Utah teen Meagan Grunwald is facing a life sentence, now that a jury has found her guilty of the murderous Bonnie and Clyde crime spree she and her deceased boyfriend perpetrated last winter.
Grunwald, 18, was convicted this month of 11 felony counts, including murder, for the 50-mile wild drive that resulted in the shooting death of a deputy sheriff and critical injuries to another.
It took eight jurors less than 12 hours to reach their verdict, which could land the teary-eyed teenager behind bars forever for her role as the getaway driver in a drug-fueled car chase that ended in homicide.
Last January during a routine traffic stop, Grunwald and her 27-year-old parole-hopping lover Jose Angel Garcia-Juaregui fatally opened fire on a Utah patrolman who discovered he had given a false identity.
Hours later the pair was intercepted on the highway by yet another cop who suffered severe bullet wounds in the second confrontation.
The couple was ultimately stopped cold -- and Garcia-Juaregui himself shot dead -- after they abandoned their damaged vehicle, carjacked a new set of wheels, and then attempted to flee on foot once cornered.
Meagan Grunwald was only 17-years-old at the time, but, because of the depth of her involvement, prosecutors succeeded in convincing the court to try her as an adult.
The Utah teen’s defense that she was simply too afraid of an older crime-hardened beau not to aid him in the Bonnie and Clyde style mayhem he instigated didn’t gain jurors’ sympathies.
Therefore it’s safe to assume that any appeal to that same jury for mercy in her upcoming sentencing trial this summer will likewise fail.
EPONYMOUS ROX
