'Narcissistic brutal act of cowardice': Judge throws book at convicted killer Jerrod Baum

PROVO — A judge threw the book at convicted killer Jerrod Baum on Thursday, ordering him to serve four consecutive terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole for the brutal kidnappings and murders of a young Utah couple in late 2017.

Brelynne "Breezy" Otteson, 17, and Riley Powell, 18, were initially reported missing in late 2017 and family, friends and officials searched for them for months before their bodies were found inside the Tintic Standard Mine outside Eureka, Juab County.

Fourth District Judge Derek P. Pullan chastised Baum, saying he "slaughtered the two innocent teenagers to mend his bruised ego," and called the killings a "narcissistic brutal act of cowardice."

Pullan said in his 20 years as a judge, the murders were "the most violent, the most selfish, the most senseless, the most disturbing that I have ever witnessed."

He encouraged Baum to remember that the privileges of waking up, sleeping and walking are things that the victims do not have, and asked him to remember that his life in prison is both just and merciful.

"In allowing for a life sentence, without possibility of parole, the law shows more mercy to the defendant than he showed to Riley and Brelynne," Pullan said.

But Baum, 45, surprised many in the courtroom when he denied murdering the two as he spoke to the judge before his sentence was imposed.

"I'm not a monster. I do not kill people," Baum said. "I did not kill these people, Riley and Brelynne. I would not have a reason to."

Baum claimed he was an "easy mark" to blame for the crimes. "It's not the first time that it's happened, but it was easier to do … point the finger at this guy and say he did it," he said.

Baum said he hopes the families will get peace from his sentence, but that he does not think they will.

Baum directly responded to multiple comments from family and prosecutors, specifically Powell's sister, Nikka Powell, who earlier in the hearing called Baum "a monster" multiple times as she addressed the judge Thursday, saying Baum has shown no remorse for his terrible crimes. "That monster ... really deserves death," she said.

Heidi Nestel, with Utah Crime Victim's Legal Clinic, said Baum wanted to incite fear in the two teenagers before killing them, and asked the court to take into account the family's statements in the sentence.

"At this moment he takes no morsel of accountability, no shred of remorse or feelings for these victims or the family. It's almost unfathomable," Nestel said.

Amanda Davis, Otteson's aunt, said she was shocked to hear Baum speak and was still processing his comments. She said his way of manipulation has matured and she thinks Baum was speaking from "one ounce of guilt" which allowed him to sound sincere. She said he made the choice to murder the two teenagers.

"Jerrod Baum shocked all of us as he callously and egotistically attempted to provide his condolences to our families, denying killing them, and attempted to explain his disgusting actions. We saw through him, we saw through his lies," the families said in a statement on Friday.

Davis said that hearing the judge's words about Baum was a great feeling, although she said she doesn't know if the sentence will ever bring peace for her.

"He validated everything that we went through, and what (Powell and Otteson) went through," she said.

At the trial, Morgan Lewis, Baum's girlfriend at the time, described witnessing the two murders firsthand. She said Baum repeatedly punched a bound Powell before stabbing him multiple times. Prosecutors say he then slit Otteson's throat and threw both their bodies down the mine shaft. Lewis talking to police was influential in investigators eventually finding the couple's bodies.

After a trial that lasted over a month, and more than 18 hours of jury deliberation, jurors decided on April 15 that Baum was guilty of all of the counts against him.

Baum was sentenced to four consecutive sentences of life without parole for two counts of aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, and two counts of aggravated kidnapping with serious bodily injury, a first-degree felony. He was also ordered to serve concurrent sentences of zero to five years in prison for two counts of abuse or desecration of a dead human body, a third-degree felony, and one to 15 years in prison for obstructing justice, a second-degree felony.

Lewis testified that she had invited Powell and Otteson to her house that night because Baum was supposed to be staying with a family member. She said Baum didn't want her to have people over when he wasn't around. But Baum came home after the young couple had left and she later discovered they were tied up in the back of Powell's Jeep. Lewis said she and Powell had previously been romantic while Baum was in jail on an unrelated charge and testified that just before stabbing Powell, Baum asked him if he had slept with Lewis.

Deputy Utah County attorney Ryan McBride said Baum shot his first person when he was just 8 years old. "His life proceeded in a similar nature for the rest of his life," he said.

The prosecutor described years of crimes that Baum committed, including thefts, burglaries, robberies and other crimes and said guns were involved in most of the crimes. He described a 1993 diagnostic report that noted there was no treatment for Baum's condition because he felt no remorse for his crimes.

"Mr. Baum freely admits that he likes seeing himself as a super criminal and he likes the feeling of power" when he hurts people, McBride said, adding that the analyst said Baum could not provide a single example where feeling guilt or remorse had ever altered his behavior in any way.

McBride described all of the tattoos connected with white supremacists and other hate groups that are all over Baum's body and a tattoo that spells out "pure hate" on the fingers of his two hands. He said while in prison in 1994, Baum made a shank that was used by death row inmate and white supremacist Troy Kell to brutally murder fellow inmate Lonnie Blackmon, a Black man, at the state prison in Gunnison, and Baum yelled encouragement while that murder occurred.

"The defendant's life is a monument to hate and violence," McBride said.

The judge said before giving his sentence that these tattoos are evidence of what is important to Baum, and said that although Baum claimed that he has changed, phone calls in the jail show that he has not.

Defense attorney Dallas Young said the cards were stacked against Baum, citing family issues when he was young, describing him as a "complete outcast" in school and someone who was put into the adult system when he was just 15 years old. That was when a white supremacist took him under his wings. But Young said Baum has disavowed those views and is no longer associated with any gang.

Initially, prosecutors announced they would seek the death penalty for Baum, but Utah County Attorney David Leavitt later changed his mind and withdrew his intent to seek the death penalty against the wishes of the victims' families. Leavitt also announced he will not seek the death penalty in any future case, saying that the costs of seeking capital punishment outweigh any benefits to the community.

Amanda Davis, Otteson's aunt, told the judge that her family was "robbed" and "victimized" by Leavitt "by ripping that constitutional right from us only months before trial." Three other family members of the victims made similar statements, directly mentioning Leavitt by name, saying he took away their rights to have Baum be potentially sent to death row.

She said that the events of this case were "just a field trip for Baum" who has spent all but two years of his adult life in prison. She said a sentence of life in prison is like going home for him.

"In some ways, I pity Mr. Baum," Davis said. "Mr. Baum was born evil. But evil does not win. Love wins."

She said the response to the case from the community shows the value of the lives of Otteson and Powell and is an example of love winning in this case. Davis hopes that Baum will become a forgotten, distant memory.

Correction: An earlier version identified Morgan Lewis as Morgan Henderson, a name she used in previous court hearings.

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