Utah man closer to death by firing squad after losing appeal

By BRADY McCOMBS
August 12, 2019

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah death row inmate featured in the popular book “Under the Banner of Heaven” after killing his sister-in-law and her child for resisting his polygamist beliefs inched closer to becoming the first American to be executed by firing squad in nearly a decade after losing his latest appeal Monday.

Ron Lafferty could be executed as soon as next year after his latest legal setback, said Andrew Peterson, assistant solicitor general at the Utah attorney general’s office.

Lafferty’s lawyer, Dale Baich, said in an email that he will use all options to challenge the ruling and will likely ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.

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Lafferty was convicted in the 1984 slayings of his sister-in-law and her baby daughter, which he carried out with his brother. He claimed to get a revelation from God to kill the two because of her resistance to his fundamentalist beliefs in polygamy.

His case became well known nationwide when it was included in Jon Krakauer’s 2003 book about radical offshoots of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Krakauer also wrote the popular books “Into Thin Air” and “Into the Wild.”

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