UTAH STATE PRISON — A man who has been returned to prison a couple of times since his original incarceration in 2009 for a manslaughter conviction is getting another chance at parole.
Colton Jesse Louder, 34, has been granted parole and will be released from the Utah State Prison on Aug. 7.
But Louder, who was told at his last parole hearing that if he were to be released he'd either have to succeed or be locked up for life, will have some strict conditions for his release. The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole has ordered Louder be put on a GPS ankle monitor for the first 90 days of his release and also be subjected to random drug and alcohol tests four times a month during that time. Louder was also ordered to abide by Adult Probation and Parole's curfew and complete vocational training.
In 2009, Louder, of Lehi, shot and killed his uncle, Jeff Ackerman, in a Pleasant Grove neighborhood. In court, attorneys noted that both men were using methamphetamine that day, and that when Louder uses drugs he becomes paranoid. When Ackerman used drugs, he became angry. The combination led to the fatal confrontation.
Louder pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter, a first-degree felony, and was sentenced to five years to life in prison.
But after being paroled, he was convicted of DUI just 13 months later and was sent back to prison in 2016. In 2017, he was sent back to prison again after he believed a "stranger in the shadows" told him to cut off his GPS ankle monitor, according to Utah Board of Pardons and Parole Chairwoman Chyleen Arbon.
During his last parole hearing on May 8, Arbon told Louder that the decision to let him serve out the rest of his life term in prison or give him one more chance at freedom was a difficult one.
Arbon also noted that Louder has continued to have strong support from his family from his orignal court proceeding through his latest parole hearing.
"I'm sure my family is sick of it. I'm sick of it. I can't imagine any rational, normal person not being sick of it," Louder said at his last parole hearing. "It's hard to look at your behavior and know how toxic it can be, how destructive it can be. … I want to start building a life that I'm proud of and I want to start building a life I wouldn't imagine sacrificing by being high."
Arbon told Louder it's clear that when he drinks or does drugs, he engages in high-risk behavior.
"You're going to have to be at 'not a drop of anything' for the rest of your life," she said.