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Cedar City » Martin Chris Nelson, shackled and clad in orange prisoner garb, was sentenced Friday to two life terms without possibility of parole for murdering two men in a remote community in Iron County.
The victims' families agreed to the sentence, which saves Nelson from the death penalty for the October 2007 shooting deaths of Derek Davis and Chad Grijalva. A jury convicted him in December of two charges of aggravated murder.
Fifth District Judge G. Michael Westfall also sentenced Nelson to one to 15 years on a second-degree felony count of theft by receiving stolen property, to run concurrently with the other prison terms.
Nelson's lawyer, Stephen McCaughey, said he will appeal the sentences to Utah's Supreme Court.
During his trial, the 45-year-old Nelson claimed he shot the two St. George men, both 34, in self-defense during a drug deal gone bad in his manufactured home in Beryl, a residential community west of Cedar City.
Family members were allowed to address the court during the sentencing. Davis' mother, Connie Davis, described the murders as a heinous act.
"He took the lives of two people who were sons, uncles and brothers," said Davis. "There are kids involved and they will never have the chance to see their dad again. It breaks my heart that they have to grow up without a dad because of one man."
Davis' wife, Kary Davis, said that in the three weeks before the victims' bodies were discovered buried in an out building on Nelson's property, her three young children would ask if their dad was coming home. "When I heard [Davis] was shot, I had to look them in the eyes and say they would never see their dad again... When [Nelson] is sitting in jail I hope he thinks about the pain he caused these kids."
After the hearing, Grijalva's father, Fred Grijalva, said he doesn't believe Nelson's story about a drug deal. He said his son went to collect a debt for some slate tile Nelson had purchased.
"I believe [Nelson] was lying ambush and shot them when they got out of [Davis'] truck," said Fred Grijalva. "It was only $30 or $40. It was all over money."
Family members of both victims said they agreed to the sentence because it brought some degree of closure and spared them further appeal hearings and the heartache they believed would result if Nelson was given the death penalty.
"We want this to be over and want to heal," said Grijalva's mother, Penni Grijalva. "He is a horrible person. The face of evil."
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