This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2006, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Prosecutors want Marcus Crocker returned to Utah to be tried in the murder of a Salt Lake City convenience store clerk during a 2001 robbery.
Crocker, 26, who is serving time at a federal prison in Colorado for a weapons conviction, claims in a letter written to 3rd District Judge Deno Himonas that he wants to come home to Utah to face the charges.
Federal marshals so far have refused to bring Crocker back to Utah. The next step, prosecutors said during a court hearing Friday, is for Salt Lake City police to go fetch Crocker themselves.
Himonas said Friday he would sign a writ of habeas corpus to put the extradition process in motion. Crocker's arraignment is set for Sept. 22.
On Sept. 6, 2001, Crocker allegedly entered the Sunshine Food Market, 1845 S. 700 East, and shot Kang Ho Lee, a 24-year-old University of Utah student from Korea.
According to the charges, Crocker shot Lee once in the chest, even though Lee had handed over the money. Prosecutors say the amount taken was less than $100.
Murder charges were not filed against Crocker and three alleged accomplices until last year. Prosecutor Vincent Meister said police cracked the case by reinterviewing witnesses and others connected to the case.
Meanwhile, Crocker was indicted and convicted in 2003 of a federal weapons crime - possession of a firearm by a restricted person - and sent to a federal prison in Oklahoma.
Later, because Crocker was a disciplinary problem, he was moved to a so-called "super max" prison facility in Colorado, where is now residing, Meister said.
Crocker and three others - Melissa Caputo, 28, Melissa A. Chacon, 31, and Julian T. Hayden, 25 - were all charged in April 2005 with first-degree felony murder, which is punishable by up to life in prison. They were also charged with aggravated robbery and obstructing justice.
In March, prosecutors increased Crocker's homicide charge to capital murder, which is punishable by death.
Charges allege Hayden provided Crocker with the gun used in the robbery; Chacon and Caputo helped him purchase clothing - a bandana, shirt, sweatshirt, hat and gloves - used as a disguise; Caputo scouted the market and reported Lee was the only person there; and Chacon waited in a car down the street and took the gun from Crocker - who was on parole and didn't want to get caught with a weapon.
After the robbery, Crocker, Caputo and Chacon returned the gun to Hayden, the charges say.