A pretrial criminal protective order was approved Wednesday morning during a waiver hearing against Utah State Senate candidate Brandon Beckham by Fourth District Judge Thomas Low.

Beckham, 46, was charged with forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony, for an incident that occurred on June 22, 2021. Charges were filed on Feb. 25, 2022.

The victim is a female from Pleasant Grove who knew Beckham as a “social acquaintance” who came over to watch a movie, according to court documents.

The victim reported she left the room and upon returning, Beckham allegedly was stripped down to his underwear while lying on a blanket surrounded by battery-lit candles. She reported Beckham asked for a massage, to which the victim agreed. She became uncomfortable when he allegedly asked her to massage a specific area, which she ultimately refused.

The victim made several attempts to get Beckham to stop after he had removed her clothes, according to court documents.

“The victim put her shirt back on, but the defendant grabbed her and said, ‘We aren’t done yet’ and removed the victim’s shirt and put the victim on her back,” reads the Pleasant Grove Police Department probable cause statement.

Court documents also read that Beckham admitted to the victim over a phone call that he was “wild, had gone too far and was just being kinky.” Beckham allegedly stated he didn’t know the victim was “that uncomfortable” with it.

The protective order documents read that it is effective until dismissed, revoked or modified by the court. Criminal Defense Attorney Randall Spencer is representing Beckham. Randall said, in his opinion, there was no need for a protective order.

“The alleged incident occurred almost a year ago, and my client has not attempted to contact her, so we thought that it was overkill,” Spencer told the Daily Herald. “But that the end of the day, he’s not planning to contact her anyway, so it doesn’t make a difference.”

Plea bargains are often topics of discussion during waiver hearings, but Spencer said that was not the case with Wednesday’s hearing.

“We think that Brandon will be exonerated when this case is resolved, so we are moving forward with our investigation and preparing for trial,” he said. “I also indicated to the court I will also be submitting a more specific request of discovery disclosure from the State.”

Deputy County Attorney Stephen Jones, representing the state in the case, did not respond to a request for comment. Another waiver hearing  is set for June 15.

Beckham is currently a candidate for Utah Senate District 23, currently held by Sen. Keith Grover. He and Beckham will both be on the ballot for the June 28 primary election.

Newsletter