Jury finds man guilty of aggravated murder in stabbing over phone dispute

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

A jury found Kidus Yohannes guilty of aggravated murder for the killing of Candace Samples, who was stabbed during a confrontation about a cellphone.
He was also convicted of attempted manslaughter for injuring a man who came to help Samples.
The killing occurred in 2018, but Yohannes was not charged until 2021. Prosecutors said competency reviews and DNA evaluations slowed the case.

SALT LAKE CITY — A jury found a man guilty of murder after listening to evidence that he stabbed a woman at least 20 times over a stolen phone and injured another man who tried to help the woman.

Third District Court jurors heard evidence last week in the trial, which stretched from Aug. 4 to Aug. 7, before finding Kidus Yohannes, 39, guilty of aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, and guilty of imperfect self-defense in attempted murder, so he was ultimately convicted of attempted manslaughter, a third-degree felony.

The jurors found he caused the death of 20-year-old Candace Samples and that he believed he was rightfully defending himself, although he legally was not, when he injured a man who heard of the situation and came to help.

"We grieve the loss of Ms. Samples with her parents, who have been involved in this process since the beginning. We appreciate their patience as this case worked its way through the justice system and the biological evidence in the case went through multiple levels of testing. That careful work helped make this case strong enough to ensure a guilty verdict," Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said in a statement announcing the verdict.

It said on Nov. 7, 2018, Yohannes had confronted Samples and another man while in a Salt Lake City dumpster enclosure behind the now-closed Dollar Tree at 477 N. 300 West about her stealing his phone. It said he threatened the two with a knife, saying he'd use the knife if he didn't get his phone back, according to the statement.

The attorneys said police later found Samples had taken the phone from him at a nearby library.

According to a police booking affidavit, two witnesses were outside of the dumpster enclosure and heard the situation develop. One of the witnesses ran to a nearby 7-11 to tell a friend about the situation, and the friend ran to help the woman. According to the statement, the witness told police the friend was attacked as soon as he climbed into the dumpster enclosure.

One of the witnesses also tried to help and at one point left the dumpster enclosure and returned with a large board. Tuesday's statement said Yohannes ran away after one of the witnesses opened the gates to the dumpster enclosure.

Samples and a male witness were both taken to the hospital, where Samples died a short time later and the witness was admitted to the intensive care unit but survived and was the first witness at the jury trial.

Prosecutors say the trial was delayed, leading to a conviction almost eight years after Samples' death, in part due to DNA testing, competency evaluations and witness availability.

Yohannes denied any involvement or connection to Samples, the statement said, but police recovered his shoes and blood on the shoes matched Samples' DNA. He was charged on July 22, 2021, years after the killing.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 29.

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