ST. GEORGE, Utah (Court TV) — Days before she is scheduled to be sentenced for brutally murdering her parents, a Utah woman sent a handwritten note to the judge in her case with a request to keep the media out of the hearing.
This undated image provided by the Washington City Police Department shows Mia Bailey. (Washington City Police Department)
Mia Bailey, 30, confessed to murdering her parents and trying to kill her brother in June 2024. Mia pleaded guilty in November to two counts of aggravated murder and one count of aggravated assault and faces 25 years to life on each murder charge at her sentencing on Dec. 19.
Mia was arrested one day after her parents, Joseph and Gail Bailey, were found shot to death in their Washington City home. Mia’s brother escaped the house and called 911 from a neighbor’s home, saying he ran after hearing gunshots. Mia was found after leaving the area in a yellow 2014 Kia Soul.
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“Honorable Judge Barnes I would like to petition the court remove the media from the room on sentencing date December 19th on behalf of my family and I,” Mia wrote in a handwritten letter sent to the court after her guilty plea. “My brother tyler children don’t know about the case and there to young to know the less media attention my case gets the better (sic).”
Mia Bailey wrote a letter to the judge overseeing her criminal case, asking for media to be excluded from sentencing. (Court Filing)
Court records indicate that because Mia is represented by counsel, the Court asked the letter to be forwarded to them and took no action.
While prosecutors never sought the death penalty in Mia’s case, in previous hearings the defendant tried to have her attorney fired and asked that prosecutors recommend the death penalty, Scripps News Salt Lake City reported.
Mia faces an additional 0-5 years at sentencing on the aggravated assault charge.
