FARMINGTON — A mentally ill man who was not taking his anti-psychotic medication and stabbed a co-worker to death was sentenced Thursday to a year in jail and ordered to move after that into an intensive inpatient therapy center in Ogden.
Michael Don Moll, 19, pleaded guilty to third-degree felony manslaughter as part of a plea agreement. He originally was charged with first-degree felony murder in the Sept. 11, 2006, fatal stabbing of Karl Paul Kuhn after the two reportedly argued over money Kuhn believed Moll's father owed him for work he had done. The father, also named Michael Moll, owns a landscaping business.
"I see things, I hear things that aren't there," a weeping Moll told 2nd District Judge Thomas Kay. "I'm really sorry this has all happened. It wasn't intentional."
However, during his statement, Moll also said Kuhn had threatened him and his family over the money problem and Kuhn had come after him, so Moll pulled a knife from his pocket.
Moll admitted he had not taken prescribed medication for his mental health problems, which include bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. He said the medications caused unpleasant side effects. He also had been consuming illegal drugs.
His defense attorney, Tony Miles, argued that treatment, rather than prison, would be the best thing for Moll and for society.
Moll's uncle, Roger Dickson, said both the Kuhn and Moll families had suffered and pledged that Moll's relatives would do everything possible to help him. "When Mike is on his medication, he is a different person." he said.
However, the victim's father, also named Karl Paul Kuhn, said in an emotion-choked voice that everyone has choices in life and that Michael Moll had plenty of them: he did not take his medication; he stayed in the area when the younger Kuhn approached; he pulled a knife and he killed another person.
"There are just too many wrong choices," the senior Kuhn said. "There is a justice that needs to be served."
The victim's mother, Debbie Bell, cried as she clutched a framed portrait of her son and said he was the joy of her life. "Part of me was put in the ground with him," she said. "I light a candle every day for my son."
The judge said he had several concerns, among them how much time Moll would actually serve in prison if sent in for the one-to-15-year sentence and what kind of psychiatric treatment would be available.
Kay imposed the prison sentence but suspended it and instead sent Moll to jail for a year. (Moll has already been incarcerated for 297 days.) The judge also ordered Moll to then enter the mental health inpatient program and serve three years of probation with directives to take all necessary medication, comply with all treatment, consume no illegal drugs and stay away from the victim's family.
"You made a big mistake," Kay told Moll, adding that a lost human life is irreplaceable. "One thing you can do (for the victims) is change your life."
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