Keith Carney bragged about killing 80-year-old Klea Sorenson and even showed jailmates autopsy photographs, a prosecutor said Tuesday morning during opening statements in Carney's capital murder trial.
During the noon recess in an earlier hearing, Carney returned to jail and was allowed to take evidence and photographs with him, said deputy Salt Lake County attorney Robert Stott.Carney called some jail trustees over and told them, "I have something to show you," Stott said.
"One by one, he began to show the trustees those autopsy photographs," Stott said. "This is what he said to the trustees: `I'm in for murder. This is what I did.' `This is the bitch I killed. I cut her up.' `This is really neat.' "
Carney faces a possible death penalty if he is convicted of killing Sorenson, who was murdered in her home at 733 E. 700 South on Oct. 23, 1990.
Sorenson, 80, was 5 feet 7 inches and weighed 124 pounds. Carney is 6 feet, weighs 230 pounds and was 26. "It really wasn't much of a contest," Stott said. Sorenson walked into her home carrying groceries, including two sacks full of Halloween candy.
Stott said Sorenson surprised Carney, who had been ransacking her home. Carney either hit her over the eyebrow with a bowl or hit her head against the edge of the kitchen table. Such action either stunned her or knocked her out. Carney then stabbed her seven times in the back and three times in the chest and removed her wedding ring from her hand, Stott said.
Carney then took other items from the house, including a jewelry box.
"He put them in a paper sack and walked out the door, leaving Klea Sorenson dying or dead on her kitchen floor," Stott said.
During her opening statement, defense attorney Frances Palacios admitted that Carney killed Sorenson but that he was extremely intoxicated at the time.
"This case is not a question of who did the homicide. But we need to look at how and why."
Sorenson's family members sobbed out loud during the trial.
Earlier this month, Carney waived his right to a jury trial and asked 3rd District Judge Kenneth Rigtrup to try the case.
Rigtrup has already heard testimony from the state's star witness, Carney's former roommate, who explained in an earlier hearing how he asked police to come to his Salt Lake apartment after Carney returned home with bloody hands, blood on his clothes, a knife and a woman's driver's license.
The roommate recovered the license - belonging to Sorenson - from a garbage can in the apartment and handed it to police, who then went to Sorenson's home and found her lying on the kitchen floor.
As Carney was booked into jail that evening, he told another man that he had stabbed and killed a woman, according to court documents. Carney also confessed to an Associated Press reporter in September that he killed Sorenson. He told the reporter he expects to get the death penalty but would prefer a life term so he can help young offenders or alcoholics.
Defense attorneys say they are not resigned to a conviction but have focused most of their efforts on the penalty phase of the trial. If Carney is convicted, a penalty hearing would be held to determine whether he is punished with life in prison or death.
The guilt phase of the trial is expected to last two or three days. If a penalty hearing is necessary, attorneys hope to finish that by the end of next week.