This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A Delta artist who says she killed her husband in self-defense will have to serve all 15 years of her prison sentence.
In a decision reached Tuesday, the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole set Carole Elizabeth Alden's release date for July 27, 2021.
Alden shot and killed her husband, Martin Sessions, and then towed his body out of their house with a Jeep on July 28, 2006.
Alden pleaded guilty a year later to charges of manslaughter and desecration of a human body and was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.
Alden, 51, and Sessions had a contentious marriage that included several visits to their home by Millard County sheriff's deputies. Sessions was once cited for domestic violence.
On the day of the shooting, Alden bought a .38-caliber revolver from a Beaver pawn shop, according to testimony. When Sessions came home after drinking, Alden said he began throwing things at her and threatened her.
Alden ran to a laundry room, where she had hidden the pistol, and shot Sessions in the back when he entered the room, according to testimony. When he fell to the ground, Alden shot him in the head.
"She felt like it was either her or Marty," Alden's attorney, Jim Slavens, said at the 2007 sentencing hearing.
After the shooting, Alden used a Jeep and a rope to tow her husband's body to a fish pond in her backyard.
The next day she called police and confessed.
The parole board listed Alden's minimization of her role in the shooting and the level of her remorse as aggravating factors in their decision to keep her behind bars for the complete sentence.
Twitter: @aaronfalk