A 6th District judge has signed the death warrant for convicted murderer Troy Kell, and an execution date is set for June 28.
Kell, a white supremacist convicted of murder in both Nevada and Utah, has elected to be executed by firing squad. His is the first of two death warrants before district judges this week. On Thursday, 3rd District Judge Burton is expected to sign a death warrant for serial killer Roberto Arguelles.
Judge David L. Mower signed the Kell warrant Tuesday morning during a telephone conference with Assistant Attorney General Thomas Brunker, Kell's defense attorney Stephen McCaughey and Provo attorney Mike Esplin. Mower also signed the order releasing McCaughey from the case and appointing Esplin to represent Kell should he want to appeal.
By law, McCaughey, who represented Kell in the automatic appeal of his conviction, must be released from the case and a new attorney appointed. Death warrants are not signed by judges until after the Utah Supreme Court reviews and makes a ruling on a conviction. Kell's conviction was upheld.
Esplin said Tuesday afternoon that he was "too new" to the case to comment. He has not yet spoken to Kell but said he will meet with him and "see what his wishes are in the matter."
The 34-year-old Kell was first convicted in 1986 for a Nevada murder. He was serving a life sentence in the Utah State Prison when in 1994, he attacked and killed Lonnie Blackmon. A prison camera caught Kell on tape, stabbing Blackmon some 67 times with a makeshift knife while another prisoner held Blackmon by the legs.
Death row inmates have 30 days to file an appeal after a death warrant is signed. An appeal can be made to either the state court or to U.S. District Court, although most appeals are made to the state system, Brunker said. Adjudication of an appeal can take between six months and one year.
Utah state law provides for executions to be carried out either by firing squad or lethal injection and allows the convicted person to select the method. In the past 25 years, six Utahns have been put to death by the state, the last in 1999. The last execution by firing squad was that of convicted killer John Albert Taylor in January 1996.
Executions are carried out by the Utah Department of Corrections at 12:01 a.m. on the appointed date, department spokesman Jack Ford said.
The firing squad is composed of five people, all of whom must be currently certified Utah peace officers. The squad uses matching .30-caliber rifles, one of which is loaded with a blank round of ammunition, Ford said. None of the officers know which weapon is loaded with the blank, he added.
Arguelles, 41, has been asking the state to execute him since 1998, when he pleaded guilty to raping and murdering three teenage Utah girls and a 42-year-old women who worked as a janitor in a local school. Like Kell, Arguelles has asked for an execution by firing squad.
E-mail: jdobner@desnews.com