Centerville man who killed friend in 2000 seeks parole

UTAH STATE PRISON — The killer and his victim had known each other since they were 2 years old.

"In every memory I have as a child, he was there," Christian Lance Halterman said this week during his first parole hearing for the slaying of Kenneth D. Whittington.

"I don't regret anything more in my entire life," Halterman said. "Every day, I think of Kenny."

Halterman was in a residential drug-treatment program at the time of the killing. He said he went to his friend's mobile home in Layton on Feb. 27, 2000, and found several people cooking methamphetamine.

Halterman, now 33, said he left immediately but returned the following day to talk to his friend about ending his drug use.

"I shouldn't have gone there," Halterman told Utah Board of Pardons and Parole member Robert S. Yeates.

Halterman said that as the two 24-year-old men sat on the couch talking, the extreme paranoia that accompanies meth use began to work on both their brains. At one point, Whittington got angry and said he believed Halterman planned to go to police about the meth lab in the trailer.

"I believe he said, 'I'm going to … kill you,' " Halterman said. "Whether it was a real threat or a perceived threat, it seemed real to me.

"I thought in that moment, I was going to die," he said. "I grabbed a knife laying there and used it."

Halterman said he stabbed Whittington four times with what he called "a dagger" before a scream from the victim's teenage girlfriend interrupted the fight. He said he fled the trailer.

The autopsy, however, showed that Whittington suffered as many as 20 wounds. He survived the attack long enough to call 911 for help, his voice a whisper.

"I was in shock for a good week after it," Halterman said. "It was my fault. It was totally my fault."

Police arrested Halterman at his Centerville home on the day of the killing. He later pleaded guilty to manslaughter, a second-degree felony, and was sentenced to serve one-to-15 years in prison.

Halterman told Yeates he has made good use of the more than nine years he has been behind bars. He has completed more than 30 drug-treatment classes, graduated from high school and earned both an associate's and bachelor's degree. He has also been trained in all disciplines of welding.

"I've tried to take advantage of anything that could help me in prison," Halterman said.

Yeates said the board will take Halterman's efforts into account when it considers his early release, as well as his lack of a criminal record aside from the manslaughter conviction.

But Yeates also noted that Halterman's crime was "very heinous, very brutal."

"That's going to play huge with the board," he said.

A decision on Halterman's parole is expected next month.

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