Month: February 2026

By Michael Martin

Click here for updates on this story

    SALT LAKE CITY (KSTU) — The brother of 12-year-old West Haven boy, Gavin Peterson, who died of child abuse in 2024, now knows how long he will spend in prison.

Tyler Peterson, Gavin’s brother, was sentenced on Tuesday to 5 years to life on a child abuse homicide charge, and 1 to 15 years for both counts of aggravated child abuse, as well as one to 15 years for an obstruction of justice charge.

The sentences will run concurrently, meaning that all of them will play out at the same time, but the judge did offer 246 days’ credit for time served.

The judge also ruled that the Department of Corrections will take over jurisdiction in the case, meaning they will determine the length of the sentence and if he has the opportunity for parole.

“This case is hard, not because it is difficult to hear the facts,” Judge Camille Neider stated before the sentence was handed down. The judge continued, saying that she felt it would be tough to decide either way given the facts presented. “I can say wholeheartedly that both sides are right, given their recommendations.”

“I have no evidence that you didn’t know right from wrong based on the circumstances,” Judge Neider continued. “It’s very clear you weren’t the alpha in this relationship.”

Peterson’s lawyer, Ryan Bushell, attempted to argue for an easier sentence for Tyler, stating that he was a troubled child who didn’t commit crimes outside of the home. “He told me the horrific nature of what occurred in that house,” Bushell stated.

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t just Gavin,” he continued, saying that Gavin’s siblings were also subjected to abuse.

He added that Tyler spoke with officials to share more details about what had occurred and claimed that the information helped with the convictions of Gavin’s father and stepmother.

An attorney for Gavin and Tyler’s mother, Aubrey Davis, also read from a letter submitted by the mother, Melanie Peterson, explaining how their family separated and the issues that started once Shane Peterson and Nichole Scott married.

“I know Tyler would never do this on his own. He was brainwashed from a young age,” the mother’s letter continued.

The letter stated that when one of the children did speak out about the abuse, what followed was continued escalating abuse.

“I was their mother, and I failed to protect all my kids,” Melanie Peterson’s letter stated. “I respectfully ask you to allow Tyler to continue his treatment at home.”

Tyler was seen wiping tears after his mother’s letter was read.

“We are here today because Tyler Peterson participated in that torture,” Kevin McGaha stated before the sentencing was handed down.

He continued to list the accomplishments of Tyler throughout high school, including getting an associate’s degree, to show that Tyler was capable of thinking on his own. He added that Tyler would text about DCFS investigations and his disdain for his father and stepmother.

“He had two cars, a good job, and money; he wasn’t a prisoner,” the McGaha continued.

The attorney listed incidents where Tyler would text Nichole Scott about what he had done to Gavin, including beating him, making him hold his bladder, and tricking him into thinking he was going to school.

McGaha also pointed to a time when the family left Tyler and Gavin behind while they went on a Disney trip. “While they were at Disneyland, he reported incidents of mental and physical torture,” the lawyer stated. “Did he have the capacity to show mercy? He certainly had the opportunity.”

When given an opportunity to make an oral statement to the court, Tyler declined.

Gavin Peterson’s father, Shane, and brother, Tyler, pleaded guilty to first-degree child abuse homicide in March of 2025. Both men also pleaded guilty to additional charges related to child abuse.

Shane Peterson was sentenced in May of last year to 5 years to life in prison for the child abuse homicide death of Gavin. He was also sentenced on other charges, including one to 15 years for the abuse of Gavin’s sister.

Nichole Lea Scott, the stepmother of Gavin, was sentenced in May of 2025 to 15 years to life in prison in connection with the murder.

Gavin Peterson was found unresponsive inside the family’s West Haven home on July 9, with an investigation into his death showing he had experienced malnutrition to the point where his organs had “shut down completely.”

The investigation showed that Gavin’s family discussed beating the 12-year-old boy and not feeding him on their phones, saying they only gave Gavin small servings of water and a piece of bread with water.

Throughout several years, the Utah Division of Child and Family Services received multiple reports of Gavin being abused. An investigation into the agency’s handling of the reports showed that the boy had been the victim of documented abuse as early as February 2020.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Micah Smith

Click here for updates on this story

    DENVER (KMGH) — After a judge ruled against the Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) and Gov. Jared Polis, finding prisons violated the state’s constitution by using coercive tactics that amounted to forcing incarcerated Coloradans to work, community advocates are sharing their thoughts on the ruling.

MiDian Shofner, CEO of the Epitome of Black Excellence & Partnership, pointed to the Colorado Constituiton’s Amendment A, which bans slavery and involuntary servitude in all cases, including as punishment for a crime. The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude except as punishment for a crime, but Coloradans voted in 2018 to remove that exception.

“That vote was binding, and Judge (Sarah) Wallace’s ruling simply says what should have been obvious, that when the Constitution removes an exception, government agencies cannot quietly recreate that exception through policy,” Shofner said. “We can’t divorce this ruling from history or what was happening from history. The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution left an exception for slavery as punishment for a crime. So that loophole became the engine for convict leasing chain gangs and rebuilding forced labor.”

The judge’s ruling found CDOC used “unconstitutional coercive policies,” including “isolation in a cell for more than twenty-two hours a day for more than two days (three if over a weekend) for failure to work.”

Shofner said it’s important for the CDOC to immediately revise its policies, eliminate sanctions for refusal to work and provide transparency.

“The public deserves to know how labor programs operate, how people are compensated and what disciplinary measures exist around that,” Shofner said. “This should really prompt a national conversation. If Colorado voters remove the slavery exception, and it still required litigation to enforce it, like, what does that really say about how deeply embedded these problems in our system really are? So, we need to have a national conversation that really does, in fact, spark change that’ll be sustainable.”

Jason McBride, founder and executive director of McBride Impact, agreed with Shofner.

“I get, you know, when we talk about rehabilitation and punishment and making people who commit crimes do things that they don’t like to do. And I get all that, but you cannot force people to work. That’s slavery. I mean, that came from reconstruction and Jim Crow. We know why these laws were instituted, and the fact that Colorado still has been forcing inmates to work is beyond my comprehension,” McBride said. “Jared Polis, do the right thing and make sure that inmates are not being forced into forced labor.”

Denver7 has reached out to both CDOC and Polis’ office, but had not heard back by the time of publication. Both had previously declined to comment on the pending litigation.

The order to stop these practices takes effect 28 days after the Feb. 13 ruling to give state officials a chance to appeal the decision.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Cassidy Wixom

Click here for updates on this story

    SALT LAKE CITY (KSL) — A man with cerebral palsy who dreamt of being the lead in a play decided to take matters into his own hands by writing that play himself.

Andrew Justvig grew up in St. George attending plays and musicals. Seeing the stars on stage, he knew he wanted to do the same.

“When I got into high school, even though I was passionate and I felt my technique was good — teachers thought I was good — I would never get the lead role. And that bothered me,” he said.

Growing up with cerebral palsy has made some things in life more difficult for him, but Justvig was determined to follow his dream.

He was inspired by Sylvester Stallone, who faced bullying and discrimination growing up for how he looked and how he spoke due to nerve damage on his face from complications during birth. But Stallone persevered and eventually became one of Hollywood’s biggest stars and filmmakers.

“He wrote his own movies, and I said, ‘Wait, I can do that!’ So I started to write plays where I could be the roles, like the lead or the villain, and where I didn’t have to hide my disability, but it was part of my character,” Justvig said.

He earned an undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University and later completed a master’s degree in fine arts in playwriting at the University of California, Riverside, where he developed “The Anxiety of Laughing.”

“Rather than waiting for permission, I decided to write stories where disability is present, complex and unapologetically human,” he said.

“The Anxiety of Laughing” is about a stand-up comedian with cerebral palsy whose life is upended when his mother dies, and his wife becomes paralyzed in an accident.

“Suddenly, he is the more able-bodied person. He not only has to grapple with losing his mom and being caretaker for his wife, but also finding his laugh again,” Justvig said.

He initially wrote “The Anxiety of Laughing” as a screenplay that was adapted into a feature film and was screened at multiple festivals in 2021, including Dances With Films at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. But Justvig wasn’t done there; he adapted the story into a play in which he could perform the lead.

The stage play “The Anxiety of Laughing” was recently accepted into the Midtown International Theater Festival, where it will be performed this summer in New York City. The show will be presented as a showcase production with six performances.

To kick off a fundraising campaign* for the New York production, Justvig is hosting a staged reading in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, March 18 at the Sorenson Unity Center’s Black Box Theater, 1383 S. 900 West. The staged reading is free, but people are encouraged to donate to help the show raise $30,000 to cover development and production costs.

“The main focus of the reading is, yes, to raise money, but I also want individuals who have disabilities and their families to gather to show them someone like them onstage telling a story that’s different from the typical Hollywood stories about disabilities. I mean, I love the movies ‘Radio’ and ‘My Left Foot’ and ‘The Peanut Butter Falcon,’ but this is completely different,” he said.

Being a part of the Midtown festival gives the show the opportunity to gain momentum and publicity to pursue an off-Broadway or Broadway run. Justvig said it’s an important step toward ensuring more people can experience a story in which a disabled person is the lead.

As a dad to a 4-year-old, Justvig hopes stories like “The Anxiety of Laughing” can also help children of parents with disabilities feel that they aren’t weird or alone in their experiences.

“It would be like, ‘Oh yeah, my dad is like that character or that guy in the New York show.’ So yeah, that’s what it means to me,” he said.

Although Justvig never dreamed he would create something performed in New York, he is so proud of what he has accomplished so far.

“I think I only dreamt more of telling stories that put people like me on the stage,” he said.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. KSL verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Natalie Grant

Click here for updates on this story

    SPOKANE, Wash (KXLY) — A crash caused major flooding and power outages in Northwest Spokane on Tuesday morning.

It happened around 6:20 a.m. near the intersection of W. Rowan and N Drumheller. According to witnesses on the scene, a car crashed into multiple trees, power poles, and a fire hydrant. The crash is causing major flooding and road closures in the area. Avista is also reporting around 300 people without power. No word on the condition of the driver, but video from the scene shows a person being carried off on a stretcher. People are advised to avoid the area.

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By Nigel Robertson

Click here for updates on this story

    GREENVILLE, South Carolina (WYFF) — Jesse Jackson, the longtime civil rights activist, Baptist minister, and two-time presidential candidate, has died, according to his family.

Jackson was born in Greenville, South Carolina, on Oct. 8, 1941, and attended racially segregated Sterling High School, where he was elected student class president and earned letters in baseball, football, and basketball.

In July 1960, Jackson helped change his hometown by joining the Greenville 8, a group of African American students who filed into the whites-only Greenville County Public Library, leading to its integration. His involvement in the civil rights movement had only just begun.

“Announce to you this day my decision to seek the nomination for the Democratic Party for the presidency of the United States of America,” Jackson said during his presidential campaign.

Before his presidential runs in 1984 and 1988, Jackson joined Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma in 1965 during the historic marches. He was also present when Dr. King was assassinated in Memphis in 1968.

Jackson graduated from college with a degree in sociology and attended Chicago Theological Seminary, where he was ordained by the minister of a Chicago church. He resigned from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, founded by Dr. King, and went on to create the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

The 1970s saw Jackson traveling the world, working to bring change to a number of issues. By 1984, he became the second African American to make a national run for president, following Shirley Chisholm. Jackson received 3.5 million votes in 1984 and more than 7 million votes in 1988, finishing second in the primaries to Michael Dukakis.

Jackson married Jacqueline Brown in 1962, and they had five children. As his family grew, so did controversy, including accusations of overstating his presence at Dr. King’s assassination and having a child out of wedlock. He apologized for accusing Barack Obama of talking down to Black America.

His diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease came in 2017, and over the years, his presence on the national stage began to slow. In November 2025, he was hospitalized for progressive supranuclear palsy, a neurodegenerative condition he had been managing for more than a decade. Despite these challenges, Jackson’s standing in history endures from his Greenville roots.”

Please note: This story was provided to CNN Wire by an affiliate and does not contain original CNN reporting. This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.