Bradley Sezter Bound Over to District Court on Attempted First-Degree Murder Charge

Bradley Sezter Bound Over to District Court on Attempted First-Degree Murder Charge

Bradley Setzer

GREEN RIVER — Green River resident Bradley Setzer was bound over to District Court today on charges of attempted first-degree murder and interference with a peace officer stemming from an incident involving his wife on August 25 of this year.

Setzer’s preliminary hearing was held this afternoon before circuit court Judge Craig Jones, who heard testimony from prosecuting attorney Teresa Thybo and defense attorney Jerry Bosch.

Green River Police Department Sergeant Rob Fischer recounted the events of August 25, the day he interviewed Jessica Setzer at Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County.

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Sgt. Fischer’s Testimony

Fischer said Jessica Setzer had a tube running into her right eye and visible lacerations all over her face and neck when he conducted his first interview with her that day. She identified her husband as the person who shot at her through the door of their home earlier that afternoon.

“She told me that they went to church that day and got home around 11:30, had lunch, and then Jessica went over to her parent’s house,” Fischer said. Later, Jessica said she started receiving text messages from Bradley on her mom’s cell phone stating that he didn’t believe she was there.

Jessica then told Fischer that she went home where the two began to argue and got into a physical altercation. She admitted to scratching his face in several places before fleeing back to her parent’s house. After a few hours passed, she decided to go back to the house with her mother to gather some belongings and “go stay at her dad’s house,” Fischer said.

She told Fischer that when she returned to the house the doors were locked, and she started pounding on the door to get Bradley’s attention. Jessica said she saw Bradley right by the door, but that he retreated to the kitchen and then went upstairs with a pink lanyard in his possession. She claimed the lanyard had a key to the couples’ gun safe on it.

Fischer was then told that Bradley came back downstairs, but Jessica could not see that he had anything else in his hand. She claimed that a green hoodie was held up against the window she’d been looking through, and when it suddenly dropped, she was facing the barrel of a 9mm handgun.

Jessica told Fischer the gun went off just as she was able to duck out of the way. Jessica and her mother then went across the street to a neighbors house and called 911. The neighbor told police he saw Bradley come out of the house and crouch down while moving across the driveway. At that point the neighbor went and got a gun, but when he returned Bradley Setzer’s truck was no longer in the driveway.

Motion to Quash

The state filed a motion to quash a subpoena issued by the defense to question Jessica Setzer during the preliminary hearing. County Attorney Dan Erramouspe said subpoenas aren’t generally issued during preliminary hearings because those hearing are held mainly to establish probable cause and aren’t meant to be “mini-trials.”

But Bosch argued he needed to question Jessica Setzer because she was essentially the only state witness, and two statements she gave to Fischer contained contradictory information. However, Thybo said the state has a number of witnesses to testify at trial, and enough evidence existed from the current charge and another alleged domestic violence incident in March to warrant the case be bound over to district court.

Jones agreed with the state and granted its motion to quash the subpoena.

Bond Remains The Same

Sezter’s bond will remain at $900,000 until his arraignment date is set. Bosch argued that Setzer’s case doesn’t warrant such an amount as he’s already lost his job, three children and possibly his home in Green River. He asked the court to reduce bond to the original amount of $250,000 set by Judge Prokos when the charges were first filed.

But Thybo explained that Setzer’s alleged record of domestic violence should persuade the court to stand firm on the current bond.

“He’s asked his father to follow and take pictures of Jessica Setzer and her family, take pictures of me, and he’s telling his father to ‘have Uncle Johnny take care of things,'” Thybo told Jones. She also argued that Setzer had plenty of time to go upstairs, get the gun, then return it to the safe after firing it. She said that established premeditation, another burden the state must prove in an attempted first-degree murder trial.

After more than two hours of listening to both sides in the case, Jones agreed with the state’s argument that enough evidence existed to bound the case over to the District Court. An arraignment date has not yet been established.