The Utah Supreme Court has struck down an appeal by a Spokane, Wash., man who claimed God told him to shoot and kill an Emery County road worker.
In a decision released Friday, the court ruled that Scott Joseph Merrill did not file his appeal within 30 days of pleading to aggravated murder February of 2000, as required by law.
Merrill told police that he had received an order from God to "deliver justice." On the morning of Oct. 29, 1998, Merrill waited on a remote dirt road 12 miles south of Green River until road worker Charles W. Watterson came by while grading the road. Police say Merrill fired at least 35 rounds at Watterson, a man he had never met before, killing the 62-year-old father of six.
But while Merrill claimed justification for the murder, prosecutors alleged Merrill simply killed Watterson to rob him, pointing out that some of Watterson's belongings were found in Merrill's possession.
After a psychologist testified Merrill's mental illness was in remission due to antidepressant medication, Merrill pleaded no contest to aggravated murder. In exchange, prosecutors did not pursue the death penalty and allowed a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole. At the time, the judge advised Merrill that he had 30 days to appeal.
Merrill claimed the medication he was on "had caused him to experience religious delusions that resulted in his entering his plea," according to the high court's ruling. The delay in appeal was explained by the fact that Merrill had demanded a new attorney after his plea, but in its ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that changing attorneys was not an adequate excuse.
Friday's ruling supports a lower district court's decision dismissing Merrill's appeal, allowing Merrill's conviction and sentence to stand.
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