An Orem man will face trial on charges that he threatened a state legislator and Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert.

In his ruling, Davis cited numerous statements from e-mails Taylor is alleged to have sent to Herbert and Rep. Brad Daw, R-Orem, including comments that Taylor had "taken an oath to kill," was "justified to use force," and wanted to organize an armed militia.

"The pattern was clear," Davis said. "If that's not a threat, I don't know what is."

At Taylor's preliminary hearing, Joseph Demma, Herbert's chief of staff, testified that his office received an e-mail in February from Taylor to the lieutenant governor in which Taylor said he had been the victim of government tyranny and oppression, and that, as a victim, he would be justified in using lethal force. Demma said Taylor also wrote that he would not make the same mistakes as Charles Lee Thornton, a man who had recently shot and killed five people at a city council meeting in Kirkwood, Mo.

Daw, who is Taylor's state representative and attends the same LDS ward as him, said Taylor talked to him at church about helping him with what he described as an unjust arrest and conviction for drunk driving. Daw said he would look into it, and was subsequently bombarded with e-mails in which Taylor asked what was being done about the situation. Taylor started asking why no one had been arrested in conjunction with the incident, and at one point said he wanted $1 billion in compensation from the government, Daw said. When the e-mails started to take on a more threatening tone, Daw said he became worried.

Daw said Taylor felt he had been wronged by the state, and started talking about retaliating. Taylor wrote that he wanted to avoid bloodshed, Daw testified, but saw no other way.

In one e-mail, Taylor wrote, "'If I do have to defend myself, who do you think I'm going to use as a human shield?'" Daw said. "He's now perceiving me as someone who is part of the problem."

Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Carolina Herrin, who is assigned to UHP's dignitary protection division, testified that Demma contacted her about the threatening e-mail, and she contacted Daw after noting that Taylor made a reference in his e-mail to his state representative. She said she contacted the Internet service provider Yahoo to determine that Taylor was the owner of the e-mail account used to send the messages to Herbert and Daw.

Defense attorney Tom Means argued that while many of Taylor's e-mails indicated a high level of frustration with the government, they did not necessarily constitute threats.

"I don't see a threat in this statement involving bodily injury, death or substantial property damage," Means said of a statement in which he asked Demma to deliver his message to Herbert because he didn't want to have to deliver it himself. "Frustration? Yes. Threats? No."

But prosecutor David Sturgill said that while some of Taylor's individual statements could have more innocent, peaceful connotations, many of the statements, especially when read in combination, show a more violent intent.

"Clearly he was threatening violence. He was threatening lethal force and retaliation," Sturgill said.

Davis scheduled an entry of plea hearing in the case for Aug. 20.

• Jeremy Duda can be reached at 344-2561 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it