Supreme Court upholds decision to overturn Utah man’s death sentence – Washington Examiner
The U.S.Supreme Court recently supported a decision made by the Utah Supreme court too overturn the death sentence of Douglas Lovell,who was convicted of the 1985 murder of Joyce Yost,aimed at preventing her from testifying against him for a prior rape charge. The court’s rejection of the state’s appeal came without any commentary. The Utah Supreme Court upheld Lovell’s murder conviction but annulled the death penalty, citing ineffective legal representation during his sentencing in 2015. It was steadfast that Lovell’s attorneys did not adequately address the impact of his excommunication from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the jury’s decision-making. Although Lovell’s original claims of church interference in his trial were dismissed by a state judge, the court concluded that there were significant shortcomings in his defense. Lovell was originally sentenced to death following the abduction and strangulation of Yost, whose body has never been recovered.
Supreme Court sides with Utah high court in overturning man’s death sentence
The Supreme Court upheld a decision by the Utah Supreme Court to overturn a man’s death sentence.
The justices made no comment when they rejected the state’s appeal in the case of Douglas Lovell.
Lovell was charged in 1992 for the 1985 murder of Joyce Yost to prevent her from testifying against him in a trial that he raped her. Lovell’s wife, who he is now divorced from, helped Lovell prepare for the murder, authorities said. She cooperated with investigators in exchange for immunity.
The Utah Supreme Court last year upheld Lovell’s murder conviction but threw out the death sentence. It determined that during Lovell’s sentencing in 2015, his attorneys did not sufficiently respond to testimony about his excommunication from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Lovell said his court-appointed attorney never contacted witnesses and that they were also silenced by the church, meaning jurors could not fairly weigh evidence before sentencing Lovell to death.
In 2021, a state judge ruled that the church did not interfere in Lovell’s trial.
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State officials said Lovell originally tried to hire two people to kill Yost so that she wouldn’t testify that he raped her, but he eventually abducted and strangled her.
Lovell said he buried Yost’s remains in the Wasatch Mountains. Her body was never found.
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