Condemned killers Arthur Gary Bishop and Ronald Lafferty will not receive commutation hearings before the Board of Pardons.
Board member Paul Boyden said both men had until Monday to file for commutation hearings, but neither man responded to the board."According to our rules, the offender has 10 days from the entry of a death warrant to file an application with the board," Boyden said. "And he must have exhausted all of his appeal remedies."
Boyden said the Board of Pardons probably would not have heard either man, even if application had been made, because "they probably haven't exhausted all the legal avenues open to them.
"This process is geared to those who run out of legal remedies, like (Pierre Dale) Selby," he said. Selby was granted a commutation hearing last August, but the board refused to commute the death sentence and Selby was subsequently executed.
Shortly after the new death warrant was issued, Bishop's attorney was given a copy of the board's policy concerning commutation hearings and was informed of the deadline.
Lafferty, however, was not informed of such policies and deadlines, and board members are uncertain whether he was aware of them.
"Our policies are no secret. They are open for anyone to look at," said Paul Sheffield, the Board of Pardons administrator. The information was not given to Lafferty because "it didn't appear that he was going to say, `Let's do it.' "
The Board of Pardons is not expecting a last-minute appeal from the condemned men, nor would they hear such an appeal.
"The board is not going to stay up late waiting for a phone call," Boyden said. "There would have to be some pretty bizarre circumstances for us to consider their cases at this point."
The only way either man could receive a commutation hearing at this point is for the governor to issue a stay of execution and order the board to hear the cases.
"I can't see us standing in the way of justice," said Francine Giani, press secretary for Gov. Norm Bangerter.
Bishop is scheduled to die June 13 by lethal injection for the molestations and murders of five Salt Lake County boys.
Lafferty is scheduled to die June 24 by firing squad for the murders of his sister-in-law and niece.