Judge: No new trial for killer on death row

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OGDEN — Douglas Lovell, who was sent back to death row following his second conviction of capital murder and rape, will not be granted a new trial, a judge has decided.

Lovell was found guilty a second time and returned to death row in April for kidnapping and raping a South Ogden woman 30 years ago, then killing her to silence her. He first pleaded guilty to the 1985 murder of Joyce Yost, but was spared the death penalty on the condition that he lead authorities to her remains. When he failed to do so, he was sentenced to die in 1993.

Following sentencing in April, Lovell's attorney said that between his age and plans to appeal the decision, the 57-year-old man doesn't believe he will ever be executed. This week, 2nd District Judge Michael DiReda denied his first motion for a new trial, as well as an additional motion claiming counsel from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints limited testimony of three bishops who testified at the trial.

In a decision filed Wednesday, DiReda declined to set a hearing to argue Lovell's motions and denied the new trial.

DiReda ruled that no errors were made at trial. The judge did not offer comment on claims that the bishops' limited testimony prejudiced his trial, saying only that the amendment was filed after the 10-day deadline and was therefore untimely.

In the motion, Lovell's attorneys claimed the court committed five errors during the trial, including not informing the jury that he had attempted to file a conditional guilty plea and allowing testimony by a former prison inmate about conversations the two had behind bars in 2006 about whether Lovell had moved Yost's body.

Lovell, already convicted of raping Yost, admitted to the woman's death after his ex-wife, Rhonda Butters, visited him in Utah State Prison and secretly recorded his confession for investigators. Butters, who had driven Lovell to kill Yost and then helped him dispose of the evidence, was granted immunity in the case.

When two attempts to hire others to kill Yost failed, Lovell climbed into an unlocked window at Yost's home and forced the woman to pack a bag so that it would appear she had left town. He then drugged her so she would be too disoriented to call for help and drove her to Ogden Canyon, where he choked her, stomped on her neck and buried her in leaves. He returned later to bury her body.

In 2010, the Utah Supreme Court allowed Lovell to withdraw his guilty plea after he argued that he had not been properly informed of his constitutional rights when the plea bargain was made, and a new trial was ordered.

Lovell has been sentenced to die by lethal injection. The last time a death sentence was imposed in Utah was in 2010.