Utah v. Lafferty

Last updated

Murders of Brenda Wright Lafferty and Erica Lafferty
Location American Fork, Utah, United States of America
DateJuly 24, 1984;40 years ago (1984-07-24)
WeaponKnife
Deaths2 (Brenda Wright Lafferty and Erica Lafferty)
PerpetratorsRon Lafferty
Dan Lafferty

Utah v. Lafferty was a 1984 murder case in the U.S. state of Utah. Brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty were found guilty of murdering their brother Allan's wife Brenda Lafferty, along with Brenda's young daughter. The case gained substantial publicity due to statements by the accused that the murders were the result of a divine revelation related to the defendant's extremist interpretation of Mormon fundamentalist beliefs.

Contents

History

Ron Lafferty and his younger brother Dan were charged for the homicides of their sister-in-law Brenda Wright Lafferty and her 15-month-old daughter Erica that occurred on July 24, 1984 in the city of American Fork, Utah. [1] Both victims died after their throats were cut.

Ron was a self-proclaimed prophet, [2] affiliated with the School of Prophets, a fundamentalist Mormon sect. Ron and Dan had both been excommunicated from the mainline Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1983. Ron claimed to have received a revelation from God in which he was instructed to "remove" several people, including the two victims. Ron planned several additional homicides, but fled Utah after killing Brenda and Erica. The brothers were arrested in Reno, Nevada several weeks after the crime, and quickly confessed.

The Lafferty brothers were charged with homicide in August 1984. Dan Lafferty represented himself, but attorneys Michael Esplin and Gary Weight were appointed to serve as "standby" counsel for the brothers. Esplin and Wright also represented the brothers during their competency hearings. At the conclusion of the competency evaluations, and while incarcerated in the Utah County jail, Ron attempted suicide in December 1984. This sucide attempt resulted in severe injury and mental damage. Following the suicide attempt, Ron was held at the Utah State Hospital for several months.

Dan's case

The brothers were tried separately. Dan's jury trial resulted in a guilty verdict. He was sentenced to two life terms, to be served concurrently without the possibility of parole. Esplin and Weight appealed the case to the Utah Supreme Court, which upheld his conviction. [3]

Dan Lafferty was alive as of 2022, still imprisoned in Utah. [4]

Ron's case

Ron Lafferty was found competent to stand trial by doctors at the Utah State Hospital. Ron was tried in 1985, convicted, and sentenced to death. The penalty was upheld after an appeal to the Utah Supreme Court. [5] The United States Supreme Court rejected a further appeal.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Utah upheld the conviction; however, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the lower court's verdict and reversed the conviction, finding that the state and the lower court judge had committed error in finding Ron competent to stand trial. The state of Utah filed an appeal with the United States Supreme Court, which was turned down.

Ron was remanded to the Fourth District Court for Utah to undergo competency proceedings. Ron was found incompetent to stand trial, and was sent to the Utah State Hospital for treatment.

Three years later, a court found that Ron's competency was "restored" and in 1996 he was retried for the crimes. After a three-week trial, Ron was found guilty of a capital offense. Further appeals to the Supreme Court of Utah and the U.S. Supreme Court were denied.

On August 12, 2019, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to hear Ron's case by a unanimous decision. [6] Judge Mary Beck Briscoe wrote:

Lafferty has failed to make this showing with respect to any of the four claims on which he seeks a COA [certificate of appealability].

The court's decision gave Ron few options left to appeal his execution. Ron elected to be executed by firing squad. [6]

Ron Lafferty died in prison of natural causes in November 2019, at the age of 78. [7] [8]

Jon Krakauer's 2003 true crime book Under the Banner of Heaven [9] is partly based upon interviews with Dan Lafferty.

Krakauer's book was adapted into drama television miniseries created by Dustin Lance Black, Under the Banner of Heaven . The series was premiered on April 28, 2022, on FX on Hulu. [10] [11] Ron and Dan are portrayed by Sam Worthington and Wyatt Russell, respectively.

The Investigation Discovery show American Monster S03E05 entitled "Band of Brothers" covers the case.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Krakauer</span> American writer and journalist (born 1954)

Jon Krakauer is an American writer and mountaineer. He is the author of bestselling nonfiction books—Into the Wild; Into Thin Air; Under the Banner of Heaven; and Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman—as well as numerous magazine articles. He was a member of an ill-fated expedition to summit Mount Everest in 1996, one of the deadliest disasters in the history of climbing Everest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death of Diane Whipple</span> American lacrosse player and coach (1968–2001)

Diane Alexis Whipple was an American lacrosse player and college coach. She was killed in a dog attack in San Francisco on January 26, 2001. The dogs involved were two Presa Canarios. Paul Schneider, the dogs' owner, is a high-ranking member of the Aryan Brotherhood and is serving three life sentences in state prison. The dogs were looked after by Schneider's attorneys, Robert Noel and Marjorie Knoller, a husband and wife who lived in the same apartment building as Whipple. After the fatal attack, the state brought criminal charges against the attorneys. Noel, who was not present during the attack, was convicted of manslaughter. Knoller, who was present, was charged with implied-malice second-degree murder and convicted by the jury. Knoller's murder conviction, an unusual result for an unintended dog attack, was rejected by the trial judge but ultimately upheld. The case clarified the meaning of implied malice murder.

<i>Under the Banner of Heaven</i> 2003 book by Jon Krakauer

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith is a nonfiction book by author Jon Krakauer, first published in July 2003. He investigated and juxtaposed two histories: the origin and evolution of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a modern double murder committed in the name of God by brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty, who subscribed to a fundamentalist version of Mormonism.

<i>Reynolds v. United States</i> 1879 United States Supreme Court case

Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145 (1878), was a Supreme Court of the United States case which held that religious duty was not a defense to a criminal indictment. Reynolds was the first Supreme Court opinion to address the First Amendment's protection of religious liberties, impartial juries and the Confrontation Clauses of the Sixth Amendment.

Stromberg v. California, 283 U.S. 359 (1931), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court held, 7–2, that a California statute banning red flags was unconstitutional because it violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. In the case, Yetta Stromberg was convicted for displaying a red flag daily in the youth camp for children at which she worked, and was charged in accordance with California law. Chief Justice Charles Hughes wrote for the seven-justice majority that the California statute was unconstitutional, and therefore Stromberg's conviction could not stand.

In the United States on May 11, 2006, retired Roman Catholic priest Gerald Robinson was convicted of the murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl (1908–1980), a Sister of Mercy, a Catholic religious order of women on Holy Saturday, April 5, 1980. Robinson repeatedly appealed, but without success. On July 4, 2014, Robinson died in prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmunds Act</span> US federal law

The Edmunds Act, also known as the Edmunds Anti-Polygamy Act of 1882, is a United States federal statute, signed into law on March 23, 1882 by President Chester A. Arthur, declaring polygamy a felony in federal territories, punishable by "a fine of not more than five hundred dollars and by imprisonment for a term of not more than five years". The act is named for U.S. Senator George F. Edmunds of Vermont. The Edmunds Act also prohibited "bigamous" or "unlawful cohabitation", thus removing the need to prove that actual marriages had occurred. The act not only reinforced the 1862 Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act but also made the offense of unlawful cohabitation much easier to prove than polygamy misdemeanor and made it illegal for polygamists or cohabitants to vote, hold public office, or serve on juries in federal territories.

The Wichita Massacre, also known as the Wichita Horror, was a week-long violent crime spree perpetrated by brothers Reginald and Jonathan Carr, in the city of Wichita, Kansas, between December 8 and 15, 2000. Five people were killed, and two people, a man and a woman, were severely wounded. The brothers were arrested and convicted of multiple counts of murder, kidnapping, robbery, and rape. They were both sentenced to death in October 2002. Their vicious crimes created panic in the Wichita area resulting in an increase in the sales of guns, locks, and home security systems.

The Jeanine Nicarico murder case was a complex and influential homicide investigation and prosecution in which two men, Rolando Cruz and Alejandro Hernandez, both Latinos, were wrongfully convicted of abduction, rape and murder in 1985 in DuPage County, Illinois. They were both sentenced to death. The case was scrutinized during appeals for being weak in evidence.

In the United States criminal justice system, a competency evaluation is an assessment of the ability of a defendant to understand and rationally participate in a court process.

Wiggins v. Smith, 539 U.S. 510 (2003), is a case in which the United States Supreme Court spelled out standards for "effectiveness" in the constitutional right to legal counsel guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment. Previously the court had determined that the Sixth Amendment included the right to "effective assistance" of legal counsel, but it did not specify what constitutes "effective", thus leaving the standards for effectiveness vague. In Wiggins v. Smith, the court set forth the American Bar Association Guidelines for the Appointment and Performance of Defense Counsel in Death Penalty Cases Guideline 11.8.6.(1989), as a specific guideline by which to measure effectiveness and competence of legal counsel.

Godinez v. Moran, 509 U.S. 389 (1993), was a landmark decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that if a defendant was competent to stand trial, they were automatically competent to plead guilty, and thereby waive the panoply of trial rights, including the right to counsel.

This is a list of notable overturned convictions in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Killing of Hae Min Lee</span> Unsolved 1999 homicide in Baltimore, Maryland, US

Hae Min Lee was a Korean-American high school student who went missing on January 13, 1999, in Baltimore County, Maryland, before turning up dead on February 9, 1999, when her corpse was discovered in Leakin Park, Baltimore. Her autopsy revealed that she had been killed by way of manual strangulation.

On April 27, 2014, 17-year-old Diren Dede, a German-Turkish exchange student from Hamburg, Germany, living in Missoula, Montana, was shot to death by Markus Kaarma.

<i>R v Jogee</i> 2016 British landmark legal case on joint enterprise

R v Jogee[2016] UKSC 8 was a 2016 judgment of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom that reversed previous case law on joint enterprise. The Supreme Court delivered its ruling jointly with the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which was considering an appeal from Jamaica, Ruddock v The Queen [2016] UKPC 7.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Death of Conrad Roy</span> 2014 manslaughter in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, US

Conrad Henri Roy III was an American marine salvage captain who died by suicide at the age of 18. His girlfriend, 17-year-old Michelle Carter, had encouraged him in text messages to kill himself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Botham Jean</span> 2018 murder case in Texas

On the night of September 6, 2018, 26-year-old accountant Botham Jean was murdered in Dallas, Texas, by off-duty Dallas Police Department patrol officer Amber Guyger, who entered Jean's apartment and fatally shot him. Guyger, who said that she had entered Jean's apartment believing it was her own and believed Jean to be a burglar, was initially charged with manslaughter. The absence of a murder charge led to protests and accusations of racial bias because Jean—an unarmed black man—was killed in his own home by a white off-duty officer who had apparently disregarded police protocols. On November 30, 2018, Guyger was indicted on a charge of murder. On October 1, 2019, she was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment the following day. The ruling was upheld on appeal in 2021.

<i>Under the Banner of Heaven</i> (miniseries) 2022 American television miniseries

Under the Banner of Heaven is an American true crime drama television miniseries created by Dustin Lance Black, based on the 2003 non-fiction book by Jon Krakauer about the case of brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty who killed their sister-in-law and young daughter in 1984. The series premiered on April 28, 2022, on FX on Hulu. Andrew Garfield and Gil Birmingham star as two detectives investigating a brutal murder and its connections to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the LDS Church or informally as Mormons.

Ralph Leroy Menzies is an American convicted murderer currently on death row in Utah for the 1986 murder of Maurine Hunsaker, a gas station attendant who was kidnapped and shot to death by Menzies. Menzies was convicted of the murder and sentenced to death on March 23, 1988, and he is currently awaiting to be executed by firing squad, with the state filing a motion to seek an approval of his execution.

References

  1. ↑ Thompson, Jan (June 21, 1988). "Attorney Calls Lafferty's Defense Request for a Trial Transcript a 'Stalling Technique'". Deseret News. Archived from the original on July 5, 2015. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  2. ↑ Morris, Michael (May 24, 1988). "Lafferty Fighting for his Life After All". Deseret News. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
  3. ↑ "State v. Lafferty". Justia Law. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
  4. ↑ https://www.newsweek.com/what-happened-ron-dan-lafferty-where-are-they-now-under-banner-heaven-fx-hulu-1705909
  5. ↑ "STATE of Utah, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Ronald Watson LAFFERTY, Defendant and Appellant".
  6. 1 2 Winslow, Ben (August 12, 2019). "Court rejects notorious killer Ron Lafferty's latest appeal, moving him closer to firing squad execution". KSTU. Retrieved January 21, 2022.
  7. ↑ Simons, Roxy (May 12, 2022). "What happened to Ron and Dan Lafferty and where are they now?". Newsweek. Retrieved July 3, 2022.
  8. ↑ "Utah death row inmate Ron Lafferty dies of natural causes". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved May 17, 2022.
  9. ↑ Krakauer, Jon (2004). Under the Banner of Heaven. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 372. ISBN   1400078997.
  10. ↑ Goldberg, Lesley (February 17, 2022). "FX Is Ramping Up Originals: Thanks, Streaming". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved March 8, 2022.
  11. ↑ Petski, Denise (March 8, 2022). "'Under The Banner Of Heaven': FX Limited Series Starring Andrew Garfield Gets Hulu Premiere Date — Photo". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.