BOX ELDER COUNTY, Utah — A 2028 trial date has been scheduled for the man accused of killing two Tremonton-Garland police officers last year.
Ryan Michael Bate, 33, faces the death penalty on two counts of aggravated murder, a capital offense, along with more than a dozen other charges. 1st District Judge Spencer D. Walsh set the two-and-a-half-month jury trial Tuesday, ordering Bate to stand trial in the deaths of Tremonton-Garland police Officer Eric Estrada, 32, and Sgt. Lee Sorensen, 56.
The trial will begin May 15, 2028, and continue through Aug. 4, 2028. In the meantime, Bate will appear in court Jan. 22, 2027, for a pretrial scheduling conference.
The charges stem from an Aug. 17, 2025, domestic violence call at Bate’s residence. Prosecutors contend Bate terrorized his family before ambushing responding law enforcement officers. Box Elder County sheriff’s Deputy Mike Allred and his police dog, Azula, were also injured during the confrontation.
During a preliminary hearing last summer, Chief Deputy County Attorney Blair T. Wardle argued that Bate planned the attack and made his intentions clear to his wife before officers arrived.
Wardle replayed audio recordings captured by Bate’s wife that night in which Bate repeatedly threatened to kill officers. In the recordings, Bate stated he would “send them away in caskets” and proclaimed, “If they show up, then I’ll kill them. Every single one of them.”
“This case is about a planned and premeditated ambush that began with the defendant terrorizing his family and ended with him terrorizing the community,” Wardle said, adding that Bate acted with a clear intent to kill to avoid arrest.
Defense attorney Jonathan Nish argued prosecutors relied on a “lattice of hearsay, video and investigative conjecture” without presenting eyewitness testimony. The defense suggested Bate’s initial gunfire reflected “drunken bravado” rather than a deliberate plot to murder.
Judge Walsh bound Bate over for trial on all 18 charges, including three counts of attempted aggravated murder, possession of explosives, endangering a police service dog and multiple domestic violence offenses. Walsh noted, however, that evidence for certain aggravating factors was thin and warrants further review.
Individuals arrested and charged in complaints are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.