Reader comments
Convicted murderer set free
34 comments | Read story
Anonymous | 6:10 p.m. June 16, 2009
It is 5 years if you are convicted in a Motel 6. 7 years in a Super 8. The
justice system is a joke. more criminals on the lose. I will have my gun ready!
Are you kidding | 6:16 p.m. June 16, 2009
I hope that is the last we hear of David Valken-Leduc. I hope it doesn't
repeat the statistics of these type of cases.
Lawyer? | 9:35 p.m. June 16, 2009
What will now happen to the lawyer who by his own admission did not do due
diligence and was therefore neglectful in his legal responsibility.
Comments continue below
Concerned | 10:05 p.m. June 16, 2009
Please show us a photo of him!
Anonymous | 4:52 a.m. June 17, 2009
The value of a human life in the United States diminishes daily. I am ashamed
of our legal system and feel great sorrow for the Whicker family.
"Had a big smile" | 5:46 a.m. June 17, 2009
Why not? He got away with murder!
Scott | 6:29 a.m. June 17, 2009
His lawyer said "prison is a dangerous place to be".... Duh, so
let's put him on the streets, so we can all be safe....
What warped logic. No wonder our legal system is such a mess and loses respect all the time.
What warped logic. No wonder our legal system is such a mess and loses respect all the time.
Anonymous | 6:46 a.m. June 17, 2009
I live in Davis County, and I am extremely disapointed in the incompetence of
our officials. We let a murder go free after 10 years, this is bull.
BLACK AND WHITE | 7:53 a.m. June 17, 2009
Day after day I read comments that look at every article as though there is no
grey area. In the words of so many posters, "Shame on you"!!!!
Really ! | 7:59 a.m. June 17, 2009
In the story it might have been good to have covered a little about the attorney
who did such a bad job, and what is, or will be, his "punishment" for,
essentially, making it so Valken-Leduc is placed back on the street at the risk
of the general public.
Who wouldn't be happy to be out of prison and as one commenter said "get away with murder" perhaps?
I wonder if the increased happiness of Valken-Leduc is equal to the increased sadness of the deceased's family. Nothing was said about the justice to the deceased and his family.
Perhaps a follow-up story would be in order.
Who wouldn't be happy to be out of prison and as one commenter said "get away with murder" perhaps?
I wonder if the increased happiness of Valken-Leduc is equal to the increased sadness of the deceased's family. Nothing was said about the justice to the deceased and his family.
Perhaps a follow-up story would be in order.
Davis County | 8:18 a.m. June 17, 2009
You should be proud that the County Attorney, Mr. Rawlings, has such high
ethical standards and dedication to justice. This is not something he wanted to
have happen. He did it because ethically he was bound to do it. He deserves your
utmost respect.
Anonymous | 8:19 a.m. June 17, 2009
good thing he wasn't executed, too many innocent people are imprisoned.
The justice system... | 8:20 a.m. June 17, 2009
worked. Not enough evidence for the conviction to stand up. It gets vacated and
the guy pleads to a lesser charge. Just as the constitution intended.
Darrel | 8:54 a.m. June 17, 2009
Yes the system worked! He was convicted of 1st degree murder...that is
PREMEDITATED murder, not a robbery gone wrong murder. I am glad that the DA had
the ethics to go back and revisit this case.
Do I feel bad for the family of the deceased, yes? Does this give back their loved one? No. But I feel this prisoner has paid his debt.
Do I feel bad for the family of the deceased, yes? Does this give back their loved one? No. But I feel this prisoner has paid his debt.
Kelly | 9:05 a.m. June 17, 2009
Anonymous, he is not innocent. He was still convicted for murdering someone,
just on a lesser charge with a plea statute that didn't require him to
acknowledge his culpability. So save the sanctimonious comments for a true
innocent man that was imprisoned.
I've known the Whicker family for over 20 years. You'll never meet a nicer, more forgiving couple than Ben and Rhea. It's sad their family had to endure this, but they have and are showing true class in their response to all these proceedings.
I've known the Whicker family for over 20 years. You'll never meet a nicer, more forgiving couple than Ben and Rhea. It's sad their family had to endure this, but they have and are showing true class in their response to all these proceedings.
Lawyer may not be at fault | 9:08 a.m. June 17, 2009
His original lawyer may not have been able to hire an investigator. While the
state has access to investigators and large budgets, often these kinds of cases
are defended with no budget at all. I also doubt his post conviction lawyers
got paid at all.
Do not be too quick to judge. What we need is equal budgets for both prosecutors and defense attorneys in all incarcerating felony cases.
Do not be too quick to judge. What we need is equal budgets for both prosecutors and defense attorneys in all incarcerating felony cases.
yeah | 9:09 a.m. June 17, 2009
anonymous should go to prison. Let a murderer go free and say that "too
many innocent people are imprisoned." Yeah right! I wonder if anon saw the
terrorists on the beach in the bahamas.. so innoncent.
Where's Dexter when we need him? | 9:17 a.m. June 17, 2009
Anyone have the number for the Miami Metro forensics department?
Lawyer not at fault | 9:28 a.m. June 17, 2009
The Defense has access to all the forensic information the prosecution has.
Whiggy | 9:44 a.m. June 17, 2009
This whole fiasco is not the fault of the judicial system, it is the fault of
the legislature. If the legislature had planned ahead when Utah was
experiencing record budget surpluses, the funding would exist to prevent
injustices such as this. For instance, adequate funding would have allowed the
defense attorney to hire an investigator and do the other things required for a
fair trial the first time around.
birdclaw | 9:57 a.m. June 17, 2009
the defense attorney had names of multiple witnesses who all heard one of the
other kids involved admit that he (not David) was the shooter. at trial this
same kid said David was the shooter. the defense did not call any of the
multiple witnesses who could have countered this and did not have an
investigator even talk to them. get the defense attorney affidavit from AG
office.
Anonymous | 10:01 a.m. June 17, 2009
In all of this, it's not being reported that the prosecution also acted
inappropriately in not disclosing that one of the state's witnesses against
Valken-Leduc was given a deal in exchange for testimony, and this deal was not
revealed to the defense. So, while Rawlings is bending over backwards to look
like the good guy in all of this, part of the problem was his own office's
misconduct.
Re: Anonymous | 10:26 a.m. June 17, 2009
The trial of the case was conducted long before Mr. Rawlings was the County
Attorney. He isn't trying to "look like the good guy", he is
fixing a problem that wasn't of his making.
Needing Clarification! | 10:35 a.m. June 17, 2009
The report listed the men's names who were arrested for the crime and
Valken-Leduc was not mentioned. In the "key dates" timeline, the
reporter doesn't explain how Valken-Leduc is introduced into the case
other than saying, "What were thought to be Valken-Leduc's
fingerprints, turned out to be the finger prints of the victim". Can
anyone shed a little light on how Valken-Leduc got introduced into the
investigation if he wasn't one of the orginal suspects that were arrested.
This is why I hate lawyers! | 10:38 a.m. June 17, 2009
The title says it all.
birdclaw | 10:50 a.m. June 17, 2009
Anonymous, give us a name. Who was the prosecutor in 2004? Also, I was in court
yesterday as I am in law enforcement and know some things about this case. The
current prosecutor went into detail about an invalid immunity agreement granted
by Mel Wilson and that this was a concern in this case (as it was given to the
defense but not made known to the jury) so nothing was hidden from the judge. It
is on the record if you care to get it. So is the defense attorney's
affidavit.
observing | 12:26 p.m. June 17, 2009
The outcome of all this is tragic on so many levels. I want to make one
comment: Maybe prison wouldn't look so dismal if we would cut out all the
perks. For the last 5 years Valken-Leduc has received free food, free medical
care, free clothing, free utilities, free room, and a free education. It is
sickening to think that BECAUSE of his crime he might be able to receive an
associate's degree. How pathetic our justice system!
A friend | 3:29 p.m. June 17, 2009
To 'Needing Clarification' -
Dave was first questioned during the initial investigation (because of his proximity with the suspects) and it was determined by law enforcement that he was not involved. Years later, the forensics guy falsly identified a partial bloody fingerprint as belonging to Dave. They then arrested him solely on that 'evidence'. That forensics guy later killed himself while inspecting another weapon. The new forensics guy took over and re-examined evidence and proved the fingerprint was the victims, not Dave's. So at this point all they had was a finger pointing at him from a man who had TWICE confessed to the killing, along with lousy eye-witness reports that had changed many times. This was a case of misled jurors, poor representation, shady prosecution, and a community's need to convict someone. Anyone. None of you know Dave. I do. Very well. Not only is he incapable of comitting such an act, he couldn't live with 'getting away with murder'. Don't be afraid of him EVER showing up in the system again. Don't judge this man on what you don't know. Justice (although unfair to Dave) has happened today.
Dave was first questioned during the initial investigation (because of his proximity with the suspects) and it was determined by law enforcement that he was not involved. Years later, the forensics guy falsly identified a partial bloody fingerprint as belonging to Dave. They then arrested him solely on that 'evidence'. That forensics guy later killed himself while inspecting another weapon. The new forensics guy took over and re-examined evidence and proved the fingerprint was the victims, not Dave's. So at this point all they had was a finger pointing at him from a man who had TWICE confessed to the killing, along with lousy eye-witness reports that had changed many times. This was a case of misled jurors, poor representation, shady prosecution, and a community's need to convict someone. Anyone. None of you know Dave. I do. Very well. Not only is he incapable of comitting such an act, he couldn't live with 'getting away with murder'. Don't be afraid of him EVER showing up in the system again. Don't judge this man on what you don't know. Justice (although unfair to Dave) has happened today.
Kenneth in Texas | 3:38 p.m. June 17, 2009
I have the same question as "Needing Clarification!" @10:35 AM.
re: observing | 3:42 p.m. June 17, 2009
Prison is not just for imprisonment. It requires some form of
rehab/education/medical care/humane treatment - without recieving these things,
then I would be concerned when the non-lifers get released. A guilty man that
learns nothing in incarceration, is no better for society upon release. This
man was going to college AND interning at a good job when he was arrested.
It's nice to see how blindly judging you can be. I agree that the justice
system is to a degree - pathetic... Because this man should have never been
convicted in the first place.
Idaho Doc | 3:59 p.m. June 17, 2009
What we need is something other than our current justice system. If a few
dollars were invested to develop a valid and reliable lie detection system,
using current technology and adding other biological markers, we could have fair
trials now. Not fair in the sense of "a fair chance to get off," but
fair in the sense of "just."
RE: A Friend | 4:57 p.m. June 17, 2009
Why couldn't the news writer have included this same information on why he
was originally convicted? It is frustrating when important info. is missing,
esp. when from the article it appears that he probably had a hand in the murder
(even if the plea deal simply means there is evidence but no admission of
guilt), but from your info. it would appear that he did not.
I wonder if he had access to this same information.
I wonder if he had access to this same information.
RE: re: A Friend | 5:11 p.m. June 17, 2009
I know. It's frustrating. Newspaper and TV writers are limited on how
much text and time they can use in stories. I read a lot of these comments and
am upset that Dave is being convicted by the public that lacks key elements of
the story. There are so many other fishy things that went down in this case
(even reporters who covered his original trial found elements baffling). Dave
has always and continues to declare his innocence in any involvement with this
murder. I whole-heartedly believe him. He's spent over 5 years in prison
while the real killer roams free. He'll now have this manslaughter charge
on his record for life. He just wants to get to live his life.
re: a friend | 6:18 p.m. June 17, 2009
Also, I don't know if you know this... but Todd Rettenberger (the man who
twice confessed as the trigger man) never once mentioned David
Valken-LeDuc's association with the crime until that mis-identification of
the finger print!
Add your comment
Comments are monitored. Any comments found to be abusive, offensive, off-topic, misrepresentative, more than 200 words or containing URLs will not be posted.
Words Remaining
E-mail address: For internal use only. We may want to contact you to publish your comment (not your e-mail address) in the newspaper or for a separate story idea.
Related content
- Soccer MVPs know how to win 1:56 a.m.
- Alta's Ohai is Ms. Soccer 2009 1:56 a.m.
- High school soccer: Past MVPs 1:37 a.m.
- Senators want food tax restored 1:27 a.m.
- Utah women lag in higher education 1:16 a.m.
- Hatch empathizes with Muslims 1:14 a.m.
- Matheson gets no thanks from GOP 1:13 a.m.
- Mitchell seeks to block witnesses 1:12 a.m.
- Party insiders may take on Bennett 1:11 a.m.
- Input sought on nondiscrimination 1:11 a.m.
- TCU showdown has big implications
- Seniors helped BYU regroup
- Lambert surprisingly tops news
- Bystanders framed for child porn
- Hope for single moms
- Soccer MVPs know how to win
- Korver and Miles to be evaluated
- Matheson gets no thanks from GOP
- Utah Jazz Extra: Whose hot/not
- Newhouse Hotel, an explosive end
- House passes health care bill
228 - TCU showdown has big implications183
- Lobo suspended182
- Cougars crush hapless Cowboys154
- Utah Jazz fall apart against Kings131
- TCU 4th in AP poll; U. 16th, Y. 22nd118
- Thousands protest health bill114
- RSL rallies to advance103
- No 'backlash' for pioneers, gays analogy97
- Utes pound winless Lobos89
Meghan McCain, the daughter of former presidential candidate John...
Why do so many people live so close to refineries in Utah and elsewhere?
Advertisement
Latest comments
Sounds like a good option if you can't or won't switch to AT&T for the...
I worked with and around Bill Sederburg for 5 years while he was at...
hand. He needs to work on his moves to the basket and rebounding. Lateral...
play Fez or Koufos tonight. He went with a smaller line up and Boozer, Okur...
I've met Bennett before and he is a nice man. He also knows the Constitution...
That's never been a secret. Everyone will pay for it except those that don't...
I agree with NonMormon. I am active LDS, and I enjoy Ash's articles, and I...
I kept saying don't resign Milsap, especially after Portland offered that...
BYU is the slowest team that has ever been in the top 25. Utah will put up a...
i think u have the cowboys ranked too low! at least an A- LOL nice work!
Advertisements