State v. Lafferty

• Decision Date: 23 February 2001
• Docket Number: No. 970111.,970111.
• Citation: 20 P.3d 342,2001 UT 19
• Parties: STATE of Utah, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Ronald Watson LAFFERTY, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: Utah Supreme Court

20 P.3d 342

2001 UT 19

STATE of Utah, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Ronald Watson LAFFERTY, Defendant and Appellant.

No. 970111.

Supreme Court of Utah.

February 23, 2001.

Mark Shurtleff, Att'y Gen., Kris C. Leonard, Creighton C. Horton, Michael Wims, Asst. Att'ys Gen., Salt Lake City, for plaintiff.

Michael D. Esplin, Margaret P. Lindsay, Provo, for defendant.

HOWE, Chief Justice:

¶ 1 Defendant Ronald Watson Lafferty appeals from a judgment and conviction of two counts of first degree murder, aggravated burglary, and conspiracy to commit first degree murder. He was sentenced to death for the murder convictions. On appeal, he makes eight separate challenges: (1) whether the trial court erred in determining that he was competent to stand trial; (2) whether the trial court erred in granting the State's challenge for cause to remove Juror 220; (3) whether Utah's insanity defense, section 76-2-305 of the Utah Code, violates the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 9 of the Utah Constitution; (4) whether the trial court erred by admitting victim impact evidence during the penalty phase; (5) whether the trial court erred by allowing the introduction of statements made by defendant and his brother Dan Lafferty to the media; (6) whether the trial court erred by refusing to give defendant's requested instruction that the jury could consider sympathy or mercy in reaching its verdict during the penalty phase; (7) whether Utah's death penalty statute, section 76-3-207 of the Utah Code, is unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution and article I, sections 7 and 9 of the Utah Constitution; and (8) whether the retrial of defendant violated the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 12 of the Utah Constitution.

BACKGROUND

¶ 2 The history leading up to the commission of these crimes is extensive and disturbing, but sheds light specifically on the issue of competency as well as the other issues raised by the defense on appeal. In reviewing the jury verdict, we view the facts and all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom in the light most favorable to the verdict. See State v. Loose, 2000 UT 11, ¶ 2, 994 P.2d 1237

; State v. Brown, 948 P.2d 337, 339 (Utah 1997). We present conflicting evidence only as necessary to understand the issues before us on appeal. See State v. Dunn, 850 P.2d 1201, 1206 (Utah 1993).

I. EVENTS PRECEDING JULY 24, 1984

¶ 3 Ronald Watson Lafferty was raised in Orem, Utah, the oldest son in a family of eight children. He was brought up in a strictly religious family, and was himself an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS Church). At nineteen years of age, he served for two years as a volunteer missionary for the LDS Church in Florida. Approximately six months after he returned from his mission, defendant married Diana Sayer. They are the parents of six children. Acquaintances who knew defendant prior to 1982 described him as a strong family man. He was also a prominent member of his community, serving for a time on the city council in Highland, Utah.

¶ 4 During the period between 1982 and 1983, defendant began to change. He started spending increasingly large amounts of time with his brother Dan Lafferty. Dan had been in constant trouble with law enforcement for years for failing to pay taxes and disobeying licensing regulations.¹ As Dan and defendant conversed, defendant became increasingly converted to Dan's philosophies on government intervention. His appearance changed markedly. He went from being very clean cut and well groomed to wearing long hair and an unkempt beard and having the appearance of a "mountain man."

¶ 5 Defendant began to meet regularly with Dan, as well as with brothers Tim, Mark, and Watson, to discuss politics and religion. Defendant became increasingly critical of the LDS Church. Those who knew him well remarked that he seemed to have changed drastically not only in his beliefs, but in his personality as well. He began to stray further and further from mainstream society and was excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1983.²

¶ 6 The following year, defendant's wife Diana filed for and obtained a divorce and moved with their six children to Florida. Defendant felt his excommunication was unjust and was distraught over the dissolution of his marriage.

¶ 7 The brothers continued to meet together and opened their religious and political discussions to others with similar viewpoints. Through this process, they met Robert Crossfield, a man from Canada claiming to be a prophet. Crossfield asserted that he had directions from God to teach the Lafferty brothers how to receive revelation and organize themselves into what he called the "School of the Prophets."³ The brothers claimed they began to receive communications from God and would meet as a group to discuss these "revelations."

¶ 8 It was during this time that defendant first told his brothers that he had received a revelation that his ex-wife Diana had been the wife of the devil in a previous world. Defendant believed their union angered the devil, who in turn caused him trouble in this world out of jealousy. In the spring of 1984, defendant claimed to have received another revelation from God (the "removal revelation") ordering that four people were to be "removed." Among those to be "removed" were his brother Allen's wife Brenda, their fifteen-month-old daughter Erica, Richard Stowe, and Chloe Low.⁴

¶ 9 Prior to this time, defendant had expressed negative feelings to other family members and friends about the four persons named in the removal revelation. Defendant believed that all four in some way had either helped his wife obtain a divorce or played a part in his excommunication from the LDS Church. Defendant thought Brenda had encouraged Diana to leave and divorce him. On several occasions before the removal revelation, defendant called Brenda a "bitch" and told Allen that Brenda "had better stop talking to Diana" and that "he didn't want her meddling in their affairs." After the removal revelation, defendant stated that Erica needed to be removed as well because "she would grow up to be a bitch just like her mother."⁵ Chloe Low was also a friend of Diana's who helped and encouraged Diana to leave defendant. Richard Stowe was defendant's and Diana's ecclesiastical leader in the LDS Church and was a member of the church council that decided to excommunicate defendant. He also counseled Diana during the divorce proceedings as her ecclesiastical leader and helped her obtain financial aid from the LDS Church.

¶ 10 In conjunction with the removal revelation, defendant claimed to have received another revelation on March 13, 1984, commanding that he and the School of the Prophets "consecrate" an "instrument" to be used in the removal of the four named individuals.⁶ When he discussed this new revelation, only Dan and Watson agreed to such an action; the others involved with the School of the Prophets felt that this and the removal revelation were not of God and disassociated themselves from the revelations. The School of the Prophets disbanded because of disagreement over this issue, but Dan and defendant continued in their belief that the revelations needed to be fulfilled.

II. JULY 24, 1984

¶ 11 On the morning of July 24, 1984, defendant, Dan, and friends Charles Carnes ("Chip") and Ricky Knapp planned to go to Salt Lake City for the day.⁷ Before leaving, defendant told the group he felt impressed that they should go to his brother Mark's house to pick up a rifle. Once they arrived there, Mark asked what they were going to do with the gun, because defendant had quit hunting years earlier. Defendant replied that he was going hunting for "[a]ny fucking thing that gets in my way." The men then headed to Allen's apartment, apparently to look for another rifle. On the way, Dan and defendant began discussing whether the removal revelation was to be fulfilled that day.

¶ 12 When the four reached the apartment, defendant exited the car and knocked on the front door. The three other men remained in the car. When no one answered, defendant returned to the car and drove away, heading toward Salt Lake City. Before they had driven far, Dan said he felt impressed to turn around and return to Allen's apartment. When they arrived, Dan went to the door and knocked. This time, Brenda Lafferty answered the door.

¶ 13 Dan pushed past Brenda into the apartment and was inside alone with Brenda for a few minutes when the men in the car heard the two fighting inside the apartment. Defendant then left the car and entered the apartment as well. Chip testified at trial that once defendant entered the apartment, he could hear defendant calling Brenda a "bitch" and a "liar," and could hear Brenda being physically beaten. From where he sat in the car in the driveway, Chip heard Brenda screaming, "Don't hurt my baby. Please don't hurt my baby." He could also hear the baby crying, "Mommy, mommy, mommy." The apartment then became quiet. A few minutes later, Dan and defendant emerged from the rear of the apartment and entered the car, their clothes covered in blood.

¶ 14 The men next drove to the Low residence. On the way, defendant commented that Chloe Low would be an easy target because of her small size. When they reached Low's house and determined no one was there, the men broke into the house and took numerous items. As they left Low's house, defendant began talking about going on to Richard Stowe's home.

¶ 15 After accidentally missing the turnoff to the Stowe residence, Dan and defendant decided to abandon trying to fulfill the rest of the revelation. They stopped at a service station and then headed toward Wendover. Chip testified that on the way, defendant pulled a knife out of his boot, started to bang it on his knee, and said, "I killed her. I killed her. I killed...