The man who recently admitted to killing 19-year-old farmer Dylan Rounds in the west desert of Utah more than two years ago was sentenced Monday to between three and 45 years in prison.
Appearing in Utah’s First District Court in Brigham City, 60-year-old James A. Brenner remained silent throughout the hearing as Judge Brandon Maynard handed down the sentence for three second-degree felony charges — one for the murder of Rounds, and two for possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person. Each of the charges came with a sentence of one to 15 years, with each sentence to be served consecutively.
Earlier this year, Brenner admitted to fatally shooting Rounds, who was 19 years old when he left his home in Rigby, Idaho in the spring of 2022 to work on a farm in the Lucin area, located in the northwestern corner of Utah in Box Elder County near the Nevada border.
Brenner’s guilty pleas in May were the result of an agreement in which the murder charge was reduced from aggravated murder, which carries a sentence of 25 years to life in prison and the possibility of the death penalty; to murder, which mandates a prison sentence of one to 15 years.
In addition to reducing the murder charge, state prosecutors dropped a felony count of desecration of a human body, as well as a third felony firearms charge.
In March of this year, prosecutors struck the plea deal with the consent of Rounds’ family in return for Brenner disclosing the location of Rounds’ remains, which were recovered on April 9.
In handing down the sentence, Maynard told Brenner he would recommend to the Utah Board of Pardons & Parole “that they keep you as long as they legally can.
“I think that’s the only leeway I have in this sentencing,” Maynard said to Brenner. “I wish I could do something more.”
According to court documents, Brenner was living without permission on private property near where Rounds was working when Rounds was reported missing on May 31, 2022.
Efforts by Box Elder County Sheriff deputies, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, search and rescue personnel and volunteers to find Rounds were unsuccessful, but eventually turned up key evidence in the prosecution of Brenner, who was imprisoned on firearms charges shortly after Rounds went missing and was formally charged with murdering Rounds in March 2023.
During the May hearing this year in which Brenner pleaded guilty, Box Elder County Prosecuting Attorney Blair Wardle outlined the evidence that led to the murder charge against Brenner beginning with the discovery of a pair of boots belonging to Rounds, one of which was stained with his blood.
A key piece of evidence came after Rounds’ mobile phone was found submerged in a pond in Lucin. Investigators were able to download a time-lapse video from the phone that was recorded on the day Rounds went missing in which Brenner appears “with bloodstains on his arms and shirt as he is cleaning a gun,” Wardle said.
Wardle added that forensic analysis revealed “bullet holes to Dylan’s skull, which was the result of defendant shooting him in the head.”
During Monday’s sentencing hearing, Maynard requested that Brenner stand and face the courtroom gallery, where numerous members, friends and supporters of the Rounds family were seated.
“The family was looking for Dylan, and you would come around, you would smile and talk with them knowing full well what had happened, knowing full well what you had done, knowing full well where his body lay, and acted as if nothing happened,” Maynard said.
Through his attorney, Brenner declined the request — a decision that Dylan Rounds’ father, Justin Rounds, spoke about while addressing Brenner directly during the hearing.
“You don’t have the balls enough to look at anybody in the eye or even look at anybody,” Justin Rounds said. “I just hope the rest of your life, you remember what you did, and I hope somehow you feel some remorse or some guilt.”
No explanation was offered Monday as to Brenner’s motive for the murder.
At the conclusion of the hearing, Brenner was escorted to the Utah State Prison to serve his sentence. The only remaining issue to be addressed in the case is restitution, which is still being worked out as the Rounds family makes funeral arrangements for Dylan.
Speaking to media outside the courtroom after the hearing, Dylan’s mother, Candice Cooley, also addressed Brenner’s decision not to face the gallery.
“You would think, having to be the last time he has to face us, he would have done that,” Cooley said.
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