Rawlings said Matthew Whicker's widow, Katrina, and his parents, Ben and Rea, did not want to retry the case, which left Rawlings with the prospect of going through an appeal process in which Rawlings would be forced to defend the work of a defense lawyer who admitted he did a poor job.

"Was the trial done fairly and is the conviction reliable? No," Rawlings said. "I just didn't want to go down that unethical road."

In addition, the Utah Attorney General's Office decided it would be "prudent" to resolve the case with the manslaughter conviction on Valken-Leduc's record — but with no more prison time.

"I agonized over this because we're dealing with a murder conviction that has been set aside, but I made the call because the kid didn't get a fair trial," Rawlings said. "We have to take the criminal justice system seriously."

The original crime has been described as a robbery gone tragically wrong with group of young men seeking beer and marijuana money, but ending up with Whicker getting shot and dying in the motel lobby.

Whicker, 30, was working the graveyard shift to support himself, his wife and their two young children while he attended the University of Utah. He was a Gulf War veteran who spoke fluent Russian and also was a keen pilot who was busy earning his commercial pilot's license.

The Motel 6 case was long and convoluted, marked by multiple defendants, repeated delays, one court hearing after another, a hung jury in one situation, various plea bargains, a confession thrown out by the Utah Supreme Court and the sudden death of an expert forensic witness, Scott Spjut, who accidentally shot himself while inspecting a gun in 2003.

Throughout the ordeal, Whicker's parents have expressed a desire for justice, but not revenge.

Rea Whicker, the victim's mother, said Tuesday evening that she and her family were not happy with the decision in Valken-Leduc's case, but they understood why the judge ruled as he did.

As for Valken-Leduc, "We hope he will prove himself worthy of this second chance," she said. "We hope that his future will prove that this was the right thing to do."

E-MAIL: lindat@desnews.com