A Sanpete County jury will see perhaps some of the most grisly evidence ever presented in a Utah murder case later this month during the trial of Troy Michael Kell.
The 12-member panel, which has not yet been selected, will view a video of the grisly slaying of Lonnie Blackmon. A prison camera caught almost every detail of his death on July 6, 1994.Blackmon suffered 67 stab wounds to his eyes, face, neck, back and chest during an attack with a 3-inch-long "shank." Prison guards watched the stabbing from a control station but did nothing to stop it.
The videotaped incident began when Blackmon, Kell and two other inmates were released from their cells for a doctor's visit at the Gunnison prison. The tape, which lasts several minutes, shows the attacker straddling Blackmon, systematically stabbing him.
Witnesses later described the suspect's motions as "slow and methodical." The attacker even stops once, standing up and wiping his face on his forearm. As he does, Blackmon rolls onto his back and whimpers.
The stabbing ends when Kell throws the shank under the door of another cell, just a few feet from where Blackmon lay bleeding to death. Kell then walks to a shower cell, grabs a towel and wipes his blood-covered arms and face. As he finishes, he raises one fist and yells something to other inmates, who return his howls.
Prosecutors hope the video persuades jurors not only to find Kell guilty of aggravated murder but also to sentence him to death.
"When inmates are already serving life sentences, the only deterrent to prevent them from committing these types of crimes is the death penalty," prison spokesman Jack Ford told reporters earlier this week.
Defense attorneys and prosecutors hope to present opening arguments to the jury late next week. Meanwhile, both sides have scheduled four days to interview potential jurors individually. They will narrow a summoned pool of 120 to 41, then to 12 and two alternates. The trial is scheduled to last about three weeks; as many as 40 witnesses will take the stand.
Kell, 29, will be tried separately from Eric Thomas Daniels, 28, who also faces one count of aggravated murder. Prosecutors say Daniels and one other inmate held the victim's arms and legs during the attack.
The other inmate, John F. Cannistraci, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge and was sentenced to an additional one to 15 years in prison. Daniels is serving one to 15 years for forgery while he awaits trial; Kell is serving two life terms, without possibility of parole, for a 1986 Nevada murder.
Blackmon, who was 32 when he died, was serving a 10-year sentence for aggravated robbery and thefts in Little Rock, Ark. He was transferred to the Utah prison system in January 1994.