Reader comments
Man convicted in Motel 6 murder set free

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!

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.

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.

Please show us a photo of him!

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.

Why not? He got away with murder!

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.

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.

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"!!!!

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.

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.

good thing he wasn't executed, too many innocent people are imprisoned.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Anyone have the number for the Miami Metro forensics department?

The Defense has access to all the forensic information the prosecution has.

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.