Farmington • Attorneys for convicted murderer Mark Anthony Ott filed a motion to withdraw his 2004 guilty plea to capital murder in connection with the 2002 death of 6-year-old Lacey Lawrence, the daughter of his estranged wife’s boyfriend.
Ott, 47, who is serving life without parole in prison for killing the girl by setting fire to his estranged wife’s Layton home, appeared in 2nd District Court on Wednesday for a status hearing.
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His attorneys, Richard Gallegos and Elizabeth Hunt, submitted the motion to Judge Michael Allphin, which was described as a withdrawal of a plea and or to declare a misplea.
Under his original plea, which was made to avoid the death penalty, Ott admitted only that there could be sufficient evidence to convict him.
The Utah Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision in January 2010, said Ott’s court-appointed defense attorney was ineffective because he failed to object to victim-impact evidence — including a six-minute videotape featuring pictures of Lacey and testimony from the girl’s family about the devastating effect of her death.
With the high court’s decision, Ott is set to have a new sentencing hearing on the capital murder charge.
Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings said he could not comment on the submitted motion until it was filed and he could review it. But at a glance, he said it appeared Ott wanted to withdraw his guilty plea to the aggravated murder charge and three others — attempted aggravated murder, aggravated burglary and aggravated assault.
Rawlings added if that is the case, the death penalty option would be back on the table for discussion.
"Mark Ott remains in prison on consecutive life sentences, no matter what happens on the aggravated murder sentencing," Rawlings said. "The most likely scenario is that he won’t be allowed to withdraw his plea."
After the hearing, Terry Cook, mother of the 6-year-old victim, said, "I just want [Ott] to burn in hell.
"[Ott] doesn’t think about what I went through all day yesterday trying to get ready to be here. [Ott] has nothing else to do but sit there and think about how he can get out after what he took from us."
Cook, who teared up and trembled during the hearing, said the whole process made her feel like she didn’t have any rights. "Why do we have to keep paying for this?"
Cook was accompanied by family and friends. Also in court was Allen Lawrence, the father of the 6-year-old, who was stabbed by Ott 23 times.
"The guy doesn’t think he has done anything wrong. He still doesn’t," Lawrence said. "He thinks it’s justified."
The next hearing was set for March 12.
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