FARMINGTON -- Long suspected of arranging his wife's murder, Paul Christopher Allen was convicted Wednesday of capital murder after a jury deliberated for more than nine hours.
The verdict by the six-man, six-woman jury was read at 11 a.m. Wednesday in a packed 2nd District courtroom. In reaction, Allen slumped in his chair and buried his head on the table in front of him.Andrea Myler, the mother of victim Jill Allen, was in tears afterward as she stood outside the courtroom.
"It's good, it's right, but it should never have happened," Myler said. "The truth did come out, and these people did recognize the truth. You can't run from the truth."
Members of Paul Allen's family dodged television cameras and reporters as they left the courthouse. All refused comment.
The jury will return Thursday morning to begin the sentencing phase of Allen's trial. They will decide whether Allen will spend the rest of his life in prison without parole or have a chance at being released someday.
Defense attorney Ron Yengich said he and his client accept the verdict.
"He's unhappy. Obviously, he's disappointed." That's all Yengich would say, declining to make additional comments because of the pending sentencing.
Allen's case has revolved centered around conflicting stories from the two men who implicated Allen in a murder plot, then were allowed to plead guilty to lesser charges, and Allen himself, who claims such allegations are "disgusting" lies.
Both sides made their final arguments to the 15-member jury Tuesday morning in 2nd District Court. Three alternates were released from deliberations, leaving Allen's fate in the hands of six men and six women.
Prosecutors claimed the plot began in fall 1995, when Allen approached convicted middleman Joseph Sergious Wright about killing someone for $10,000. In early 1996, prosecutors said, Allen told Wright he wanted his wife killed and offered him $30,000 to act as the middleman.
Two months behind on his rent and strapped for cash, George Anthony Taylor told Wright in April 1996 he would kill Allen's wife, prosecutors said.
Allen, Wright and Wright's wife, Jenny, spent the next few months planning Jill Allen's murder, prosecutors claimed. Joseph Wright said Allen gave him $3,500 in cash at a Kearns auto parts store in April 1996 as a down payment for Jill Allen's death. Allen claimed he gave Wright no more than $150 that day and that the money was to buy a sweater for his wife.
Wright told jurors he received between $14,000 to $16,000 to arrange Jill Allen's death, some before, some after her murder. Taylor said Wright passed on $5,700 of that money to him.
Taylor and Wright said Allen provided a key to the couple's North Salt Lake condo, and Taylor beat and strangled an unsuspecting Jill Allen after she returned from work the night of Aug. 28, 1996.
Allen's defense team called such allegations an "artful story." During his closing arguments, lead defense attorney Ron Yengich said there was no evidence presented that gave a clear motive for Allen to have his wife killed. The couple made good money, had no obvious marital discord and enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle.
"The artful story that was told by the prosecution in this case comes down to one thing -- why?" Yengich said.
"They have not been able, nor can the evidence, answer that."
Yengich then listed reasons why Wright and Taylor would implicate Allen in his wife's death.
Both were admitted liars and drug dealers and would do almost anything to keep themselves from being caught, Yengich said.
Wright, as well as his wife and Taylor all had months after Jill Allen's death to concoct their murder-for-hire story.
Prosecutors and investigators believed those lies and went after Allen, making it possible for Wright to plead guilty to two third-degree felonies and gain immunity for his wife and for Taylor to plead guilty to first-degree murder, Yengich said. Wright and Taylor were both facing murder charges.
"In this case there was only one thing they could do, and that's blame somebody else," Yengich said.
Prosecutor Bill McGuire argued there were too many similarities between the Wrights' and Taylor's testimonies for jurors to simply discard such crucial evidence.
"I would submit to you the consistency in their testimony is what you should consider," McGuire said. "You can look into yourselves and you can find that they did tell the truth."
All three said Allen originally wanted his wife shot in the condo parking lot, but Taylor always found an excuse not to shoot her. Allen then provided a key to his wife's car, all three said.
That key was later found in Taylor's apartment after Jill Allen's murder, but Yengich claimed Taylor stole the key.
Prosecutors claimed Taylor was supposed to use the key to get into Jill Allen's trunk while she was working at Crossroads Plaza. When she returned from work and entered her car, Taylor was supposed to climb through the back seat and shoot her. Two attempts at that plan failed, said the Wrights and Taylor.
All three said Allen finally provided a key to his condo, and Taylor carried out the murder.
"A thief confirming a thief is still a thief," Yengich said. "A liar confirming a liar is still a liar. A burglar confirming a burglar is still a burglar. A confirmation means nothing."