SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Attorney General’s Office is asking a federal judge to push along condemned killer Ron Lafferty’s pending execution.
Lafferty, who is on death row for the 1984 murders of his sister-in-law Brenda Lafferty and her baby Erica, is fighting his murder conviction.
In recent court papers, he has asked for federal appeals to be halted while he adjudicates issues in state court.
In a filing on Wednesday, the Utah Attorney General’s Office urged the judge to not delay his federal appeals.
Read the filing here:
Lafferty and his brother Dan were convicted of killing Brenda and Erica.
The brothers claimed it was under orders from God.
The gruesome killings were featured in the book “Under the Banner of Heaven.”
Questions about Ron Lafferty’s mental competency have been raised repeatedly in the decades of court proceedings.
Defense lawyers have claimed he suffers from religious delusions.
U.S. District Court Judge Dee Benson ruled earlier this year that Ron Lafferty was mentally competent to assist in his defense.
