The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from the Utah Attorney General’s Office asking it to sentence Douglas Lovell to death — again.
The nine justices did not comment on their Monday denial of the state’s request.
Lovell has fought a protracted legal battle since he first pleaded guilty to the 1985 murder of Joyce Yost to prevent her from testifying against him for raping and kidnapping her.
“Our deepest sympathies today are with the family of Joyce Yost. For 40 years, Joyce’s family has sought justice after Douglas Lovell raped her, and later murdered her to prevent her from testifying,” Utah Attorney General Derek Brown said in a statement. “We are deeply disappointed the Yost family will have to go through yet another sentencing trial and we remain committed to seeking justice for Joyce.”
Lovell was first sentenced to death in 1993 after pleading guilty, but the Utah Supreme Court overturned that ruling in 2011 after determining he had not been properly advised of his trial rights. He was convicted of Yost’s murder in a 2015 jury trial and sentenced to death for a second time.
However, during that trial, Lovell’s then-attorneys failed to object to testimony from bishops of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on doctrine and Lovell’s standing in the Utah-based religion.
Then, last year, the Utah Supreme Court ruled the questioning over Lovell’s status in the church may have prejudiced members of the jury and invited them to determine his sentence based on religious standards, not the facts presented. The state’s highest court decided unanimously to vacate Lovell’s second death sentence and asked for a new sentencing.
The Utah justices also affirmed Lovell’s murder conviction in their opinion.
On Monday morning, the U.S. Supreme Court said that ruling should hold and declined to take up Utah’s appeal to reinstate Lovell’s death sentence.
The case now moves back to Utah’s 2nd District Court for a new sentencing trial.
