However, in a unanimous ruling, the state's top court declared he waited years too long before bringing a legal challenge. He had alleged improper communication between the judge and jurors at his trial. Late Thursday night, the Utah Supreme Court rejected Troy Kell's petition to overturn his murder conviction. FOX 13 News reported in October that Ralph Leroy Menzies, convicted in the 1986 kidnapping and murder of Maurine Hunsaker, has exhausted his appeals and the state will soon seek a death warrant. Of the five inmates, one is facing an imminent execution. The judge left open the possibility of the inmates filing an amended complaint, or they could appeal her decision to the Utah Supreme Court. Lawyers representing the death row inmates did not immediately respond to a request for comment from FOX 13 News. The Utah Attorney General's Office declined to comment on Friday, saying the ruling speaks for itself. But the Utah Attorney General's Office told the judge in October that the agency believes the law allows them to use similar chemicals. In the past, the Utah Department of Corrections has told FOX 13 News it does not have the chemicals for lethal injection. However, if the state lacks the chemicals necessary to carry out such an execution, the Utah legislature modified laws to allow firing squad to become the default method. Lethal injection remains the state's primary method of execution. Plaintiffs have not alleged any facts to show the protocols implemented to execute people during the ratification era of the Utah Constitution were more likely to eliminate pain than the protocols he now challenges, which were written in 2010,' she wrote. 'Plaintiffs have offered no legal precedent or historical facts to support their interpretation of the cruel and unusual punishments clause: that a method of execution must result in instantaneous death. She declared that the five inmates - Ralph Menzies, Troy Kell, Michael Archuleta, Douglas Carter and Taberon Honie - were too late in bringing a challenge to Utah's death penalty laws.īut the judge also weighed in on their claims that Utah's execution methods of firing squad and lethal injection are 'cruel and unusual punishment' and that the Utah Department of Corrections has failed to provide sufficient information about how executions are carried out. In a ruling handed down on Friday, 3rd District Court Judge Coral Sanchez granted the Utah Attorney General's motion to dismiss the lawsuit. Police said they obtained surveillance footage from Powell's home that captured the sound of the drone hitting a tree, then video of him leaving with his firearm, and then the sound of two men arguing before shots were fired.SALT LAKE CITY - A judge has upheld Utah's capital punishment statutes in a lawsuit brought by five death row inmates.

The victim was pronounced dead at the scene. He claimed the man then 'came towards him,' according to the arrest report, and then he fired seven shots. The man then started to run away but then turned back around, facing Powell with the drone in one hand and his other hand in his pocket, Powell said. When he reached the area where his drone crashed, he saw a man holding the drone. He then went to retrieve his drone with a gun in his hand. His drone hit a tree that was near the vehicle. Powell spoke with police and told them he 'heard some commotion coming from a vehicle,' so he took out his drone to check it out.

When they arrived, police found the victim, a 31-year-old man who lived in the area, had been shot several times and died at the scene.īrendon Michael Powell, 25, was taken into custody by police and booked into jail on one 1st-degree felony count of murder. Police explained that at 10 p.m., officers responded to the area of 700 North Liberty on reports that someone had been shot. OGDEN, Utah - A man was shot and killed Monday night after getting into a fight with another man over a drone in Ogden.

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