Weber County is paying intensive care unit bills at the rate of $1,000 a day for the past two weeks to care for shooting suspect, Matthew Stewart. Two security guards 24/7 will add $15,000 of county employee overtime.
Stewart was hospitalized for nearly the whole month of January following a shootout with narcotics officers and recently returned to the hospital for two more weeks of intensive care for complications of his bullet wounds.
Once inmates are jailed, the county is typically liable for their medical costs, according to county officials.
Stewart will eventually face trial on capital charges resulting from the death of one of the policemen in the exchange of gunfire. As in other cases where the death penalty is an issue, legal proceedings leading up to the trial are proceeding slowly. Chief Deputy Kevin Burton, who oversees the Weber County Jail, said that he has no exact estimates for the eventual cost of Stewart's care or his two security guards in the hospital, but "what the physician says is required is what we do."