A Salt Lake County jury has acquitted two men of murder in the fatal shooting of 34-year-old Alex Powell, who was shot outside a South Jordan home following a Christmas gathering last December. Kevin Charles Scarbourough, 39, and Zachary Gage Prescott, 25, were each found not guilty of first-degree felony murder and third-degree felony discharge of a firearm after jurors deliberated for just under three hours.
The verdict, handed down this week, closes out a case that began with murder charges filed in January and ended with the defense's self-defense argument prevailing at trial. According to KSL.com, the eight-member jury began hearing testimony on Monday before reaching its decision. Powell died at a hospital from his injuries after being shot outside the South Jordan home in the early morning hours of Dec. 27, 2025.
A Family Gathering That Spiraled Into Violence
Testimony described what started as a family holiday gathering that grew larger as friends were invited over, with adults drinking upstairs while children stayed downstairs. Multiple witnesses testified that Powell threw the first punch in a fight that began in the kitchen, moved to the backyard, and then spilled back into the kitchen before the confrontation moved outside, the station reported.
Powell's half-brother, Bryan Winters, testified that he struck Scarbourough seven or eight times after the shooting occurred. “My brother just got shot right in front of me, and I was assaulted first,” Winters said, according to the outlet's report. Winters also claimed that Scarbourough's facial injuries resulted from that attack, not from anything that happened earlier in the night.
Competing Accounts of Fear and Self-Defense
Scarbourough testified that he was defending himself after four separate fights that night and said he was extremely scared, adding that he thought about his children during the encounter. Prescott, who admitted to shooting Powell, testified that Powell cursed at him without provocation and said he carried a gun for self-defense. “I was scared for my life and I was scared for Kevin's life,” Prescott testified, per the same account.
Prosecutor Samuel Sutton, identified as the Salt Lake County attorney trying the case, argued there was no credible evidence that Powell had a weapon and urged jurors to find both men guilty. Sutton's case leaned in part on doorbell video that reportedly captured Scarbourough saying “drop him” during the confrontation — a detail that echoed earlier claims made before trial.
Earlier Allegations Versus What Was Argued at Trial
Before the case went to a jury, arrest documents had alleged a more damning sequence. A report from KSL on the original charges said investigators alleged Scarbourough raised his voice and told Prescott to shoot Powell, and that Prescott then fired the gun twice, striking Powell in the abdomen. Those were allegations tied to the charging phase, not findings from the trial itself.
Separately, Gephardt Daily reported in late December that surveillance footage appeared to show Scarbourough telling the suspected shooter to “drop him” and “shoot him.” The same report said Prescott's arrest document described him fleeing the scene after the shooting and being apprehended more than two hours away, hiding in rural Utah.
Defense Attorneys Push Back on the Narrative
Rudy Bautista, Scarbourough's attorney, argued at trial that the two men acted in self-defense and claimed Powell weighed 300 pounds, a detail he used to frame the physical threat his client said he faced. Nick Falcone, representing Prescott, argued that Powell's own choices led to the shooting that followed.
Jurors also heard that Powell had a reported blood alcohol level of .220 at the time of the shooting. With both men now acquitted on every count, the case stands as a resolved example of Utah's perfect self-defense standard being argued and accepted at trial, following the account laid out by the outlet that first reported the verdict.
