This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2004, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Two convicted killers will each spend more than two decades behind bars before the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole even considers their release, the board announced Tuesday. Terry Louis Johnson, 42, will be 65 years old and will have served 25 years in prison before his parole hearing in January 2027. Johnson was convicted in June of first-degree felony murder for the Dec. 30, 1993, stabbing death of his baby-sitter, 14-year-old Christopher Mosier, at the victim's Salt Lake City home. Prosecutors charged Johnson in 2002 after blood evidence from the slaying was retested using improved DNA technology. No motive for the crime was established at trial, but prosecutors said Johnson was a drug addict with a history of violence. Mosier was stabbed 21 times. Ira Eugene Hensley, 41, is scheduled for his first parole hearing in September 2028. As part of a plea deal, Hensley pleaded guilty in May to first-degree felony murder for the Sept. 23, 2003, slaying of Leo P. Anderson, 69, at the victim's Salt Lake City home. Hensley - who met the victim through a dating service - bound his wrists, wrapped his neck with a telephone cord then struck a fatal blow to his head. The defendant was arrested a few days later in Las Vegas driving the victim's truck. First-degree felony murder carries an indeterminate sentence of five years to life. - Stephen Hunt