The fate of Michael Anthony Archuleta was up to a 4th District jury Friday, with jurors scheduled to begin deliberating the defendant's fate at 9 a.m.
Following closing arguments Thursday afternoon, 4th District Judge George E. Ballif sent jurors home for the evening.Defense attorney Michael Esplin, in closing arguments, echoed Archuleta's testimony this week that co-defendant Lance Conway Wood, who will be tried in February, is to blame for the death of Gordon Ray Church, 28, Prosecutor Carvel Harward, however, said trial evidence indicates otherwise.
"Both Wood and Archuleta were there," he said. "Both engaged in the execution," which he said was committed in an "especially heinous, atrocious, cruel and exceptionally depraved manner."
Church's bludgeoned body was found Nov. 23, 1988, in a Millard County area north of Cove Fort known as Dog Valley. The victim had been stabbed in the liver and had suffered numerous abrasions, contusions and blows to the head.
Harward said the state had presented "overwhelming evidence that Wood and this defendant participated in all the events that resulted in Gordon Ray Church's death. A fari and just verdict is guilty of murder in the first degree."
Esplin, however, said prosecutors had only proved Wood's guilty.
"The state has proved a case against Lance Wood. He's not on trial here," he said. "Your question is: Have they proved a case against Mike Archuleta?"
The state showed that Archuleta, 26, was present when Chruch was murdered, Esplin said, but it didn't prove the defendant actually killed the victim.
"If he (Archuleta) were making up a story, it wouldn't be the story he gave on the stand," in which Archuleta admitted involvement in putting Church in his car's trunk, driving him to Dog Valley and committing a sex act with him.
Esplin said Wood, 21, was the leader and initiated the violence when he cut Church's throat after the victim made sexual advances toward him in Cedar Canyon.
"So you can see that it's clear that Mr. Wood started that whole serie sof tragic events that night. Lance was wild, he was hyper, he was still under the inlfuence of alchol. Mike was scared."
Esplin, holding up a picture of Wood, told jurors that he was the "prime mover" the night Church was murdered.
Harward said Archuleta's pants had more blood on them than Wood's pants, he drove Chruch's car most of the way from Cedar Canyon to Dog Valley, he bought gasoline for the car and he controlled the relationship he had with Wood.
he told jurors that Archuleta had suffered a "convenient loss of memory" on the witness stand and reminded them that the defendant admitted misleading authorities.
"Who killed Gordon Church? From the evidence, the answer is clear," Harward said. "The same two people who put Gordon Church in the trunk (of his car) ... are the same two people who killed him at Dog Valley."
Both Archuleta and Wood tied the victim up in chains, both drove his car, both took some of his belongings following the murder, both inflicted wounds on his body and both left fingerprints on his car, he said.
"They did it (killed Church) because once injured, they couldn't let him go. In assessing the risk, they elected to take his life," Harward said. The defendant, after helping Wood force the victim into the car trunk, "knew that Gordon wouldn't live to see the sun rise on Nov. 22."
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Michael Anthony Archuleta: defense vs. prosecution
Closing arguments were presented Thursday to the jury, which began deliberations Friday morning.
Archuleta and Lance Conway Wood were present when Gordon Ray Church was killed. "The state has proved a case against Lance Wood. He's not on trial here," he said. "Your question is: Have they proved a case against Mike Archulta?"
--Defense attorney Michael Esplin
Archuleta's pants had more blood on them than Wood's pants; he drove Chruch's car most of the way from Cedar Canyon to Dog Valley. "Who killed Gordon Church? The same two people who put Gordon Church in the trunk (of his car) ... are the same two people who killed him at Dog Valley."
-- Prosecutor Carvel Harward