Lafferty's lawyer quits

PROVO — Death-row inmate Ron Lafferty is looking for a lawyer.

A Provo judge on Tuesday allowed Lafferty's attorney to back out of an agreement to represent the accused killer. The attorney, Ron Yengich, said he had a conflict of interest.

Lafferty, clad in a red prison jumpsuit and surrounded by guards, was given the news that Yengich had bowed out and that Judge Steven Hansen, whom he has referred to as "stupid Stevie" in previous hearings, also had recused himself from the case.

Lafferty, notorious for his unpredictable behavior during court hearings, was cordial to Judge Anthony Schofield, who will now oversee Lafferty's case in 4th District Court.

In court documents, Yengich, who did not appear at Tuesday's hearing, disclosed that a member of Lafferty's original defense team, Linda Anderson, had worked for his law firm.

Yengich saw that as a conflict of interest because Lafferty had claimed that his original legal team provided him ineffective counsel.

Deputy Attorney General Chris Ballard said Anderson has since passed away.

Yengich was appointed by the court to handle Lafferty's death penalty appeal to the Utah Supreme Court and the federal courts.

In October, Yengich put the court on notice that his client planned to fight the imposition of the death penalty. The notice essentially stopped the federal court's one-year appeals clock until the petition is heard.

The departure of Yengich does not affect the process but certainly causes a delay.

Schofield offered to appoint a defense attorney during Tuesday's hearing, but Lafferty declined. The judge gave Lafferty at least one week to visit with two attorneys before asking Lafferty to make a final decision.

Hansen, who presided over one of Lafferty's murder trials, said a relative was associated with a trial witness. According to Hansen, one of his family members works for a drug company that recently hired psychologist Noel Gardner as a consultant.

During Lafferty's 1996 retrial for the slayings of his sister-in-law and baby niece, Gardner concluded that Lafferty was not mentally ill.

Ron Lafferty and his brother, Dan Lafferty, were found guilty in the July 24, 1984, murders of Brenda Lafferty and her 18-month-old daughter, Erica.

Dan Lafferty claims the two were told in a revelation from God to kill the mother and child.

Dan Lafferty was convicted and sentenced to serve life in prison without parole. In a separate trial, Ron Lafferty was convicted and sentenced to die.

After the first trial, a federal appeals court ruled that a district judge failed to rule appropriately when Lafferty was initially found mentally competent.

The decision resulted in a mistrial, and Ron Lafferty was tried again in 1996.

A jury again found him guilty and sentenced him to die.

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