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WEST JORDAN — State prosecutors might not seek the death penalty against the man accused of kidnapping and killing 6-year-old Sierra Newbold nearly five years ago.
Also, a defense attorney Wednesday withdrew his objection in 3rd District Court to the state's motion to forcibly medicate Terry Lee Black. Judge Douglas Hogan is expected to issue an order allowing the Utah State Hospital to administer medication to the 45-year-old man. Hogan earlier found Black incapable of facing the charges against him.
"We have reached an accommodation with the state that if all the parties comply with what needs to be complied with, they will agree not to seek the death penalty should Mr. Black ever be found competent," defense attorney Patrick Corum said after the hearing.
Black is charged with aggravated murder, a capital offense, as well as child kidnapping and rape of a child, first-degree felonies, in Sierra's abduction and killing.
According to police, Black slipped in a sliding-glass door to the girl's West Jordan home on June 26, 2012, and kidnapped her. He is accused of carrying the girl off and sexually assaulting her before drowning her in a canal.
Salt Lake County deputy district attorney Blake Hills told the judge the state would not seek the death penalty if the compromise proceeds as both parties assume it will.
Neither Hills nor Corum would talk about the details of the agreement that would take capital punishment off the table.
Black has been diagnosed in a mental evaluation with borderline intellectual functioning, as well as a learning disorder, cognitive disorder and psychotic disorder, according to court filings. He has been housed at the state hospital since last June.
"He is incompetent. The state hospital believes that medication will help restore him to competency, and that's where we are," Corum said.
The judge scheduled a review hearing for July 11.
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Outstanding police work, some lucky breaks, a strong hunch and possibly even divine intervention led to the arrest of a man accused of murdering 6-year-old Sierra Newbold.Corum said the case would move quickly to plea negotiations or trial should Black be found competent. A trial date has not been set.
Prosecutors had filed a motion asking that Black's medication regiment be forced, which his attorneys had opposed. Because the defense withdrew its objection, a hearing on the issue was canceled.
Black is also charged with robbery and receiving or transferring a stolen vehicle, second-degree felonies, accused of robbing a West Jordan bank three days after Sierra's death.
In August 2012, Black was also charged with two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony, and two counts of sexual abuse of a child, a second-degree felony, in connection with a separate abuse case involving a neighborhood girl between 2007 and 2009.
Black has been found incapable of facing the charges in all three cases.
