Jury finds once-convicted murderer guilty a 2nd time in downtown shooting

SALT LAKE CITY — For the second time in less than six years, a jury has found Deon Lomax Clopten guilty of murder and sentenced him to up to life in prison for a gang-sparked shooting on the streets of Salt Lake City.

Clopten, 35, was also found guilty of a second charge of possession of a dangerous weapon by a restriction person, a second-degree felony.

The longtime gang member whose trouble with the law stretches back to the mid-90s in Ogden had to be removed from the courtroom after he swore at the judge and said he didn't want to sit through the sentencing.

"I think the right outcome was achieved and we're grateful for the jury," said prosecutor Fred Burmester after Clopten was given five to life for the murder and up to 15 years for the weapons conviction.

A jury trial in 2006 led to the murder conviction of Clopten in the Dec. 1, 2002, shooting of Tony Fuailemaa. The Utah Supreme Court reversed the conviction and ordered a new trial on the grounds that defense attorneys should have been allowed to use an expert on eyewitness testimony.

After six and a half hours of deliberation Friday, Clopten was again found guilty following a four-day retrial before 3rd District Judge Randall Skanchy. This time, experts on eyewitness testimony did testify, as did a number of eyewitnesses, police officers and a medical examiner.

In closing arguments, no one denied that Fuailemaa was shot in the head and neck outside Club X-Scape, 115 S. West Temple, after a hip-hop concert. The question centered on who fired the gun.

"The issue in this case is identity," Burmester said. "Not, was there a murder."

Burmester reminded the jury of the testimony of three separate eyewitnesses who all identified Clopten as the shooter, including Fuailemaa's then-fiancé, Shannon Pantoja. Pantoja had seen Clopten earlier in the evening and was told he was at the club.  

"She (told police), 'I know who did it, it was Deon Clopten,'" Burmester told the jury. "She picked him out 100 percent sure. She's maintained that position numerous times."

But defense attorney Jeremy Delicino pointed out what he said are inconsistencies and other issues with the testimonies of the various eyewitnesses and suggested that the shooter was, instead, Clopten's friend Freddie Lee White.

"The devil is in the details," Delicino said. "The small issues are the big issues in this case."