Evidence hearing delayed in Utah double murder case

A preliminary hearing has been delayed for a man accused of killing a Sanpete County couple in 2010 so the defense can get a brain scan of the defendant.

Logan Welles McFarland, 28, is charged in 6th District Court with two counts of first-degree felony aggravated murder for the December 2011 shooting deaths of 70-year-old Leroy Fullwood and his 69-year-old wife, Dorothy Ann Fullwood, at their Mount Pleasant home.

He was due in court next week for a preliminary hearing, where a judge would determine if there is enough evidence to advance the potential death penalty case to trial. But attorneys asked for that hearing, scheduled to last three days, to be moved to Aug. 16, according to court records.

During a Wednesday status hearing, the defense told the judge they need time for McFarland to have a brain scan to see if there are lasting effects from a childhood injury, Sanpete County Attorney Brody Keisel told The Tribune.

McFarland, of Fairview, was extradited last year from Nevada — where he had been sentenced to spend up to 56 years in prison for a crime spree that took place there.

The Utah murder charges were filed May 22, 2014, a day after McFarland was sentenced for the Nevada crimes.

Though McFarland has long been the suspect in the double murder, Sanpete County Attorney Brody Keisel has said he 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.

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. Hill is charged in Utah with the same counts as McFarland, minus the homicide charges. She has not yet been extradited to Utah, and no court dates have been scheduled.

An arrest affidavit filed in Utah's 6th District Court, which was briefly made public in January 2012 before being sealed, alleges that on Dec. 29, 2011, McFarland drove around Mount 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