Man who attacked strangers during mental health crisis sentenced to prison
by Emily Ashcraft ksl · KSL.comKEY TAKEAWAYS
- Garrett Thomas Stewart was sentenced to zero to five years in prison on Monday.
- Stewart pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for an unprovoked attack on a woman who was walking with her family on July 19.
- His attorney argued that his actions were the result of a mental health crisis; the judge cited community safety concerns when issuing the sentence, after hearing from the victim's family.
SALT LAKE CITY — A man who attacked a mom walking in her Salt Lake City neighborhood with her family was sentenced to prison to keep the community safe, a judge said, despite his request for probation.
Third District Judge Elizabeth Hruby-Mills sentenced Garrett Thomas Stewart, 36, to zero to five years in prison for aggravated assault, a third-degree felony, calling it a "horrible" and "bewildering" situation with "absolute violence" that seemed so out of character.
"My concerns for the safety of the community are so great," she said.
Stewart's attorney, Stephanie Pitcher, said it was "undoubtedly the result of a mental health crisis," and something like this would not happen in his right mind. She said Stewart is one of the most pleasant people she's represented, works as a barber and recently got his crane operating license. She argued that he is a good candidate for probation, has completed it successfully before and needs "support and structure."
Deputy Salt Lake County attorney Jarod Wilson, however, requested the judge sentence him to prison, noting the severity of the crime and his criminal history. He said Stewart admitted that on July 19 he had been on psilocybin mushrooms while riding a motorcycle, that he broke a car window and attacked a family.
The attorney said he threatened to kill people who were "just peacefully walking home," leaving them "battered."
"He is a public safety risk," Wilson said.
The sister of the woman who was attacked read a statement from the victim. She said she, her husband and two daughters — ages 11 and 14 — were walking home from dinner and enjoying ice cream cones when they heard the man screaming. She said her husband tried to de-escalate the situation, telling him they didn't want trouble, but "it made no difference."
The woman said she was punched in the face and fell to the ground. She remembered seeing blood all over herself and the sidewalk. She had stitches for a deep cut and dealt with pain, headaches and confusion for a few weeks. Now she has a scar.
"Every time I look in the mirror, I see what happened that night," her statement said.
She said the attack also changed the way she sees the world; now, the sidewalk in her own neighborhood does not seem safe, her sister read. She said her daughters have also struggled and will need counseling.
"The fear I felt for my daughters and their safety is the thing I remember most. ... Children are not supposed to see that, and it is something they can never unsee," she said.
In her statement, the woman asked the judge to keep in mind when sentencing Stewart that her family is still living with the consequences of his choice.
Attorneys representing the woman and her husband also shared statements with the judge. They urged a prison sentence and argued that Stewart has already had chances and caused multiple problems that day.
Just days before the assault, on July 4, he was also arrested after leading law enforcement on a high-speed chase that stretched from Summit County to Wasatch County. He pleaded guilty on Sept. 25 to failure to respond to officers' signal to stop, a third-degree felony, related to that incident.
Stewart said before he was sentenced that he apologizes and takes accountability. He said he has battled with substance abuse and mental health for 15 years and has made progress but is "far from perfect."
"I can't imagine the fear and terror that I inflicted on that family," he said. "I can guarantee that I will seek the help that I need and do everything I can to prevent something like this from ever happening again."
His plea to aggravated assault was in a plea deal that dismissed charges for aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony; violent offense in the presence of a child, assault and property damage, class B misdemeanors; public intoxication, a class C misdemeanor; and disorderly conduct, an infraction.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.