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(KSL News) A Layton man sentenced to life without parole for killing a 6-year-old girl when he started her house on fire now says his punishment is too harsh.
Lawyers for Mark Anthony Ott told the Utah Supreme Court yesterday that his previous counsel did not prepare properly for trial and that the lawyer should have recused himself because he was representing the wife of the prosecutor in an unrelated civil matter.
Prosecutors claim Ott was given a fair sentence and that his attorney at the time had 30 years experience handling capital murder cases.
Ott was convicted of murder in the 2002 death of Lacey Lawrence. Ott confessed he went to his ex-wife's home, stabbed her boyfriend and her daughter, then set the home on fire back in 2002. The stabbing victims survived, but the flames killed Lacey Lawrence.
