Utah Supreme court overturns death sentence for man who murdered witness in 1985
The entrance to the Utah Supreme Court inside the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City is pictured on Wednesday, January 3, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
The Utah Supreme Court overturned the death sentence of Douglas Lovell this week, ruling that attorneys for the convicted murderer were ineffective during testimony about his excommunication from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The opinion, issued on Thursday, reaffirms Lovell’s murder conviction. But instead of facing the death penalty, he will be resentenced by a lower court. A spokesperson for the Utah Attorney General’s office didn’t say whether Lovell could again be sentenced to death.
In 1985, Lovell kidnapped and raped Joyce Yost, who then filed a police report and had planned to testify against him. In an attempt to stop her testimony, Lovell tried to hire two people to kill Yost — when that failed, Lovell kidnapped Yost and killed her in a canyon near Ogden. Her body has never been found.
Lovell was initially sentenced to death in 1993. But after years of appeals, the Utah Supreme Court withdrew his guilty plea, writing that Lovell was not properly informed on his trial rights when he pleaded guilty, and ordered a new trial in 2010. Five years later, a jury again found him guilty and he was sentenced to die by lethal injection.
The most recent trial included testimony from bishops with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who volunteered at the prison and told the court Lovell “was consistent in expressing remorse.” Prosecutors for the state then questioned the bishops if Lovell had been excommunicated from the church.
Lovell had been excommunicated and was not readmitted. According to the Supreme Court, the state suggested in their questioning that Lovell’s failure to be readmitted “was evidence that he lacked genuine remorse.”
That line of questioning is central to Lovell’s case. In his argument Lovell said his attorneys “rendered ineffective assistance” when they failed to object or respond to this testimony.
“This testimony encouraged the jury to not thoroughly consider Lovell’s evidence of his remorse,” the court’s Thursday opinion reads. “By inserting a religious test for remorse into the proceedings, the State gave the jury a way out of making a decision that is difficult for any person to make about another: whether a defendant has truly changed.”
In a statement on Friday, Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes said he agreed with the court’s decision to affirm Lovell’s conviction.
“But the State respectfully disagrees with the Court’s conclusion that Lovell should be resentenced because of ineffective assistance of counsel during the sentencing stage,” Reyes said.
lovell GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Lovell was one of seven Utah inmates currently on death row. They include:
Ralph Menzies, convicted of the 1986 kidnap and murder of Maurine Hunsaker, who was working at a gas station at the time. He is expected to be executed by firing squad.
Troy Michael Kell, who was already serving a sentence for murder and robbery in Nevada. In 1994, after being sent to Utah through an interstate trade, Kell stabbed fellow inmate Lonnie Blackmon to death. He is expected to be executed by firing squad.
Douglas Stewart Carter, convicted of stabbing and shooting an elderly Provo woman during a burglary in 1985. Carter’s case is also currently being appealed to the Utah Supreme Court. He is expected to be executed by lethal injection.
Michael Anthony Archuleta, convicted of torturing, raping, and murdering a Southern Utah University student in 1988. He is expected to be executed by lethal injection.
Von Lester Taylor, convicted of killing two women, kidnapping two others and attempting to kill a man in 1990 in a cabin in Weber Canyon. He is expected to be executed by lethal injection.
Taberon Honie, Utah’s sixth death row inmate, is scheduled to be executed on Aug. 8 by lethal injection for sexually assaulting and murdering Claudia Benn in 1998 while her three grandchildren were inside the home.
