- Adrian Whitfield Gordon's 2001 murder conviction may be vacated after 24 years.
- The district attorney's Conviction Integrity Unit found evidence affecting trial integrity.
- Gordon maintains innocence; a judge will review the petition to vacate the conviction.
SALT LAKE CITY — A man who served more than 20 years in the Utah State Prison for murder but maintained his innocence the entire time — and has already been paroled — may soon have his 2001 conviction thrown out.
On Monday, the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office filed a petition to have Adrian Whitfield Gordon's murder conviction vacated based on a recommendation by the office's Conviction Integrity Unit.
District Attorney Sim Gill says a second man was identified in 2001 as a possible suspect and actually arrested on unrelated warrants by police. But the police report for his arrest "was logged under a different case number than the homicide. None of that information was disclosed to the prosecution nor defense," Gill said.
After the district attorney's Conviction Integrity Unit reviewed the lack of disclosure, the decision was made to request that Gordon's murder conviction be vacated for several reasons, "including the lead detective's failure to follow up on a potential suspect or explain why he was eliminated as a suspect.
"This is not a declaration of innocence by the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office, but rather a declaration that the conviction that sent Mr. Gordon to prison lacked integrity," the office stated Monday.
On Sept. 29, 2001, Gordon was accused of beating 50-year-old Lee Lundskog to death outside a 7-Eleven store, 1285 N. Redwood Road. Gordon was charged with murder on Oct. 4, 2001 and found guilty on Dec. 20, 2001 after a three-day bench trial. He was sentenced to a term of five years to life in the Utah State Prison.
"The murder prosecution of Adrian Gordon, from the date of the murder to the time of his conviction, took less than three months — 82 days, to be exact. This timeline is not only unusual but is unheard of for a case of this nature and with such immense consequences for not only the person charged, but the family members of the person killed and the community as a whole. This timeline, while surprising at first glance, is even more troubling when considering the problematic treatment of the case, leading the DA's office to request vacation of Mr. Gordon's conviction," the petition to vacate states.
Despite the conviction and doing the time, Gordon, now 44, says he did not commit the crime.
Store surveillance video confirmed Gordon had been at that 7-Eleven earlier on the day of the killing. So when he heard that detectives were looking for him, he said he contacted them and agreed to be questioned because he says he didn't do anything.
"I thought I was going home when I went to the police station. I ain't never been out since," Gordon said in an interview with KSL in 2015.
While in prison, he took his appeals all the way to the Utah Supreme Court, with backing from the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center. However, all of those appeals were denied.
In 2022, he went before the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole, again maintaining his innocence. He was granted parole in 2024.
But in 2021, before he was released, Gordon's attorney from the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center contacted the district attorney's Conviction Integrity Unit.
"Mr. Gordon's attorney argued that her client's conviction lacked integrity due to the fact that, among other things, the lead detective failed to investigate or to even disclose that another individual had been identified as the person who murdered Mr. Lundskog," the district attorney's office said Monday.
The motion to vacate the sentence further states, "The information presented by counsel raised a legitimate question as to whether Mr. Gordon was the person who committed the murder, and at the very least presented questions as to whether his conviction lacked integrity.
"The most significant factor for the state in vacating Mr. Gordon's conviction is the failure of law enforcement to provide potentially exculpatory evidence to the prosecution and defense prior to Mr. Gordon's trial," the petition continues.
The petition to vacate will now be reviewed by a judge who will either sign it or deny it. Gill says if the murder conviction is thrown out, his team will get together and decide what evidence they still have 24 years after Lundskog's death and whether to refile the case. He declined to answer questions about whether Gordon is still considered a suspect or if investigators have since questioned the second man, noting these were all issues that his prosecution team will discuss.
"We started the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office's Conviction Integrity Unit because of cases like Mr. Gordon's. Though there was not a clear finding of innocence, there was a clear determination that Mr. Gordon was not given a fair chance at trial. If, as prosecutors, we find evidence that a conviction lacks integrity, we have an ethical and moral obligation to vacate that conviction, or the justice that our system promises will lack integrity as well," Gill said.
Jennifer Springer, Gordon's attorney and managing attorney for the Rocky Mountain Innocence Center, issued a statement Monday afternoon expressing appreciation for Gill's decision.
"We are grateful for this first step toward justice for Mr. Gordon and hope the case will be fully resolved soon," Springer stated. "Because there has not been a final decision made by the district attorney's office on whether to retry Mr. Gordon, we cannot provide any further comment at this time."
Meanwhile, Salt Lake City Police Chief Brian Redd, who was not chief when Gordon was arrested, also issued a brief statement.
"We have a vested interest in ensuring justice is served in every case we investigate. Given the latest findings in this case, we will review the evidence, and work closely with the district attorneys' office and other partners to determine the next steps forward," Redd state.
Contributing: Garna Mejia, KSL-TV
