ST. GEORGE — The suspect in the double homicide of a Washington City couple a little over a week ago appeared for her first court hearing Wednesday morning at the 5th District Courthouse.
Mia Bailey, a 28-year-old transgender woman, appeared remotely via video from Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane, where she has been held since she was arrested following a nearly 14-hour search for her whereabouts after her parents were found shot dead in their home on June 18.
Bailey mostly looked up at the monitor above her with a straight-lipped expression throughout the hearing.
After Judge Keith Barnes listed the charges to Bailey, he asked if Bailey needed a court-appointed attorney.
“Yes, I am requesting a court-appointed attorney,” Bailey said. “I do not have a lawyer.”
When asked, Bailey said she had “about $20” on hand.
Barnes asked about additional assets, and Bailey mentioned computers and a car.
In reply to the judge, Bailey named a few assets, such as her car and computer equipment.
Barnes granted a court-appointed attorney, Ryan Stout, to defend her.
Bailey is charged with two counts of aggravated murder for the death of her parents as well as attempted aggravated murder for an alleged attempt to shoot at her sibling through a locked door. She has also been charged with domestic violence – aggravated burglary and well as several first-degree firearm discharge charges.
She faces anywhere from 25 years to life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted. The Washington County Attorney’s office announced last Friday they will not be pursuing the death penalty in the case. No reason has been made publicly for the decision.
Prosecutor Tyler Bonzo, representing the Washington County Attorney’s Office at the Wednesday hearing, said “Nothing further from the state” when asked by Barnes if there was anything he would like to address to the court.
When Stout, in the courtroom, was asked by the judge if there was anything for him to state during the proceeding, he addressed his new client directly.
“If I can just get a message to Ms. Bailey, I will be out to see her shortly and advise her not to talk to anyone about the case.”
Police have alleged that after she was arrested, Bailey admitted to shooting her parents and trying to shoot her brother and expressed no remorse.
Barnes set a follow-up hearing for July 10 at 2 p.m.
The judge was appointed by then-Gov. Gary Herbert in February 2014 after running a civil litigation and criminal defense law office in Cedar City.
Among the higher-profile cases Barnes has presided over include the case of an Apple Valley man who pled no contest to killing his friend in 2019. Barnes sentenced Jason Howard Clinger to 15 years to life, the maximum allowed under Utah law.
The judge also presided over the 2020 case of Cedar City resident Jared Beasley, who was convicted of the sexual abuse of three girls and also sentenced him to the maximum possible of 15 years to life.
Barnes also was on the bench for a civil case last July between residents against the city of Ivins and a developer. He ruled the city did not violate the law when it approved rezoning for a developer building a mixed residential/commercial resort with short-term rentals.
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