Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The Utah Supreme Court has overturned a man's 1988 conviction for raping an American Fork woman, citing a string of errors made by lawyers and the courts.
Justices on Friday said the Utah County Attorney's Office should have been disqualified from prosecuting Carl McClellan because his defense lawyer joined the office three days before his trial.
The high court also cited errors that prevented McClellan's appeal from reaching it earlier.
McClellan was prosecuted for raping a woman he had tried to sell cleaning supplies to as a door-to-door salesman. He was sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of first-degree rape.
It was unclear whether prosecutors would seek to retry the case against the now 45-year-old McClellan.
------
Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
