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The case against the man accused of killing a Mount Pleasant couple more than three years ago is beginning to move forward, a judge having appointed defense attorneys in the potential death penalty case.
Logan Welles McFarland, 27, was charged last year in 6th District Court with two counts of first-degree felony aggravated murder for the December 2011 slayings of 70-year-old Leroy Fullwood and his 69-year-old wife, Dorothy Ann Fullwood.
McFarland, of Fairview, made his first court appearance only five months ago, after he was extradited to Utah from Nevada — where he had been sentenced to spend up to 56 years in prison for a crime spree that took place there.
On Wednesday, the defendant appeared in a Manti courtroom, where attorneys discussed the appointment of two qualified attorneys who could represent McFarland — who prosecutors say will face the death penalty for the 2011 murders.
Sanpete County Attorney Brody Keisel said Thursday that his office will now begin sending evidence to court-appointed defense attorneys Douglas Terry and Ryan Stout.
McFarland is expected to decide by his next court date, on Aug. 26, whether he wants a preliminary hearing in the case.
McFarland also is charged with one count of first-degree felony aggravated burglary and one count of first-degree felony aggravated robbery, along with second-degree felony counts of burglary of a dwelling and theft of a firearm.
Though McFarland has long been the suspect in the double murder, Keisel said last year that he had waited to file on the homicides until Nevada authorities had adjudicated their case against McFarland and his girlfriend, 28-year-old Angela Marie Hill, also known as Angela Marie Atwood.
The Utah murder charges were filed May 22, 2014, a day after McFarland was sentenced for the Nevada crimes.
Hill is charged in Utah with the same counts as McFarland, minus the homicide charges. She has not yet been extradited to Utah, according to the county attorney's office, and a court appearance has not been scheduled.
An arrest affidavit filed in Utah's 6th District Court, which was briefly made public in January 2012 before being sealed, police alleged that on Dec. 29, 2012, McFarland drove around Mt. Pleasant looking for a home to burglarize.
McFarland apparently selected the Fullwood home at random and, late Dec. 29 or early Dec. 30, had friends drop him off on a road behind the residence, according to the affidavit. It was then only a short walk through sagebrush to reach the home.
What happened inside the home has not been made public, but the arrest affidavit says the home was ransacked, the contents of cupboards and closets "strewn" around the home. By the time McFarland left, the Fullwoods were dead from gunshot wounds.
On Dec. 30, McFarland allegedly called a relative and told him that they needed to talk because "a 'mission' had gone south," according to a probable cause statement filed in court. Police allege that McFarland told the relative that he had "dispatched lives" in Sanpete County.
jmiller@sltrib.com Twitter: @jm_miller