Utah has a law where you are able to Stand your Ground and defend you or others if you believe your life or their life is in imminent danger. This is called Utah's self defense law, or more specifically HB0227. It was signed into law by the governor on March 16, 2021 and went into effect on May 5, 2021.  The law allows individuals charged with a crime and claiming self-defense to request a justification hearing before trial. If prosecutors cannot prove the defendant did not act in self-defense, the charges are dismissed and cannot be refiled. Utah also has a stand-your-ground law that allows a person to use deadly force in self-defense without retreating if they are in a place they lawfully entered or remained. Utah passed its first stand-your-ground law in 1994.

What does self defense consist of? Does it vary from one individual to the next? Is there a gray area? Who can tell someone else that they aren't allowed to fear for their life when being forced into a situation where your only option may be "kill or be killed"?

There have been multiple cases of people claiming self defense after someone ended up dead. Dustin Wayne Smith of Ogden shot and killed a man in the head as a restricted person post HB0227 and he was not charged with murder, homicide or any other crime having anything to do with taking another persons life. He doesn't have to spend his life in prison because he was justified in killing a man because he stated that he feared for his life, even with a lengthy criminal history and being a restricted person with a firearm during the shooting. 

Deyvis Alejandro Velasquez-Galeas. He shot and killed a 17 year old boy in Tooele Utah because he thought the teen was going to rob him while they were selling drugs (also making him a restricted person with a firearm). This was also after HB0227 was passed. His charges for the shooting were ultimately dropped because he claimed that he feared for his life. The only thing he ended up being charged with was endangering a child because this all took place with his girlfriend and baby in the vehicle.

Th news articles about these cases have been archived and these peoples names have ultimately been cleared from having anything to do with taking someone else's life, all due to HB0227. 

Why is Jory still service a possible life sentence in prison when his circumstances are so similar to these cases that it is almost sickening. He was told he was not legally allowed to claim self defense because he was committing another felony the same night of the shooting (rolling a blunt with marijuana), so he was deemed a restricted person with a firearm. They acquitted him of aggravated assault in the exact same case, but they charged him with first degree murder all because of some weed. 

It is not fair that he has to continue to sit in prison almost 10 years later, waiting on appeals, continually being harassed and humiliated, controlled and void of freedom, while other people get off scot-free for committing almost the exact same crime, all due to when it took place. 

Just like my husband, there are so many individuals who are still rotting in prison who shouldn't be, all because of when a law was passed and because the governor didn't make it retroactive, meaning it wouldn't apply to older cases even if the circumstances were the same as new cases. It is not fair Nobody can tell someone else how they were feeling in a moment of immense stress and fear and nobody can control anyone else's feelings and emotions. 

Jory feels intense remorse for the actions that put him in prison. He also knows that if he were put in the same situation gain, he wouldn't act any differently because in his mind, any anyone else fearing for their life, the outcome would have been the same.

I know that if I was Jory on that fateful night, I would not have done anything differently. Fearing for your life is fearing for your life regardless of who the person is that's standing in front of you. 

Please share and sign this petition in hopes that Jory and others alike can regain their freedom and make a better life for themselves outside of prison walls.

*I used this image because prison is so similar to concentration camps. The harsh conditions that men and women are forced to be in are sometimes unbearable. No a/c, no heat, refusing to give inmates coats, good meals etc.

Inhumane treatment is often seen. I've been told many horror stories about things that happen in prison. 

High mortality rates due to starvation, illness, work accidents and even torture. CUCF has been known to refuse medications to the inmates, many times the medication needs to be given and it is required for that inmate to take those meds nd the staff will refuse or act like its not a big deal. You can't just stop giving the human body medications because there can be very serious consequences and downfalls to a persons health. 

Prisons perform executions, whether its death row inmates or C.O.'s starting riots between rival gangs for their own entertainment. 

There are so many similarities, yet nobody want's to SPEAK UP.