Defense attorneys from outside Millard County have been appointed to represent two parolees charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of a Cedar City man.
Michael Anthony Archuleta and Lance Conway Wood face a preliminary hearing Jan. 24 and 25 in East Millard Justice of the Peace Court. The two are accused of kidnapping and killing Gordon Ray Church, a Southern Utah State College student whose body was found in the desert alongside I-15 in Millard County Nov. 23.County Attorney Warren Peterson said Marcus Taylor, Richfield, will represent Wood while Michael Esplin, Provo, will represent Archuleta.
Millard County has a public defender, Peterson said, "but this case is not included in his soon-to-be-completed contract."
Esplin is the Utah County public defender. Taylor defended George Wesley Hamilton, who was convicted of second-degree murder in the 1986 mutilation slaying of Sharon Sant, an SUSC student whose body was buried near where Church was found.