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PROVO — A man hired to assault a Provo man over a debt has been found guilty of aggravated murder.
A jury Thursday found Danny Leroy Logue, 49, guilty of aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, in the 2011 death of Andy Purcell, who was shot outside his mother's home.
Logue was also convicted of possession of controlled substance with intent to distribute, possession of weapon by a dangerous person, obstructing justice and knowingly being present while a controlled substance was used.
Logue and another man, Darrell Wayne Morris, 41, had been contracted to beat Purcell up over a disputed debt. Morris pleaded guilty in July 2014 to manslaughter and obstructing justice, second-degree felonies; and possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, a third-degree felony.
Yuri Sanchez Lara, 35, the man who paid Logue and Morris an ounce of methamphetamine for the attack, pleaded guilty in October 2012 to manslaughter, a second-degree felony; and four counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute within 1,000 feet of a drug-free zone, a first-degree felony.
Purcell, 32, was found on the front porch of his Provo home, 541 S. 300 East, on the morning of May 16, 2011, with a gunshot wound to his head. Police said Lara contacted Morris "a couple days" prior to the shooting to talk about the assault on Purcell that ultimately left him dead.
Police said the gun used in the shooting belonged to Logue.
Purcell's family said Lara and Purcell had previously dealt drugs together and were in a dispute over payment for a vehicle Purcell sold to Lara, according to prosecutors. Following the shooting, Lara told a police informant that the cost of the "contract" on Purcell — half an ounce of methamphetamine to be paid before the assault and the other half to be paid after — had been paid in full.
Logue will be sentenced March 31.
