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Relying on four witnesses and a handwritten letter confessing to the crime, the Utah Supreme Court affirmed the life sentence of a man convicted of a November 2007 slaying in Salt Lake City.
The court upheld Anthony James Prater's sentence of life without parole for murder, obstructing justice and other charges after he fired six shots into a vehicle, killing a man.
The justices ruled that while three witnesses initially lied about their involvement in the case, their later testimony during the trial was sufficient to convict Prater. They also said defense attorneys neglected to challenge forensic evidence linking Prater to the crime.
"That three trial witnesses who were tied to events surrounding a murder would deny their involvement when initially interviewed by police does not run so counter to human experience that it renders their testimony inherently improbable," according to the opinion, written by Justice John Pearce.
Prosecutors said Prater, now 32, tracked Samora from a 7-Eleven parking lot to his home and fired from a Jeep at Samora, who was sitting with his girlfriend in the driveway when he was killed.
Attorney Kristina Ruedas argued the court should overturn the convictions because witnesses provided police and the court with changing testimony.
The court said Prater's attorney failed to address a handwritten jailhouse letter Prater wrote to a cellmate confessing to the murder and detailing his motive for killing Samora.
The district court jury agreed with prosecutors, who said Prater targeted Samora because he had identified Christopher M. Archuleta as the person who shot him in the stomach in 2005, and was slated to testify against Archuleta.
Also, Archuleta and Prater were former prison cellmates, the state said, and Prater and others had been looking for Samora for months.
The state relied on testimony from Prater's girlfriend, Donna Quintana, who cleaned the Jeep Prater shot from and tossed the murder weapon into the Jordan River at his request.
Quintana initially lied to police and in court about her involvement and what Prater told her. She later said she lied because she received death threats if she testified truthfully.
Two other witnesses in the case, Ryan Hal Sheppard and Sherilyn Valdez, also lied when first contacted by police.
Sheppard, 35, drove the Jeep in which Prater was a passenger when the shooting took place. After initially lying about his involvement, Sheppard testified against Prater at trial as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Also at trial, Prater's friend Ali Al-Rekabi testified that Prater asked him to pin the murder on Sheppard, who had dated a woman who was married to Samora at the time.
The Supreme Court found defense attorneys failed to address Al-Rekabi's role in convicting Prater.
Twitter: @TaylorWAnderson