1 / 3

Matt Frank Hoover, who is being charged in the murder of Provo police officer Joseph Shinners and faces additional felony charges, enters the 4th District Court for his initial appearance on Monday, Jan. 28, 2019, in Provo.

Evan Cobb, Daily Herald file photo

2 / 3

Officer Joseph William Shinners, who was killed in duty Jan. 5, 2019.

Courtesy Provo Police Department

3 / 3

Honor guard members walk away from the casket of recently slain Provo police officer Joseph Shinners after trading their posts with other officers during Shinners' funeral Saturday, Jan. 12, 2019, at the UCCU Center in Orem.

Isaac Hale, Daily Herald file photo

❮ ❯

Five years after Provo police officer Joseph Shinners was killed, a judge and jury heard opening statements Friday in the case against Matt Hoover, the man accused of killing Shinners.

Shinners was shot and killed on Jan. 5, 2019, in an Orem shopping center parking lot while police attempted to arrest Hoover on outstanding warrants. Shinners later died that night at Utah Valley Hospital, leaving behind his wife and two children.

“It has been five long years since Joseph Shinners has been killed,” said Chad Grunander, one of the prosecuting attorneys, during his opening statement. “Closure seems to finally be on the horizon, at least some measure of closure.”

During opening statements, Grunander gave an overview of what happened on the night Shinners died.

Shinners was shot in the chest after jumping in the passenger side of a pickup truck that Hoover reportedly was attempting to flee in after Provo and Orem police officers surrounded the truck. Police had ordered him to exit the truck before Hoover attempted to drive away.

Speaking to the jury, Grunander said, “We will ask you to shine a light, a bright light, on what happened in the defendant’s truck on that cold, dark night January night in 2019,” urging the jury to find him guilty.

“This isn’t a whodunit case. The identity is not really in question,” Grunander said, adding the issue for the jury was to determine what was going on in Hoover’s mind.

Hoover is being charged with aggravated murder, failure to follow the commands of police, possession of an illegal substance and possession of a firearm as a restricted person.

The defense argued against the aggravated murder charge, saying Hoover did not intend to shoot Shinners and instead was attempting to commit suicide.

“Matt Hoover tried to shoot himself on Jan. 5 — himself and nobody else,” said Jonathan Nish, one of the defense attorneys for Hoover. He continued, saying Shinners’ death was a “horrific byproduct of an attempted suicide.”

Nish said Hoover’s “state of mind is going to become central to this case.”

A charge of aggravated murder asserts that an individual “intentionally” and “knowingly” caused the death of a person. The defense is arguing that Hoover did not intentionally or knowingly kill Shinners, while refuting that Hoover was even attempting to kill the officer.

The defense also argued that the arrest operation was “barely planned” and poorly executed and suggested that another officer who was in the vehicle at the time may have caused the gun in Hoover’s hand to go off.

In the afternoon, the court heard testimony from two former Orem police officers who were on the scene and were shown body and dash cam video taken from officers that night.

One officer, Sam Lass, told how he arrived on the scene shortly after others and after shots had been fired. Lass was the first to notice Shinners was injured and began rendering aid.

Body cam footage from another officer, who didn’t testify Friday, showed that officer and Lass getting Shinners into a police officer’s truck and transporting him to Utah Valley Hospital.

Prosecutors showed body cam footage from another officer, Brent Barrett, who testified and described the scene as “chaotic.”

The footage showed the situation leading to Shinners’ death lasting just minutes, beginning with Barrett pulling into the parking lot and approaching Hoover’s vehicle along with other police officers and ending with Hoover in custody.

The video showed police quickly surrounding Hoover’s truck and then approaching with guns drawn and demanding Hoover and a female passenger, who prosecutors said was a confidential informant, to exit the vehicle. Barrett said he did not know she was a police informant.

Hoover then reversed the truck, pulled forward and attempted to drive away but then stopped in the parking lot after about 50 yards. Officers were seen running toward the vehicle, with Barrett running toward the driver’s side, where he attempted to break open the window.

Officers then pulled Hoover, who had also been shot, out of the vehicle and handcuffed him.

The case has been delayed throughout the years as both the state and the defense prepared for the trial.

In December 2022, 4th District Court Judge Keith Powell postponed the trial at the request of the defense, who said they hadn’t received the information needed to continue. Hoover’s trial originally was set for February 2023, KSLTV.com reported.

In January 2022, the Utah County Attorney’s Office downgraded Hoover’s charges from capital offense aggravated murder to a first-degree felony, meaning he would not be facing the death penalty, according to KSL. Hoover still faces life in prison.

The trial will continue through the next week or two before a verdict will be made.

Newsletter