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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A federal judge will conduct a private mental competency hearing for a man on Utah's death row after denying a request Thursday from local media to open the hearing.
U.S. District Court Judge Dee Benson said the hearing was listed as open because of a clerical error, but said the news media should have challenged to make it open earlier.
Attorneys for Ron Lafferty, 71, requested another competency hearing in 2009, arguing that their client has paranoid schizophrenia and cannot rationally discuss the case.
Lafferty was condemned to death for the July 1984 slayings of his sister-in-law, Brenda Lafferty, and her 15-month-old daughter in American Fork.
Lafferty claimed to have had a religious revelation sanctioning the slayings because of Brenda Lafferty's resistance to his beliefs in polygamy.
The request had been made by The Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News, KSL-TV, KUTV, and the Utah Headliners Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
The coalition argued the hearings should be open due to the public's compelling interest. Attorneys made the point that pretrial competency hearings for Lafferty were open to the public.
Related:
Judge denies media access to hearing for death-row inmate
A federal judge rejected a media petition to open a mental competency hearing scheduled Thursday for one of Utah's most infamous killers and longest-standing death row inmate.The judge also sealed more than 40 court documents pertaining to Lafferty's mental state.
Lafferty's mental competency has long been an issue in this case. In 1991, six years after he was sentenced to death, a federal appeals court overturned the conviction saying the wrong standard was used to determine his mental state.
In 1996, he was convicted and sentenced to death for a second time.
Utah state prosecutors disagree with the assessment from Lafferty's attorneys that their client doesn't understand the legal process.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) 10/24/2013 12:10:32 PM (GMT -6:00)
