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AMERICAN FORK — Just days before Benjamin Rettig was to be sentenced for aggravated murder in connection with the slaying of former BYU professor Kay Mortensen, he filed a letter asking to withdraw his guilty plea.
The 23-year-old man pleaded guilty June 2 to aggravated murder and aggravated kidnapping, first-degree felonies. Two other charges of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated burglary were dismissed in exchange for the man's plea.
Prosecutors also reduced the murder charge from capital murder, taking the death penalty off of the table.
But in a letter filed Friday, Rettig asked 4th District Judge Thomas Low that he be allowed to withdraw the guilty pleas and terminate the service of his attorneys.
Rettig wrote that he understood "my time may have come to an end" but that it was a "choice time of great importance," and he asked that Low consider a bullet point list. In it, he says his attorneys never asked him for a full statement on his case and says that he has had arguments with attorney Michael Esplin regarding his case.
"I feel I was pressured into agreeing to the plea agreement set forth by the prosecution," Rettig wrote. "I also feel it was wrong of my attorneys to tell me to claim false events in open court as fact. Most importantly, I am ashamed of myself for doing so, knowing it was the wrong thing to do."
I feel I was pressured into agreeing to the plea agreement set forth by the prosecution. I also feel it was wrong of my attorneys to tell me to claim false events in open court as fact. Most importantly, I am ashamed of myself for doing so, knowing it was the wrong thing to do.
–Benjamin Rettig
Rettig says he did not write the statement included in his plea agreement and that it is "not true." He writes that he tried to convey that to his attorneys "many times" and said he provided a separate statement for them to provide to prosecutors, which they did not do.
Esplin could not be reached for comment Monday, but court records show that the sentencing hearing was continued to Aug. 9.
As part of his plea deal, Rettig was expected to testify against Martin Cameron Bond, 24, who is facing charges of capital murder, two counts of aggravated kidnapping and one count of aggravated burglary, all first-degree felonies. Both men are from Vernal. Bond's preliminary hearing, scheduled for July 21, has been continued to September.
The men are charged in connection with the November 2009 slaying of retired professor Kay Mortenson, who was found in his Payson home with his throat slashed.
The man's son, Roger Mortensen, and his wife, Pamela, called 911 and said they were tied up in the home by robbers, but authorities said their stories were inconsistent. The pair was arrested, charged and awaiting trial when, acting on a tip, investigators went to Bond's residence in Vernal, where Bond showed detectives where he had allegedly buried weapons and discarded them in apparent attempts to conceal them.
Bond told investigators he had been at Kay Mortensen's home on Nov. 16, 2009, and was involved with tying up Pamela and Roger Mortensen, as well as the killing and robbery, a police affidavit states.
Rettig also allegedly admitted to his involvement in what took place at Mortensen's home. Police say Kay Mortensen's driver's license, which had been taken the night he was killed, was found in Rettig's possession.
Police say they believe Bond and Rettig planned to rob Mortensen of his firearms. Both men have implicated each other in the actual stabbing. Bond said Rettig cut Mortensen's throat and stabbed him in the back of the neck, "making a statement related to a gladiator," the affidavit states. Rettig, in turn, has said Bond was responsible.
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