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Thread: Douglas Anderson Lovell - Utah Death Row

  1. #31
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Testimony heard regarding LDS Church's alleged meddling in Weber County death penalty trial

    By Jacob Scholl
    The Standard-Examiner

    OGDEN — A former prison bishop for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints told an Ogden courtroom Friday that it was allegedly recommended to him by those above him in the church that it would be better if he did not testify in the 2015 retrial of a death row inmate.

    The former bishop was one of three who worked with convicted killer Douglas Lovell at the Utah State Prison who were called to testify Friday morning in an Ogden courtroom.

    The testimony is part of a larger question as to whether or not the church interfered in any way during Lovell’s murder trial in 2015.

    The former bishop, Dr. John “Jack” Newton, said that a letter was sent to his stake president from above him somewhere in the church’s chain of leadership. The letter, he alleged, said that higher-ups in the church suggested that it would be preferable if ecclesiastical leaders did not testify on behalf of those in their groups. Newton went on to testify during Lovell’s 2015 trial.

    Newton said he served as the bishop for the Utah State Prison’s Uinta 1, the prison’s maximum security wing, starting in 2003 and ending in either 2006 or 2007.

    In a motion filed in June by attorneys representing the church, they claimed that the church has a “long-standing” policy for church leaders to avoid getting involved with the legal or civil matters of their members. The purpose for that policy is to “prevent misunderstandings about whether the Church leader is testifying on behalf of the Church or in the Church leader’s personal capacity,” the motion says.

    In a motion filed Wednesday, Lovell’s attorney Colleen Coebergh alleged that during Newton’s testimony in Lovell’s 2015 trial, he alluded to instructions by the church regarding his testimony. In those lines regarding Newton’s testimony during the trial, he was questioned about a “Handbook of Instructions” which would outline policies and procedures. During Friday’s hearing, attorneys for the church agreed to send Lovell’s counsel copies of handbooks given to all bishops in the church that outlines their policies and responsibilities.

    Lovell was charged with killing South Ogden woman Joyce Yost in 1985. Lovell had been charged with sexually assaulting Yost, and killed her to prevent her from testifying in court, according to court documents.

    Lovell was charged with aggravated murder in 1992, and pleaded guilty to aggravated murder in 1993. Shortly after, Lovell attempted to withdraw his guilty plea, but at first was not allowed to do so, and he would later be sentenced to death. The issue caused Lovell to appeal his case. In 2011, the Utah Supreme Court ruled that Lovell could withdraw his plea, indicating Lovell’s trial court failed to properly inform him of his right to a trial.

    That resulted in a 2015 jury trial that took place in Ogden’s 2nd District Court. Lovell was again convicted of aggravated murder and sentenced to death. Again, Lovell appealed.

    The Friday hearing, in large part, is a precursor to a larger set of Rule 23B hearings, which will determine whether or not Lovell had ineffective counsel during his 2015 trial. Among the main accusations at the center of the future hearings is that one of Lovell’s former attorneys, Sean Young, failed to properly prepare Lovell’s former religious leaders for the 2015 trial. In October 2018, Young had his license to practice law in Utah suspended for three years after it was found that he mishandled a number of cases, including Lovell’s 2015 trial.

    Young was assigned to contact 18 witnesses to testify at Lovell’s 2015 trial, and assured his co-counsel that he was doing his work, but said many of them were being uncooperative. According to complaints filed against Young, he only contacted two witnesses.

    “The witnesses that Mr. Young failed to contact had compelling evidence to present to the jury on Mr. Lovell’s behalf, but they were never called to testify as a witness,” according to an amended complaint against Young filed in May 2018.

    The same complaint also says that Young failed to object to the church’s interference with witness testimony after church leaders allegedly told several character witnesses that “they should not support a murderer.” The church allegedly threatened a potential witness with excommunication, according to the complaint.

    The 23B hearings are scheduled to take place in Ogden’s 2nd District Court and will last for much of August.

    Lovell is currently in the custody of the Utah State Prison, and is listed as one of the handful of people on the state’s death row.

    https://www.standard.net/police-fire...d8efc175a.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  2. #32
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Utah death-row inmate back in court over trial questions

    The Associated Press

    A death-row inmate headed back to court Monday contending he had ineffective legal counsel and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meddled in his 2015 trial.

    The hearing comes after attorneys for Douglas Lovell raised questions about a trial that resulted in his death sentence for a second time, the Standard-Examiner reported.

    Lovell, 61, killed Joyce Yost in 1985 to prevent her from testifying after he had been charged with raping her, according to court documents. Authorities said he tried to hire two other people to kill Yost before deciding to carry out the murder himself.

    He pleaded guilty in 1993, agreeing to show authorities the location of Yost's body. The body was never found, leading to Lovell being sentenced to death.

    The Utah Supreme Court in 2011 allowed Lovell to withdraw his guilty plea. He was then convicted at trial and again sentenced to death.

    The state Supreme Court in 2017 heard the case again and sent it back to a district court to determine if Lovell's attorneys did their jobs properly and if the church asked ecclesiastical leaders to not testify.

    The evidence hearing that began Monday is expected to last through Aug. 27.

    Lovell says one of his former attorneys failed to properly prepare witnesses for trial. The attorney was assigned to contact 18 witnesses to testify, but a complaint claims he only contacted two.

    A former prison bishop, John "Jack" Newton, said during a hearing earlier this month that church leadership suggested it would be preferable if he did not testify on behalf of Lovell at the 2015 trial. Newton worked with Lovell at the state prison.

    The church has said leaders usually don't participate in legal proceedings, and defense attorneys agreed to any limitations on members' testimony.

    https://www.deseretnews.com/article/...-in-court.html

    This guy has a cult of death row groupies around him. Creepy.
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  3. #33
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Former Lovell attorney, now suspended, takes the stand to testify on his role in 2015 jury trial

    By Jacob Scholl
    The Standard-Examiner

    OGDEN — A former attorney for man on Utah's death row was called to the stand Monday in an ongoing effort to see if he provided ineffective counsel during a 2015 jury trial.

    Monday marked the beginning of the third week of hearings regarding the case of Douglas Lovell, a 61-year-old man twice convicted of capital murder and twice sentenced to death.

    On the stand to start the day was Sean Young, one of two attorneys who represented Lovell during his most recent trial, which took place in 2015. The trial ultimately led to Lovell’s second conviction of aggravated murder and his second death sentence.

    Lovell was first arrested in 1985 after the murder of South Ogden woman Joyce Yost. Lovell had previously been charged with raping Yost, and he killed her to prevent her from testifying in court, according to court documents.

    For much of Monday, Young talked about his experience with witnesses in the case and files that have accumulated over the decades Lovell's case has been active in the court system, including his interactions with other attorneys and Young's staff.

    Young's actions during the trial are the main point of scrutiny for the weeks-long hearings, dubbed 23B hearings and are taking place under Rule 23B in the Utah Rules Of Appellate Procedure.

    For the 2015 trial, Young was assigned to contact 18 witnesses to testify. He assured his co-counsel that he was doing his work, but said many of them were being uncooperative. According to complaints filed against Young, he only contacted two witnesses.

    In October 2018, Young had his license to practice law in Utah suspended for three years after it was discovered that he mishandled a number of cases, including Lovell’s 2015 trial.

    Young was one of two attorneys who represented Lovell during the 2015 trial. The other attorney, Michael Bouwhuis, testified earlier in the month and is said to be testifying again in the coming days.

    On Monday, it was Young's turn to take the stand.

    A point of contention between Young and Colleen Coeburgh, Lovell's current attorney, has been regarding a number of documents that she alleged Young turned over to the state, but not to her. Young explained that at one point after the 2015 trial, he met with members of the Attorney General's Office, who extracted over 1,400 documents from his computer. When he met with Coeburgh, she said she received over 200 documents.

    Coeburgh continued, and asked why they had only been able to get a fraction of the documents when they meet at a Salt Lake City courthouse, instead of the same number of documents he had turned over to the Attorney General's Office.

    Young responded, "because you are very rude and difficult to communicate with."

    He went on to allege that Coeburgh and her assistant would "harass" him whenever he would appear with clients at the 2nd District Court in Farmington when he was still practicing law.

    Later, audio recordings were played in open court that featured conversations between Young and one of Lovell's former appellant attorneys, Samuel Newton. In the recordings, the two discuss Lovell's case.

    The first recording featured Young telling Newton about how witnesses for Lovell's 2015 trial were being uncooperative, an allegation that would later surface as untrue in complaints about Young's performance as defense counsel.

    "So what you're saying, for one reason or another, is that people were backing out?" Newton asked.

    "Yeah," Young replied.

    In a second recording Young seemingly admits to being unprepared for the jury trial. "I didn't prep sufficiently, I admit that," Young is heard saying in the recording.

    Young is expected to continue to testify Tuesday in Ogden's 2nd District Court. He also said during the Monday hearing that he would be available to testify Wednesday if needed.

    Lovell's 23B hearings are scheduled to take place throughout the rest of the week, and the hearings are scheduled to end on Friday, Aug. 30, according to online court documents.

    https://www.standard.net/police-fire...d512cfd34.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  4. #34
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Lovell undermined his own defense, state says in argument against his death penalty appeal

    By Mark Shenefelt
    The Standard-Examiner

    OGDEN — State attorneys argue in new court documents that convicted killer Douglas Lovell undermined his own defense team as they worked to save him from the death penalty.

    Second District Court Judge Michael DiReda is considering claims by Lovell's appeal attorneys that one of his trial attorneys, Sean Young, represented him deficiently and therefore his conviction and death sentence should be overturned.

    But in a 163-page examination of Lovell's challenges, the Utah Attorney General's Office contends Young effectively limited damaging testimony by witnesses he questioned during Lovell's 2015 trial.

    The state asks DiReda to rule against Lovell's claims about Young's representation.

    Lovell's appellate attorneys have been given until late September to file their response.

    Lovell, now 62, pleaded guilty in 1993 to raping and killing Joyce Yost of South Ogden in 1985. Lovell was awaiting trial for raping Yost when he killed her.

    In the 1993 plea bargain, he agreed to lead police to Yost's body, but it never was found.

    Lovell was sentenced to death, but the Utah Supreme Court ruled in 2015 that he could withdraw his guilty plea.

    Lovell was tried again in 2015 and again convicted and sentenced to death.

    Lovell's appeal argues that Young, one of two public defenders who represented Lovell in the 2015 trial, failed to adequately prepare defense witnesses and failed to fight attempts to limit trial testimony by spiritual advisers on his behalf.

    Lawyers for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints advised bishops who counseled Lovell on death row to avoid testifying about church policy, according to the attorney general's document.

    Several ecclesiastical personnel were considered by the defense to testify on Lovell's behalf, but only two ended up testifying.

    Lovell contended Young should have fought against the alleged church interference.

    However, the state attorneys said Young's performance cannot be considered deficient because the church lawyers never took action to prevent anyone from testifying.

    Further, they said, Young's handling of witnesses during the trial elicited only favorable testimony for Lovell, contrary to expanded testimony given by those witnesses in 2019 hearings regarding the appeal.

    The state also chronicled unsuccessful efforts by Young and others on the defense team to persuade Lovell to consider accepting a sentence of life without parole.

    Lovell refused, opting instead to go to trial with the only sentencing options being death or life with the possibility of parole.

    Young and the other defense attorney, Michael Bouwhuis, said they repeatedly tried to get Lovell to relent. They feared that a jury faced with a choice of giving Lovell a chance to get out of prison would most likely sentence him to death.

    "Young believed that Lovell’s life could be saved if the jury had the sentencing option of life without parole, and the entire defense team believed that without it, there was a real risk that Lovell could be sentenced to death," the state filing said.

    The defense team also had strategic concerns about any witnesses who might express strong support for parole but, under cross-examination, "come across as naïve and gullible about the risks of paroling Lovell and therefore not be believable," it said.

    Defense attorneys were also worried about Lovell's behavior in front of the jury.

    They feared his temper would show when hearing negative testimony about him during the trial, something they said might alarm jurors.

    Similarly, they worried that Lovell might behave inappropriately in front of the jury when it came to "attractive women" testifying, the state filing said.

    Lovell twice asked Bouwhuis during jury selection to tell one prospective juror that she was attractive.

    The defense attorneys knew evidence at trial would include Yost's testimony that Lovell told her she was “attractive” right before the first time he raped and kidnapped her.

    The state also argued that Young's trial questioning of witness Carl Jacobsen, a death row guard captain, kept the officer on a track of giving only positive answers about Lovell.

    At trial, Jacobsen said Lovell "had never been a management or discipline problem."

    But when he was questioned in an appeal hearing last summer, Jacobsen described Lovell as a "master manipulator" and a "Jekyll and Hyde" type.

    He testified Lovell was “at the top of the list of the most manipulative individuals” he had ever dealt with and “among the most dangerous.”

    In October 2018, Young had his license to practice law in Utah suspended for three years after it was found that he mishandled a number of cases, including Lovell’s 2015 trial.

    But in its analysis of all the witnesses handled by Young before or during the trial, the state concluded that he performed reasonably with most, and that even if he fell short on some, it would have made no difference in the outcome of the trial.

    https://www.standard.net/police-fire...100192e31.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  5. #35
    Moderator Ryan's Avatar
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    Judge rejects Utah death row inmate’s claims against attorney, church meddling

    Lovell was twice convicted of killing Joyce Yost in 1985 to prevent her from testifying

    SALT LAKE CITY — A judge in Ogden has rejected an ineffective counsel argument from a death row inmate appealing his second death sentence, a decision that now goes to the Utah Supreme Court for review.

    Douglas Lovell, 63, contends one of his former lawyers failed to properly prepare witnesses and didn’t object when Lovell claims The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meddled in his 2015 trial.

    Second District Judge Michael DiReda rejected both claims.

    Lovell, of Clearfield, pleaded guilty to killing Joyce Yost in 1985 to prevent her from testifying after he had been charged with raping her. He was sentenced to die for the same crimes in 1993.

    After years of appeals, the Utah Supreme Court allowed Lovell to withdraw that guilty plea. A jury convicted him of murder and sentenced him to die in 2015, but Lovell now contends his legal representation at the trial wasn’t up to par.

    The state’s high court directed DiReda to hold further hearings and determine if Lovell’s attorneys did their jobs properly and if the church asked ecclesiastical leaders to not testify in his case.

    DiReda rejected both claims in his 168-page decision issued last month. He wrote “it is clear” that attorney Sean Young wasn’t deficient in representing Lovell.

    Lovell’s legal team has said the attorney was assigned to get in touch with 18 witnesses to testify, but only contacted two — a claim DiReda said was overstated.

    Many witnesses either caused serious concerns for the defense strategy, weren’t tied to Young’s duties, or another attorney or Lovell himself made the decision not to have them testify, DiReda found.

    A former Latter-day Saint bishop who worked in the prison, John “Jack” Newton, said at the 2019 hearing that church leadership suggested it would be preferable if he did not testify on behalf of Lovell at the 2015 trial.

    DiReda determined the church hadn’t meddled in the case. He wrote that Lovell agreed to call only three of the five ecclesiastical leaders he’d originally sought to have testify after lawyers representing them had threatened to file a motion to quash subpoenas if all five were called to take the stand.

    “It was Kirton McConkie (church’s law firm) doing their job representing ecclesiastical leaders for the church, former bishops,” attorney Mark Field, an appellate lawyer in the Utah Attorney General’s Office representing the state, told the Deseret News. “There was nothing strange about any of that.”

    Those who did testify said the attorneys didn’t try to prevent them from doing so, or tell them what to say.

    Additional hearings in the case have not yet been set.

    https://www.deseret.com/utah/2021/3/...hurch-meddling
    "How do you get drunk on death row?" - Werner Herzog

    "When we get fruit, we get the juice and water. I ferment for a week! It tastes like chalk, it's nasty" - Blaine Keith Milam #999558 Texas Death Row

  6. #36
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    ‘Cold’: Yost family frustrated by killer’s moves to avoid death penalty

    The second season of KSL’s investigative podcast series “COLD”, Justice for Joyce,” concludes this week with the release of the season’s 13th episode.

    The episode details the efforts of various KSL staff to contact death row inmate Douglas Lovell and request an interview with him about his murder of Joyce Yost in 1985.

    “Whenever I am in the news, I know it is very upsetting to the family and loved ones of Ms. Yost,” Lovell wrote in a Nov. 9, 2019 letter refusing one such interview request. “I believe an interview with you will most [sic] get back to Ms. Yost’s family. I hope you will understand and appreciate my decision.”

    KSL had made contact with Yost’s daughter Kim Salazar prior to reaching out to Lovell. In a follow-up letter, KSL informed Lovell that Yost’s family knew of and supported the interview request, in the hopes it might lead to the recovery of their mother’s remains.

    Lovell did not respond to that follow-up letter.

    “If he were trying to minimize our pain and suffering at this point, we wouldn’t still be on a 23B remand 35 years later,” Salazar said. “He’d be done. This thing would be done.”

    History of the case

    “Cold’s” second season has detailed the entire history of the Joyce Yost case, beginning on the night in April of 1985 when Lovell first saw Yost and followed her home from a club in Clearfield. Lovell had confronted Yost outside her South Ogden apartment, raped her, kidnapped her and then raped her again at his own home.

    Yost managed to convince Lovell to release her by promising not to report what he’d done. She then reneged on that promise, providing a detailed account of the rape to Clearfield police detective William “Bill” Holthaus.

    “[Lovell] was quite the cad,” Holthaus told COLD. “Separated from his wife, chasing women around. He just struck me as a guy who didn’t respect women much.”

    Holthaus had arrested Lovell, but a series of miscues and miscommunications allowed Lovell to remain out of jail ahead of a trial. Then, 10 days before the scheduled trial, Yost disappeared.

    Disappearance of Joyce Yost

    South Ogden police suspected Lovell had killed Yost but lacked any firm evidence linking him to her disappearance.

    A Davis County jury convicted Lovell of kidnapping and sexual assault even in Yost’s absence. He began serving a sentence of 15-years-to-life in January of 1986.

    Lovell was still incarcerated in 1991 when his ex-wife Rhonda Buttars provided South Ogden Sgt. Terry Carpenter a detailed account of how her ex-husband had killed Yost to keep her from testifying.

    Buttars twice wore a hidden audio recording device into the Utah State Prison at the request of police, capturing Lovell making incriminating statements about Yost’s murder.

    “We got so much information from [Buttars] that we would never have gotten without her,” Carpenter said in an interview for “Cold.”

    Doug Lovell’s two death sentences

    Buttars received immunity from prosecution in exchange for her cooperation, which allowed Weber County prosecutors to charge Lovell with capital homicide in 1992. He pleaded guilty a year later and received a death sentence.

    Lovell attempted to withdraw the guilty plea a short time later. That request became the subject of an appeal that languished for years. The Utah Supreme Court at last decided in 2010 that Lovell should be allowed to take back the plea due to a technical error made by the judge during a 1993 sentencing hearing.

    The decision cleared the way for Lovell to stand trial, which he did in March of 2015. His defense team did not contest his guilt, instead attempting to convince the jury Lovell deserved a sentence of life with a chance of parole.

    The defense used character witnesses to make the argument Lovell had reformed in the 30 years since he’d first assaulted Joyce Yost. The jury was not swayed and decided by unanimous vote that Lovell should receive the death penalty.

    Frustration for Joyce Yost’s children

    That second death sentence is now on appeal to the Utah Supreme Court. Lovell has alleged one of his court-appointed attorneys, Sean Young, acted deficiently during the 2015 trial.

    ost’s daughter expressed frustration that the appeals process continues to drag on more than 35 years after her murder.

    “I think that we have a better chance of him dying of old age in there than we do of him dying by the hand of the state at this point,” Kim Salazar said.

    Greg Roberts, Yost’s son, said Lovell has succeeded in drawing the focus off his mother and the brutal facts of her murder.

    “I think Doug Lovell likes the limelight,” Roberts said. “This horrible perpetrator becomes the story and that’s difficult because she was so awesome and he took all that away.”

    Justice for Joyce Yost?

    If Lovell succeeds in winning an appeal of the 2015 death sentence, it could clear the way for yet another trial.

    William Holthaus, the detective who originally arrested Lovell following the rape in April of 1985, said he will be there to testify again if necessary.

    “Some people aren’t even here that were involved in that case anymore. They’re gone,” Holthaus said. “I plan on staying.”

    Holthaus said he’d be surprised if prosecutors again sought a death verdict in the case, if the high court overturns the the jury’s decision. But he also said he doesn’t believe Lovell will ever succeed in getting out of prison.

    “He’ll never get out and I think that’s punishment enough,” Holthaus said.

    The podcast “COLD” is an Amazon Music exclusive. Listeners can find and follow “COLD” on the free Amazon Music app or by visiting www.thecoldpodcast.com.

    https://ktar.com/story/4517455/cold-...death-penalty/
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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