Shortly after the Washington County attorney refiled a rape charge against Parker Kingston on Thursday, the former BYU football star’s lawyers asked a judge to remove the prosecutor and his office from the case.
Defense attorneys Cara Tangaro and Scott Williams argue in a 35-page motion in 5th District Court in St. George, Utah, that Jerry Jaeger’s interest in prosecuting the case extends beyond obtaining justice.
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“A prosecutor’s interest in a criminal case ‘is not that it shall win a case, but that justice shall be done,'” the lawyers wrote, citing a 1935 U.S Supreme Court ruling. “The Washington County Attorney no longer has only that interest in this case. He has acquired others.”
On Thursday, Jaeger charged Kingston, 22, with one count of first-degree felony rape for allegedly sexually assaulting a 20-year-old woman in her St. George apartment on Feb. 23, 2025.
Kingston was originally arrested and charged with the same crime in February 2026. He was initially held in jail before being released on bail. Fifth District Judge Jay Winward denied prosecutors’ request to delay the trial after they told him the alleged victim was not ready to testify and dismissed the case last June.
What Kingston’s and the woman’s lawyers say
“With the support of the alleged victim, I have made the decision to refile the case and proceed with this prosecution based on the totality of the evidence,” Jaeger said in a statement.
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Andrew Deesing, a lawyer for the woman identified in court documents as A.M., said he’s grateful for Jaeger’s and his office’s determination to pursue the case.
“Their decision to refile these charges has renewed my client’s faith in the justice system and her belief that her voice will be heard,” he said in a statement. “She has shown extraordinary courage and resolve throughout this process. We look forward to seeing this matter proceed through the courts and to the pursuit of justice.”
Tangaro and William said in a statement that Kingston has always maintained and continues to maintain his innocence.
They called the probable cause statement prepared by Jaeger “entirely one-sided” and said that it fails to give the full context of Kingston’s November 2025 interview with investigators.
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“We believe such gamesmanship by a prosecutor is inappropriate, and will address that issue through the court,” the lawyers said.
Defense lawyers argue for county attorney’s removal
In their motion, the defense attorneys list several reasons Jaeger and his office should be disqualified from the case, chiefly that his previous statements to the court and his complaint to the Office of Professional Conduct don’t align with the facts in the case.
Tangaro and Williams say Jaeger told them in writing last March that he was not the prosecutor on the case and that he trusted his two deputies assigned to it.
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They said that they told Jaeger his office filed the charge without watching the body camera recording of the woman’s first disclosure of the alleged assault and without the sexual assault examination report, and that he did not deny it.
“A prosecutor who has certified, under criminal penalty, facts about his own office’s handling of this case, facts his own office’s records contradict, cannot be the one who decides whether and how to prosecute it,” they wrote.
“Every decision that remains, including what to disclose, whether to make an offer, whom to call, and whether to proceed at all, now bears on whether those certifications hold up. Mr. Kingston is entitled to a prosecutor whose only interest is that justice be done.”
Because Jaeger is the elected head of the office who took over the case himself and supervises every deputy who could replace him, the office must step aside, the defense lawyers contend.
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They requested the judge hold an evidentiary hearing on the motion.
What’s in the refiled charge
Kingston and the woman initially connected on Instagram but Kingston suggested they move the conversation to SnapChat, according to the court filing.
“During those communications, he said he had plans to come to St. George. A.M. told the defendant that if the only reason he was coming was to have sex with her that he should not come,” per court documents.
The new filing includes a graphic text exchange between Kingston and a person identified as K.W. that includes a crass term for sexual intercourse. During the November 2025 interview, investigators asked Kingston what the term meant and he told them “to have sex.”
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The woman, according to the probable cause statement, told Kingston “no” four times before he assaulted her. Kingston told police in a November 2025 interview that “all sexual activity with A.M. was consensual.”
Kingston would have been a senior at BYU this season and was expected to be the Cougars’ primary receiver after a breakout season in 2025 in which he caught 67 passes for 928 yards and five touchdowns.
Shortly after his arrest in February, a BYU spokesperson said Kingston was no longer a student at the school and had been removed from the football team.
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