Death Row Inmate Featured In ‘Under The Banner Of Heaven’ Dies Of Natural Causes, Authorities Say
Nov 11, 2019, 10:11 AM | Updated: 1:17 pm
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – A man who spent the last 34 years on death row in Utah for murdering a woman and her daughter has died, authorities said.
According to the Utah Department of Corrections, Ron Lafferty, 78, died of natural causes at the Utah State Prison on Nov. 11.
He was convicted in the 1984 deaths of his sister-in-law and her baby daughter. He claimed the killings were directed by God because of the victim’s resistance to his beliefs in polygamy. The double-murder case was featured in the book, “Under the Banner of Heaven.”
He was recently denied a petition for a rehearing.
Lafferty is one of Utah’s most infamous death row inmates. He was set to be the first American executed by firing squad in nearly a decade. He chose the firing squad decades ago when he was sentenced to die.
His execution was likely only months away.
The last person to be executed by firing squad was Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010, also in Utah.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
