This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Utah County prosecutors will not seek the death penalty against three men accused in the May shooting death of a Provo man.
Yuri Sanchez Lara, Darrell Wayne Morris and Danny LeRoy Logue appeared in 4th District Court on Tuesday, each charged with aggravated murder in connection with the May 17 death of 32-year-old Andy Purcell.
"We took it very seriously as to whether we were going to pursue the death penalty or not in this case," said Utah County prosecutor Curtis Larson. "We looked at all of these elements ... and we determined it would probably be best simply to pursue it" as a non-capital case.
Lara, 32, Morris, 38, and Logue, 45, were charged in June after a confidential informant pointed police to their alleged involvement in Purcell's death.
In a probable-cause statement filed in 4th District Court, Provo detectives said the informant told them that Lara suspected Purcell had alerted police to a cache of methamphetamine in Lara's storage unit.
"The [informant] said Lara was looking for someone to hurt Purcell due to the belief that Andy Purcell provided the information," according to the statement.
Purcell died one day after he was found on his mother's front porch with a gunshot wound to his forehead.
The informant told police that Lara had contacted Morris to kill Purcell in exchange for an ounce of methamphetamine, according to the court documents. Morris was given a half-ounce before the shooting and the rest after Lara learned Purcell was in the hospital, according to the statement.
Police said Logue, 45, was with Morris during the shooting.
Sanchez, Morris and Logue are set to appear in court again Aug. 23.
Twitter: @aaronfalk