Former death row inmate found guilty again in killing, rape
OGDEN — A former death row inmate was convicted Wednesday for the second time in a 30-year-old aggravated murder case after the Utah Supreme Court allowed him to withdraw the initial guilty plea that sent him to prison.
Lawyers for 57-year-old defendant Douglas Lovell didn't argue during the two-day trial that he was innocent and instead focused on trying to keep Lovell from returning to death row when he is resentenced.
The Ogden jury of nine men and three women deliberated for about 90 minutes before convicting Lowell. The sentencing phase of the trial is expected to begin Friday.
The last time a death sentence was imposed in Utah was in 2008.
Prosecutors say Lovell spent four months plotting to kill victim Joyce Yost to keep her from testifying against him in a rape case. Lovell broke into her home in 1985 with a knife after his plans to hire a hit man fell through, Weber County Deputy Attorney Gary Heward said.
Lovell ignored her begging, drugged her and drove her to Ogden Canyon, where he strangled her, stomped on her neck and buried her in leaves, Heward said.
Lovell was nevertheless convicted in the rape, in part due to Yost's testimony from a preliminary hearing. He was serving 15 years to life when prosecutors say he twice acknowledged his role in the killing to his estranged wife, who was secretly working with police.
"When you put it all together the evidence is overwhelming," Heward said during his closing argument in the current case.
Lovell had pleaded guilty in 1993 to avoid the death penalty, but a judge imposed it anyway after Lovell couldn't fulfill a condition of the plea deal to help investigators find the body of Yost. He cooperated, but the body was never located.
He was sentenced then to die by lethal injection and sent to death row.
The Utah Supreme Court allowed him to withdraw his guilty plea in 2010, ruling Lovell wasn't informed of his right to a presumption of innocence and a public trial. He was removed from death row.
Lovell appeared in court Wednesday in a dark blue suit and had little visible reaction to the verdict.
"What Doug Lovell did in 1985 is absolutely horrible. There's no excuse for it," defense attorney Michael Bouwhuis told jurors. However, he asked the panel to wait for more information during sentencing to make a decision on whether Lovell should be put to death.
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