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A Utah man who tried to kill three employees at a Salt Lake City Arby's two decades ago will be released from prison on parole in the fall but his father, who also participated in the brutal attack, will remain behind bars for life.
The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole has set a release date of Sept. 13 for Richard D. Lawrimore. The 38-year-old will live in a halfway house at first and will have mental health and substance abuse treatment, according to the parole board decision announced this week.
The board decided against releasing Richard L. Lawrimore, 57, who said at his parole hearing he was "truly and deeply sorry" for all the pain he had caused his victims.
The Lawrimores had separate parole hearings on Feb. 4. Parole decisions are made by a majority vote of the five-member board.
On Jan. 9, 1996, the Lawrimores forced the three workers back inside at gunpoint as they were leaving the Arby's at 2284 E. 3900 South at the close of business. The father and son, who had been injecting methamphetamine for two days, seemed intent on stealing money and leaving no witnesses, according to court records.
Employee Joseph Hare, 24, was shot five times and stabbed six times before he was able to escape through a window and call police.
Meanwhile, the Lawrimores forced Hare's co-workers, 20-year-old Charee Hoppal and 23-year-old Chantel Mann, to disrobe and lie on the floor.
According to an account of the crime read at Richard L. Lawrimore's parole hearing, the father asked Hoppal and Mann where a sharp knife was. Then, as the Lawrimores sawed at the women's throats with butcher knives, the father allegedly told his son to "finish the job" and urged his son to "cut them more."
Hoppal and Mann played dead and the Lawrimores left with cash stolen from Hare and the restaurant, police said.
The two women — who wrapped their necks in towels and drove to a hospital — recognized the younger Lawrimore as a former Arby's employee who had been fired two weeks earlier. The father and son were arrested about three hours after the robbery.
At the parole hearings, the women — now Charee Keepers and Chantel Ashton — asked that the older Lawrimore be denied parole.
However, Keepers said the younger Lawrimore needed to have a chance "to prove that he is not a monster like his father," and Ashton said she wanted him to have the opportunity to straighten out his life.
Twitter: @PamelaMansonSLC