SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The Utah Supreme Court has ruled that convicted murderer Douglas Lovell will have to have another sentencing hearing after justices said his attorneys provided “ineffective assistance.”
Lovell was convicted of the 1985 kidnapping, rape, and murder of Joyce Yost. While the Supreme Court did not overturn his conviction, they have vacated his current death sentence and remanded the case back to a lower court for another sentencing hearing.
“The State presented overwhelming evidence of Lovell’s guilt to the jury,” the ruling stated.
It should be noted that while Lovell’s current death sentence has been thrown out by the court, it does not mean the death penalty is forever off the table. Today’s ruling simply states he must have a new sentencing hearing with a lower court. Prosecutors will have to decide whether or not to seek the death penalty again.
In a 42-page ruling, authored by Associate Chief Justice John Pearce, the court said testimony regarding Lovell’s excommunication from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints kept him from having a fair sentencing. They specifically noted that Lovell’s attorneys should have objected to that testimony, which they said prejudiced his 2015 sentencing.
“Our confidence in the sentencing hearing has been undermined because there is a reasonable probability that at least one juror would have opposed imposition of the death penalty if the jury had not been exposed to this evidence,” stated the published opinion, which can be read in its entirety below. Chief Justice Matthew Durrant and Justice Jill Pohlman recused themselves from the appeal and were replaced by District Judges Christine Johnson and Keith Kelly.
Utah Defense Attorney Clayton Sims told ABC4.com the decision may be necessary, but it won’t be great for Yost’s family.
“Now they have to go back to sentencing,” said Sims. “So, it is painful for the victims to deal with that. It’s painful for the defendant to have this uncertainty. It’s painful for everyone in the process.”
Today’s ruling represents another volley in the game of legal ping-pong over Lovell’s case. He’s already had two trials. He pleaded guilty and then attempted to withdraw his guilty plea. At first, he was denied, but under appeal, he was allowed to withdraw his plea after arguing the state did not inform him of the rights he would be waiving by pleading guilty.
Court documents state Lovell initially kidnapped Yost in 1985, raping her. Yost went to the police, but Lovell attempted to hire two people to kill her and prevent her from testifying. Those attempts failed, after which Lovell kidnapped Yost again and killed her in a canyon outside of Ogden. He later led authorities to her body and testified about how he hid her body. Prosecutors obtained recordings in which Lovell admitted to killing Yost. Lovell’s former spouse also testified that he had admitted to hiring people to kill Yost to keep her from testifying.
Lovell’s former spouse testified that Lovell strangled Yost and stomped her neck.
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