Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Provo River Trail Attacker In Custody?

Remember how angry Emily was over the excrement-disguised-as-a-human who beat and raped a young woman in Provo Utah?

Well, it sounds like the police have indeed caught him. Initially they weren't releasing any details about what evidence made them so certain it was him, but this article details some additional evidence. In addition to fitting the (somewhat vague) description the survivor of this attack was initially able to give, Shawn Leonard left an ankle bracelet at the scene of the crime. Also, it sounds like the survivor saw him a little longer than it initially sounded like she had and will be able to testify against him in court.

I'm guessing they've also verified DNA evidence against him.

So now I have two questions:

1. What poor sap will get stuck as his defense attorney?
2. How is the sentence for attempted murder different than the sentence for murder? And why? Does someone really deserve to be rewarded for not really killing someone they thought they'd killed?

1 comment:

  1. 1. This would be a hard case to take and a hard case to really fight for. If a defense attorney is really doing his job he would have to do all he could to make sure this man does not go to jail or at least doesn't stay in jail. Literally he is stuck between a rock and a hard place.
    2. These are good questions and would have some very interesting answers. I did some research into the definitions of murder and attempted murder. It would be interesting to note any cases where the victim was murdered but lived. It would not surprise me if a previous court had ruled that even though the victim survived, the offender had already committed murder. I don't know if such a case exists but it would not surprise me if it did. Another thing to note is that some crimes are exclusive in there sentencing while others allow for multiple sentences to be handed down concurrently. I imagine that he will be charged with voluntary manslaughter, possibly murder in the first degree, rape, battery, sexual assault, leaving the scene of a crime, etc etc etc. Even if he is not given the maximum sentence for any one of these crimes, the total time spent behind bars could amount to much more than a life sentence. Keep keeping us informed.

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