edwards by the same agency prosecuting him now for murder, the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office. In those cases, involving other women, the 2News Investigation found felony charges were reduced or dismissed altogether which could have sent Edwards back to prison.
Court records show the first preliminary hearing was scheduled for March 19, 2025. It was cancelled. The second preliminary hearing was set for May 7. However, Judge Shaughnessy granted a motion to continue filed by prosecutor Cooley citing that Edwards was currently undergoing psychological evaluations related to a possible plea disposition of the case. The docket shows it was a joint stipulation. The May 7, date for the preliminary hearing was cancelled. 2News Investigates submitted a request to Judge Shaughnessy for permission to film the third scheduling of the preliminary hearing today, July 15. A search of the case history reveals Edwards has refused to appear for pre-trial hearings multiple times. There is an order that if he refused, he would be removed from his cell at the Salt Lake County Metro jail by force – and transported to Third District Court to appear in person before Judge Shaughnessy. That’s the same jail where in December 2016, he attacked the guards and tried to gouge Officer Ibarra’s eyes out. Edwards was indicted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah for assault on a federal officer. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 33 months in the Bureau of Prisons. But in the final hour, before the third preliminary hearing could begin, it was cancelled…