UT v. Tracey Grist

The State of Utah charged Tracey Grist, a 60-year-old American Fork mother, with murder, criminal conspiracy to commit murder, obstruction of justice, and two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child. Prosecutors alleged she was the architect of a plot to kill her son-in-law, Matthew Restelli, the husband of her daughter Kathryn. According to the State, the family lured Matthew on a 600-mile drive from California to Grist's duplex on July 12, 2024, where he was shot seven times, three rounds striking him in the back, roughly a minute after he stepped inside. Prosecutors alleged Grist helped stage the scene as a self-defense shooting, planted a knife in the left-handed victim's right hand, and waited eight minutes before anyone in the house called 911. A neighbor across the duplex wall had already dialed, about one minute after the shots. Grist pleaded not guilty and was presumed innocent.

The trial turned on a single question: whether the State could prove Grist was a knowing, intentional participant in the killing rather than a mother whose angry words never became a plan. Prosecutors built their case on a digital trail: text messages saying she wanted Matthew dead, internet searches tied to the Donna Adelson murder-for-hire case, AirTag data tracking his drive, and an email linking Grist to the seller of the planted knife. The centerpiece was expected to be the testimony of Kathryn, who had already pleaded guilty and testified at her brother's trial that the family conspired together. The defense had an answer waiting: Kathryn's brother, the man who fired the shots, had been convicted of murder yet acquitted of conspiracy at his own earlier trial. If the shooter walked on the conspiracy count, the defense was expected to argue, the woman who never touched a gun should not be held to a higher standard.

The case went to trial, and a jury found Tracey Grist guilty. At Justice Is A Process, we did not sit in judgment of her guilt or innocence going in. We watched whether the system did its job: whether the burden of proof stayed on the State, whether the last defendant standing still received a fair trial, and whether the evidence truly met the standard the law demands. The full coverage of every trial day, every witness, and every ruling sits below.