Lafferty gets 2 new lawyers

PROVO — Death-row inmate Ron Lafferty has two new lawyers — and a new chance to avoid execution.

Maintaining a calm composure Thursday, Lafferty listened as 4th District Court Judge Anthony Schofield appointed Aric Cramer and William Morrison — both private attorneys from Bountiful — as new legal counsel for the convicted killer.

"It is my intent to get someone for Mr. Lafferty who is zealous, who is diligent and who will move this case forward," Schofield said, referring to a series of delays that have plagued Lafferty's 19-year-old case.

The last hang-up came in August when attorney Ron Yengich backed out of representing the 62-year-old due to a conflict of interest.

Yengich — who filed a petition in October 2002 that expressed his intent to appeal Lafferty's conviction — had been working on an amended petition that would outline Lafferty's arguments against the death penalty.

Cramer, who represents defendants in two high-profile Davis County murder cases, will pick up where Yengich left off. At Schofield's request, he will attempt to finish the amended petition by a review hearing on May 17, 2004.

"(Lafferty) just wants someone who is going to stand up for him," Cramer said. "He's trying to fight the conviction because he thinks it's inaccurate."

The conviction in question comes from a 1996 jury trial that was conducted after a federal appeals court ruled that Lafferty's original trial judge failed to adequately address his mental competency. After that trial, he was sentenced to die.

A second jury, however, sentenced Lafferty to the same fate.

Lafferty and his brother, Dan, were convicted in separate trials for killing their sister-in-law and baby niece in 1984. To this day, both men claim they received revelation from God to murder the mother and child.

Police say both brothers entered Brenda Lafferty's American Fork home and strangled their brother's wife before slitting the throats of her and 15-month-old Erica.

A jury convicted Dan Lafferty of first-degree murder and sentenced him to life in prison without parole. Ron Lafferty received the death penalty but has insisted that he had nothing to do with the actual crime.

Thanks to continued appeals and court proceedings, however, Lafferty's execution has been stayed since 1997. With the appointment of new counsel, Assistant Utah Attorney General Chris Ballard said the delays could continue on for several years.