Ron and Dan Lafferty

As I was researching this case I often thought of Charles Manson. I believe few would argue that Manson was a few cards short of a full deck. I think the same could be said about both Ron and Dan Lafferty, two brothers from Utah who were convicted in the murders of their sister in law and their niece. Every interview I ever saw with Manson he was spouting off and ranting. From everything I have heard or read about the Lafferty brothers, it seems after more than thirty years in prison they still have the same demeanor. The only difference now is that one believes that he is a “child of God” while his brother is a “child of the Devil.” It is not completely clear why Dan Lafferty would believe that his brother is a child of the devil when they committed their crime together and Dan has been quoted as saying he has no remorse and “you don't repent for things that aren't wrong.”

For me, this case brings back the question of insanity. I have never really agreed with how the law looks at this question. Many have argued that the standard that is used is “antiquated.” The “law” is widely known as “The McNaughton Rule.” Basically what McNaughton says is that if a defendant knows the difference between right and wrong then they are not insane. Well, not every case is that simple. The only case in which I believe this was taken into account, at least thinking off the top of my head, is the Andrea Yates case. Initially she was found to be sane and convicted but her attorney's were successful in obtaining a new trial and she was found guilty by reason of insanity. To be fair I have to say that I think two important things came into play in the Yates case. First and foremost, she had documented proof of her issues directly leading up to her murdering her children. Secondly, I honestly believe that the fact she was a woman played a large role. I will be the first to admit that I feel that the Yates case and that involving the Lafferty brothers were quite different and yet, while I am not making excuses for their actions, nor do I condone them, in the same respect I am unsure I believe they were sane when the crimes were committed. The argument against the McNaughton Rule is basically not whether the defendant knew the difference between right and wrong, but whether they honestly believed what they were saying. In this case Ron had proclaimed what he called “The Removal Revelation,” saying that he was given an order from God. While absolutely no one else, save possibly his brother, Dan, believed this to be the case, what matters most, to me is what they truly believed.

When it would come to Dan there seemed to be no issue of sanity or competency, at least in the courts. I believe this would have also been the case with Ron had two things not occurred. First, while awaiting trial he had attempted suicide and it is said that it had caused significant brain damage due to lack of oxygen. Secondly, Ron would be sentenced to death and most often appeals of this sentence contain issues of competency and sanity. And yet, more than thirty years after their crime was committed it is said that Dan Lafferty still believes that he is a prophet and that the walls of the prison will crumble and he will be freed.

The Lafferty family consisted of six boys and two girls. They were raised in the LDS church and was said to have a very strict father. Their father, Watson, was said to have “planted the seeds” of paranoia and rebellion especially in his boys and taught them to distrust conventional medicine and the federal government. Ron was the oldest son, with brother Allen being the youngest. Dan seemed to be somewhere in between as he was about seven years younger than Ron. Both Dan and Ron would eventually be excommunicated from the LDS church. Dan's occurred in 1982 because he attempted to take his fourteen year old stepdaughter as a second wife. While the LDS is known for their history of polygamy, officially they ended the practice in 1890. However, devote followers often protested this believing that founder, Joseph Smith and later prophet Brigham Young were both true prophets of God and basically if they believed in polygamy than it must be allowed. If you have ever seen the show “Sister Wives” then you know that there are still some who practice polygamy, although not in a legal sense as the government has found it to be illegal. The husband from that show, at least last I saw, had four wives but is only legally married to one. For many years that was his first wife, but they have since legally divorced to allow him to legally marry his fourth wife. But, if you have seen the show, then you know that this was something the wives had agreed to (although I have heard that the first wife has split from the family). It was said that Ron Lafferty also wanted to practice polygamy his wife, Diana, did not agree. It seems that Ron was excommunicated in 1983 but it is unclear what events happened before or after this or the complete reason behind it. Nor has it been clear at what point Dan willingly allowed his wife and their four children to leave him. It was said that the family went into hiding for quite some time as they feared Dan would change his mind.

What is known is that in the fall of 1983 Ron's wife decided to divorce him. She would relocate to Florida, from Utah, with their six children. It is also known that this was not something Ron agreed with, nor accepted. By this time Ron and Dan had created what they called joined and created their own chapter of “School of Prophets,” a splinter group of the LDS. It appears that many in the Lafferty family joined this group and while brother Allen did seem to be privy to the things said and done within the group his wife, Brenda had all but forbid him from joining.

It was said that Brenda Lafferty was much different than many of the other Lafferty wives. Brenda was outspoken and “spunky” as some would call it. She also did not believe that Ron or Dan were “prophets” as they were both now claiming to be and she was not shy about saying so. Most believe it was this that caused Ron to especially dislike Brenda and lead to his crime.

It seems that few dispute the fact that Ron was bitterly angry when Diana divorced him. It is generally said that Ron blamed “four people” for his wife leaving him. Those four people would be Chloe Low, a former LDS President who had supported Diana, Richard Stowe, the LDS President who had presided over his excommunication, his sister in law Brenda, who encouraged Diana to leave and Brenda and Allen's fifteen month old daughter, Erica. Now, it seems wholly unreasonable for Ron to blame child who was barely a toddler for causing his marriage to collapse and while Erica's name was on what Ron called “The Removal Revelation” in reality he told others, including Allen that her inclusion was really based on the fact that he believed Erica would “grow up to be a bitch just like her mother.” Ron would announce his “Removal Revelation” at a School of Prophets meeting but it appears that that no one took him completely serious. He would proclaim that this “revelation” came to him as an order from God and that these four people needed to be killed. Many over the years have blamed Allen for not protecting his wife and daughter. It is unclear if he even told Brenda of the “revelation” or simply dismissed it.

On July 24, 1984, Pioneer Day in Utah and surrounding Mormon communities, Ron and Dan Lafferty went to the American Fork Utah home of their brother, Allen. Allen was at work but Brenda was home with her daughter. They were armed with a shotgun as well as a ten inch boning knife. Allen would return home that evening from work to find Brenda dead in the kitchen and Erica, nearly decapitated in her crib in her room. Brenda had been beaten, choked with a vacuum cord and had her throat slit. Erica's throat had also been slit to the point that it was said her head would not sit correctly in the closed casket she would share with her mother. Allen went to the home of a neighbor and called 911. Both Ron and Dan were immediate suspects and it seems that it was not only Allen who would come to this conclusion. It appears that at least one other brother and the mother of the Lafferty children would speak to authorities about things Ron and Dan had discussed. They would warn authorities that Chloe Low and Richard Stowe were possibly in danger. In addition to this a green station wagon had been seen in Allen and Brenda's drive way around the time the murders were thought to occurred. While I did not catch which of the two brothers owned such a car it was made clear that one did.

It was later said that both Ron and Dan had participated in the murder of Brenda but it was Dan alone who had murdered his niece, Erica. After leaving their brother's home they then headed to the home of Chloe Low, the former LDS President that had supported Ron's wife throughout the divorce. They broke into her home but no one was there. They then got back on the highway and planned to head to the home of Richard Stowe. On the way to the Stowe home, where Richard was out working on a farm field, the Lafferty brothers missed the turn and decided to abandon their plan, heading to Reno Nevada instead.

The brothers were in a buffet line at one of the casinos in Reno when they were arrested and charged with the murders of their sister in law and their niece. They were both also charged with two counts of aggravated burglary and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder. By now it seems that the brothers were not really getting along. It was alleged that while they were in the county jail Ron had attempted to kill Dan. It was never made clear in my research what had prompted this reaction, but it seems that it was then that Dan decided he was a “child of God” while his brother was a “child of the Devil.” In December of 1984 Ron was found hanging in his cell. He was found unconscious and not breathing.

In 1985 the brothers would face separate trials but it appears that the prosecutor was asking for the death penalty in both cases. There did not seem to be a lot of specifics released about the trials as far as facts given. Dan, who had an extensive criminal history relating to things such as failing to pay taxes or follow government laws, as assigned an attorney for his case but in essence decided to represent himself, with the attorney supervising. He would be found guilty on all charges and given a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. Ron would also face trial and be convicted on all counts but his jury gave him a sentence of death.

In 1988 an appeals court overturned Ron's conviction and sentence. This all seemed to be surrounding whether he had been competent to stand trial in 1985. A month after his suicide attempt he had been found incompetent for trial. Basically that meant that no only did he likely not understand the charges and the consequences of a guilty verdict, but it is more likely that this ruling stemmed from his ability to help his attorney's build his case. In March of 1985 he was still declared incompetent but doctors claimed that this no longer stemmed from the brain injury he suffered at the time of his suicide attempt. In April of 1985 a competency hearing was held over the course of a few days and it was then that a judge declared that he was in fact competent to stand trial. The 1988 appeal determined that the lower court had used the correct standards to evaluate his mental competency, nor did they apparently believe he was competent at that point to stand trial again. He was ordered treatment at a state mental hospital.

Ron would face trial again in 1996. Just as was the case in the first trial, few specifics about the second trial could be found. It was stated that Allen testified saying that Ron told him that God had “ordered” him to remove the people listed in his “revelation.” The jury would once again convict Ron on all counts and sentence him to death. Throughout my research there was indication that Ron has had several outbursts in the courtroom but there never seemed to be anything specific as to the reasons nor, when they occurred.

Since his second conviction Ron, or at least through his attorney's have filed several appeal. They have all been denied. In October of 2017 his conviction and sentence was upheld again and it was said that he is “moving closer” to being executed. At least one of his appeals attempted to argue that the death penalty for him was unconstitutional due to the fact that he claimed that sitting on death row for more than twenty-five years is equivalent to cruel and unusual punishment. I am sure that some would agree with this statement but more in the sense that it has been more cruel to Brenda and Erica's family than to Ron himself.

While it has been said that Ron, like his brother Dan, has also claimed to be a prophet of God, it seems that there is less information about his behavior behind bars than that of his brother. Dan has been interviewed several times. Most notably the book Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer was based on many interviews the author had with Dan. He has also given several other interviews throughout the years and at least one of his daughters have come forward and discussed his case. In a 2015 interview Dan made several outlandish statements, at least that is how I saw them. When speaking of the murders he stated, “It never haunted me, its never bothered me. You don't repent for things that aren't wrong.” While the interview was with him and to look into his behavior it appears that it came about after the murder/suicide of Benjamin and Kristi Strack and their three children in September of 2014.

Kristi Strack had read Jon Krakauer's book and it was said she became obsessed with the story. The book was published in July of 2003 and Kristi eventually contacted Dan in prison. In fact, both Kristi and Benjamin began visiting nearly on a weekly basis until 2008 when they would plead guilty to charges of forgery and drug possession. It was not completely clear whether all contact ended or just visitation. In September of 2014 the five bodies of the Stracks family were found in their home after their oldest child came home and could not find anyone or access one of the bedrooms. It was determined that they had ingested liquid methadone and several empty boxes of cold and flu medicine were found in the home. Although few clues were found in the home it became the believe of investigators that the crime had occurred as the couple did not want to face the “apocalypse” that they were sure was coming. It is believe that their oldest child, who was nineteen was not included in the pact, at least between the parents, if not the three children who were between eleven and fourteen years old, because he was engaged and moving forward in his life. Authorities learned of the relationship with Dan and went and spoke to him but they do not believe that he was aware of any plans. That being said it also appears that he had few issues with taking credit for leading the couple in that direction.

The crimes of the Lafferty brothers is still consider one of the, if not the, most heinous and infamous crime in Utah. Both men remain in prison. Ron is in his mid to late 70's and Dan is nearing 70 years old. It is unclear whether Ron will ever be executed by the state. Like many Utah has had issues with procuring drugs to proceed with lethal injection. However, they have also listed a firing squad as a default method of execution if it were to proceed in executions. This was the method used against Gary Gilmore, most famous for being the first person executed after the Supreme Court re-instated the death penalty in 1976. This was also the method used in the state's last execution in 2010 against Ronnie Lee Gardner. Currently there are nine inmates on death row in Utah. Ron Lafferty has been there the longest. There seems to be some debate among those in Utah as to whether any execution will take place in the state in the future. Only time will tell.