A Millcreek man convicted of beating his roommate to death in 2019 is taking his fight to a higher court, after a judge rejected his request for a new trial last month. Tyler James Vernon, now 45, was found guilty of murder in the killing of Steven Richard Nyce, 61, and his case has now been sent up to the Utah Court of Appeals.
Third District Judge Todd Shaughnessy denied Vernon's request for a new trial on October 16, ruling that the trial errors Vernon claimed either did not happen or did not, taken together, substantially affect the outcome of the case, according to KSL News. In his order, the judge wrote that “there was ample admissible evidence from which the jury could reasonably conclude that (Vernon) acted with the requisite mental state,” despite Vernon's narcotics consumption at the time. Vernon has since appealed that denial, and the Utah Supreme Court transferred the case to the Utah Court of Appeals.
It is the latest step in a legal fight Vernon has waged since he was convicted. He had already filed a motion to arrest the verdict, which Shaughnessy denied back on June 19, before turning to the new-trial request that was also rejected in October. A jury found Vernon guilty on November 14, 2024, convicting him of murder, a first-degree felony.
A Brutal Night in Millcreek
The case dates back to February 18, 2019, when officers responded to Vernon's home at 1280 E. 3770 South in Millcreek after a neighbor's call. According to the same KSL report of the original trial, a witness saw a man run from the house carrying a fire poker and heard him yell, “His head is smashed in.” Nyce was pronounced dead at the scene, suffering from what the outlet described as severe head injuries.
Officers said Vernon himself told them “I killed him” and “He's not breathing” when they arrived. At the time, police believed both men lived at the residence, though their exact relationship was unclear, per an early report from Gephardt Daily, which first identified Nyce as the victim and noted that his precise cause of death had not yet been made public at that time. Unified Police had booked Vernon, then 37, into jail on a charge of aggravated murder on the day of the killing, that same outlet reported.
Conviction and Sentencing
Nearly six years after the killing, a jury convicted Vernon of murder following about three hours of deliberations. Vernon was later sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, with a recommendation for credit for time served and an order to pay more than $1,000 to the Utah Office for Victims of Crime, according to KSL.
Vernon has contested his murder conviction, first through a motion to arrest the verdict, denied June 19, 2026, before his October 15, 2026, sentencing, and now through his formal appeal. With the case now before the Utah Court of Appeals, it remains to be seen how the appellate judges will weigh the trial-court record, after Shaughnessy denied Vernon's motion to arrest the verdict and motion for a new trial.
