No death for Tillman

Utah's oldest death row inmate will not face the death penalty when he goes before a judge on Friday to be resentenced for beating a man to death with an ax handle more than 20 years ago.

The Utah Attorney General's Office announced Monday it will not seek capital punishment for Elroy Tillman, 70, who has been on death row since 1983.

Tillman will be resentenced Friday by 3rd District Judge Leslie Lewis.

He was convicted of capital murder for sneaking into Mark Schoenfeld's home in 1982, hiding in a closet until Schoenfeld fell asleep, bludgeoning him with the ax handle and setting the bed on fire while Schoenfeld, 28, was possibly still alive.

Prosecutors insist Tillman was motivated by jealousy because Lori Groneman, a former girlfriend of Tillman's, was dating Schoenfeld.

Preston Naylor, Schoenfeld's brother-in-law, said the Schoenfeld family did not want to comment on the latest development in the case.

Chief deputy attorney general Kirk Torgensen said on Monday that the decision to not seek the death penalty again came after talking with victims who dreaded spending more time in court and reliving the ordeal of Schoenfeld's killing.

Tillman has already been convicted of capital murder. But in Utah, sentencing a case such as this can be almost like going through a second trial, especially after so much time has passed.

"The jury would go into it understanding he had been convicted, but we would need to have them understand all the underlying facts and circumstances that went into the commission of the crime," Torgensen said.

That would involve bringing in witnesses, getting testimony and presenting evidence — an undertaking that Torgensen estimated could take as long as two weeks. "Twenty-three years after the fact, it would have had to be a complete trial to put all the facts in front of the jury again," Torgensen said.

"In talking to the victims and the victim's family, they felt strongly that they did not want to go back through another trial," Torgensen said.

Loni DeLand, Tillman's chief defense attorney, was unavailable for comment Monday.

Prosecutors and DeLand have agreed to recommend a sentence of life in prison for Tillman. That holds the possibility of parole, because the life-without-parole law was not on the books when Tillman killed Schoenfeld.

"The main decision by everyone who has been a victim in this case is to make sure Mr. Tillman doesn't get a parole date and walk out of prison," Torgensen said. "The state is committed to doing everything we can to make sure that never happens."

That means the Attorney General's Office will "be actively involved in communicating with the Board of Pardons and Parole," he said.