Utah County Attorney David Leavitt announced that he will no longer seek the death penalty. After initially planning to seek the death penalty in the case of Jerrod William Baum, a man accused of murdering two teens in December 2017, Leavitt has withdrawn the motion.
In a recorded statement, Leavitt said, “Pretending that the death penalty will somehow curb crime is simply a lie. The answer to preventing these types of horrible crimes is in education and prevention, before they occur.” The announcement came after two state Republican lawmakers announced they will introduce a bill next year to abolish the death penalty in Utah.
