Love-triangle killing in West Valley City heads for trial

SALT LAKE CITY — A love triangle where two men fought over a woman last year ended with one man dead and the other man heading to trial on a murder charge.

Justin Jay Guymon, 28, was ordered Wednesday to stand trial for murder, a first-degree felony, in the fatal stabbing of Steven Doolittle on Nov. 26, 2009, in West Valley City.

Cherie Rich, the woman both men loved, wept on the witness stand as she described the deceased man as a very jealous person who "meant well" and was "a good person," despite the fact that he had roughed her up in the past and once tried to suffocate her.

"He would get really jealous because I didn't love him the way he wanted to be loved," a tearful Rich said.

Rich's description of the fight between the two men conflicted with testimony provided by Doolittle's sister, Barbara Lamkey.

The men lived in the same neighborhood, and the fight took place on a West Valley street near 3644 S. 5450 West.

Rich said Doolittle threw the first punch in a fight and agreed with the defense attorney that Guymon did nothing at first, even while being hit in the face three times. However, Lamkey said, Guymon for four days screamed taunts at her brother to come out and fight and, on the day in question, it was Guymon who threw the first punch.

Lamkey had gone out to meet her brother, who was returning in his car with cigarettes for her. "Justin swung at Steven, and Steven started fighting back," she said.

At one point, she saw blood on her brother's shirt and said she heard Guymon taunt her brother by yelling out a question about how it felt to be "stuck."

Once she realized her brother had been stabbed, she got on the phone and asked relatives to try to get Guymon's license number as he was driving off.

Lamkey said her brother never carried any weapons.

A nephew drove Doolittle to Pioneer Valley Hospital. "At the hospital, they told us he was dead and that he had been stabbed four times," Lamkey said.

Rich, however, said Doolittle was the one who had advanced toward Guymon's house that day. The men began to fight in the street, she said, and then Guymon returned to her, saying he had stabbed Doolittle. "I was like, 'Why?' and he said, 'I don't know. I don't know,' " Rich said.

Rich had dated both men and said that Doolittle a few days earlier had asked why she gave others a second chance but not him.

"Did you think he was trying to get you back as his girlfriend?" defense attorney Catherine Roberts asked.

"Always," Rich replied.

West Valley City police detective Larry Marx said police searched for a weapon, but none was found. He said an autopsy report from the Utah Medical Examiner's Office showed Doolittle had bled to death from two stab wounds.

Guymon, who was on parole at the time for several other felonies, also is charged with obstructing justice, a second-degree felony, and possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, a third-degree felony.

Third District Judge Glen Iwasaki bound Guymon over for trial and set an arraignment date for March 15.

e-mail: lindat@desnews.com