Defense attorney: Sandy man guilty of crimes, but not murder

WEST JORDAN — At the beginning of a four-day trial Tuesday, the attorney for a Sandy man accused of shooting a woman in his driveway argued that his client is guilty of serious crimes, but not of murder.

Larry Kent Graff, 54, is charged with murder, a first-degree felony, in the death of Candace Melo, 26, as she ran from his home about 7 a.m. on Dec. 18, 2014. He is also charged with attempted murder for a final shot fired at her boyfriend. Melo had been staying temporarily in Graff's home and was preparing to leave when an argument over property broke out, according to police.

Defense attorney Greg Skordas asked jurors to consider all the facts of the case, including the approximately 40 minutes Melo spent lying in the driveway without medical treatment because police waved off emergency personnel, reporting she was already dead.

"Kent is guilty, but not of the crime he is charged with," Skordas told the four-man, four-woman jury during opening arguments Tuesday.

In addition to gunshot wounds to her lower back and thigh, Melo was shot in the back of the head. That bullet shattered, sending damaging fragments throughout her brain in what deputy Salt Lake County district attorney Tyson Hamilton called a "non-survivable injury."

Skordas, however, said a expert witness expected to testify during the trial will claim Melo could have survived the shot to her head. But because of the delayed emergency response, he said, it will never be known whether or not she could have lived.

"What she died of was the lack of oxygen to the brain that happens when a person is not being treated … and a lack of blood to the system," Skordas said.

Skordas emphasized that Graff is not raising a self-defense argument, but asked the jury to consider at the end of the trial whether his actions were reasonable in the context of the situation that was playing out, and what his level of responsibility is in Melo's eventual death.

Assistant medical examiner Pamela Ulmer said Tuesday she couldn't say for sure what Melo's likelihood of surviving the shooting had been, but said "most publications suggest lethality is up to 90 percent, so up to 90 percent of people who get a gunshot wound to the head die."

Pressed by Skordas, Ulmer acknowledged that the sooner a gunshot victim gets medical attention, the better their chances of survival are.

Police who arrived to 911 calls about the shooting, including one from Graff, told emergency medical technicians who were en route to stand down, calling Melo an "obvious echo," or death, Skordas said. However, about 30 or 40 minutes later, it was discovered that Melo was still attempting to breathe.

Officer Doug Mackay, who at the time worked for Sandy police and is now an officer in Salt Lake City, testified that he had seen signs of "agonal breathing" from Melo when he arrived at the scene.

"I recall some very labored, difficult, ineffective breathing," Mackay said, comparing it to a fish out of water opening and closing its mouth but not managing to breathe.

After that, Mackay moved to assess the rest of the scene, including encountering Jensen and a "very aggressive" dog. When it was discovered Melo still showed signs of life, Mackay again said Melo's attempts to breathe weren't doing any good.

Skordas asked Mackay to read from a Sandy police manual, which indicates that EMTs must be called except in the case of an obvious death, like decapitation or decomposition. Melo, on the other hand, was breathing, Skordas said.

"(It was) ineffective, I wouldn't say breathing," Mackay answered.

Melo died that afternoon at an area hospital.

Melo had been staying with a friend for about a week at Graff's house, 343 E. Gary Ave. (9560 South), but had come back to the home either early that morning or late the night before in preparation to leave with her boyfriend, Michael Grimsley, who had just been released from the Box Elder County Jail, and another man, Hamilton said.

Anticipating a dispute, Graff had left a gun with Tanell Jensen, who Skordas identified as Graff's girlfriend. He then headed downstairs for bed and was awakened later by Jensen shouting, "Kent, they're robbing us."

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Prosecutors said Melo and Jensen had begun to argue over some property. As they did, Grimsley had grabbed the gun away in an attempt to defuse the situation, Hamilton said. When Graff arrived in the room, he brought a second gun.

As Graff held the three at gunpoint, his girlfriend took her gun back from Grimsley's sweatshirt pocket, Hamilton said.

In audio from a previous testimony played at Tuesday's hearing, Grimsley said they had tried to talk to Graff and calm him down, to no avail.

"No matter what I said to this guy, it was like throwing gasoline on a fire. He was getting more and more excited," Grimsley said in the recording.

That's when Melo grabbed a laptop and ran for the door, and Graff told detectives he fired round after round at her, Hamilton said.

After Melo fell to the ground outside, Graff fired a final shot at Grimsley, Hamilton said. Grimsley told police he dropped down and acted as if he had been shot in hopes that Graff wouldn't continue to come after him.

Kenneth Dunegan, of Roy, had been staying in a trailer across the street. He testified Tuesday he was making coffee when three people came flying out the front door of Graff's home, followed moments later by a man he recognized as the homeowner brandishing a gun.

"He pointed it toward the driveway and fired three to five shots," then fired one more shot at one of the two men who had run from the home, Dunegan said.

After Graff walked back into the house, Dunegan watched as one of the men jumped up.

"He ran over to his girl and said, 'Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, she's dead, she's dead,'" Dunegan testified.

The two men took off in a car just before Graff came out of the house again talking on a cellphone, Dunegan said.

A neighbor, Rocky Barlow, who had been awakened by the shots and came running from his home, testified that he saw an agitated Graff pulling on his hair and talking loudly on his phone as he walked through the yard.

"He said either 'I shot her' or 'someone has been shot,'" Barlow testified. "I heard him say, 'They attacked my girlfriend and I opened fire.'"

Graff is charged with murder and attempted murder, first-degree felonies. His trial is expected to conclude Friday.

Prior to the shooting, Graff's house had been the target of a drug investigation, according to court documents.

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