A 4th District Court judge issued a default judgment against David Ragsdale on Friday for more than $1 million in the shooting death of his wife.

"It is a culmination of some negotiations we've had with David Ragsdale through his attorney," Jeffs said.

David Ragsdale is charged with aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, in the shooting death of his wife, Kristy. Ragsdale was arrested Jan. 6 after he allegedly shot his wife multiple times as she arrived at a church meetinghouse in Lehi. Several witnesses were in the parking lot at the time of the shooting, including Kristy Ragsdale's mother, who was only a few feet away. Kristy Ragsdale died at the scene.

Jeffs said attorneys have been working with Ragsdale and his representatives since the suit was filed. The resolution was not unexpected, but Jeffs said he thought it should have come about in a different way.

"This is what I expected should have happened a long time ago without having to file a lawsuit," he said.

Had the two parties not come to a resolution, Jeffs said the result would have been the same. A motion was pending to strike responses for David Ragsdale that had been signed by his sister, Tamara Ragsdale. Tamara has power of attorney for him, meaning she can do some things as his representative, but does not have the power to sign his legal responses because she is not an attorney. Jeffs said he believes the motion would have been granted, in which case a default judgement would have been issued against David Ragsdale. Instead, he withdrew the responses himself.

"I suspect that he finally became resigned to the fact that it was inevitable," Jeffs said.

David Ragsdale's public defender, Dusty Kawai, said Ragsdale was initially concerned with his ability to hire representation in his criminal case if his assets were to be seized. With public defenders on the case, David Ragsdale no longer needed to set aside money for his own defense and wanted to free up assets for his sons. "David is concerned about the welfare of his two boys and wanted to make sure that was taken care of," he said.

Kawai said David Ragsdale wanted to make sure any assets he has are given to his boys. A concern for both sides in the civil case was the impending foreclosure on Ragsdale's home by Wells Fargo. Kawai said Ragsdale has been very concerned about the foreclosure and the effect it would have on his children's welfare. Now that the case has been settled, Kawai said he hopes Jeffs and other attorneys for the boys will be able to stop the foreclosure and secure assets for the boys.

"I have complete confidence in Bill Jeffs [guardian ad litem for Ragsdale's sons] that he'll do whatever he can for these boys," he said.

Tamara Ragsdale said she did not hear of the judgment until Wednesday, though an agreement is what she and David Ragsdale wanted from the beginning. She said her brother always wanted his assets to go to his sons.

"He loves his boys," she said. "He misses them desperately and wants the best for them."

Tamara Ragsdale said that while she is happy with the agreement, she is not pleased with the way the case played out. She said she feels that there was a conflict of interest involved with Judge Claudia Laycock presiding over both the civil and criminal cases, and the county jail did not make it easy for her brother to defend his case. He has few resources at the jail to help him research the case, and Tamara Ragsdale said the jail refused to give him papers she brought for him to sign because the papers had not been brought by an attorney.

Tamara Ragsdale said she believes public defenders have served her brother well in both the civil and criminal cases. The public defenders meet with her brother almost every week for several hours.

"He feels very confident with his public defenders," she said. "They are doing an excellent job."