ST. GEORGE, Utah — The prosecutor in the case against former BYU receiver Parker Kingston is requesting that the judge be removed from the case.
Washington County Attorney Jerry Jaeger filed a motion on Monday to disqualify Judge Jay Winward of the Fifth District Court. Winward presides over the proceedings in Kingston's case, in which he is charged with raping a woman at her home in St. George in February 2025.
Kingston was kicked off the BYU football team and expelled from the university after the charges were filed.
Jaeger is accusing Winward of having a bias in Kingston's favor and giving him preferential treatment. Jaeger claims Winward has been "favoring [Kingston's] interests based upon his status as a prominent athlete.
One specific example is from a hearing on May 18, in which Winward said on the record that he needs to consider Kingston's sports career when setting the schedule, according to the motion.
WATCH: Judge orders former BYU football player Parker Kingston to stand trial on rape charges in St. George
Jaeger claims that the judge is moving Kingston's case along faster than is usual for "similarly situated" defendants — those who are not in custody and therefore do not have "liberty concerns typically associated with expedited trial settings."
In addition, the motion claims that Winward ignored medical experts' suggestions regarding the alleged victim's health. In a previous request for continuance (postponing), medical professionals reportedly said the woman would need about 12 more weeks before she's "medically and psychologically capable of testifying." However, the judge scheduled the trial six weeks out, according to the motion.
The trial has already been postponed once, however. It was initially scheduled for May 26 but was later moved to start on July 6.
According to Jaeger, the judge did not enforce his own instructions that the alleged victim's identity be protected during a preliminary hearing. Jaeger says Winward instructed all participants in that hearing to not disclose the woman's name, but the defense did so twice. Jaeger says Winward failed to hold the defense attorneys in contempt.
The prosecution also cited Winward's decisions in a previous case with similar traits. The case was against David Elliott, who was charged with rape and forcible sexual abuse in January 2024. The charges were dismissed without prejudice later that same year. Utah Tech University's basketball roster lists a player named David Elliott who played there in the 2023-2024 season.
According to Monday's motion, Winward dropped the charges against Elliott after saying DNA evidence on an alleged victim's body "could have come from anywhere" and that the judge had “no idea where that came from or how it got there." Jaeger claims that this demonstrates "an objective appearance that Judge Winward approaches sexual assault/rape allegations involving prominent sports individuals with skepticism not reflected in ordinary criminal proceedings."
"The alleged victim no longer believes she can receive a fair hearing before Judge Winward," the prosecution wrote in the motion to disqualify. "While a party's subjective belief is not itself sufficient to warrant disqualification, the victim's concerns are rooted in objective events reflected in the record."
