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Manti • It took more than three years after Leroy and Dorothy Ann Fullwood's deaths for the man accused of killing the Mount Pleasant couple to stand before a judge for the first time in a Utah courtroom.
Waiting for this day to come has been hard, the Fullwoods' son, Michael Fullwood, said Wednesday.
"That's been the hardest part of this process, waiting for three years," he told members of the news media moments after accused killer Logan Welles McFarland appeared in a Manti courtroom. "That being said, we know that people have been working tirelessly to make this happen. That's been a comfort. It's been a long time coming."
McFarland, 27, of Fairview, was charged last May in 6th District Court with two counts of aggravated murder for the December 2011 slayings of 70-year-old Leroy Fullwood and his 69-year-old wife.
Sanpete County Attorney Brody Keisel said Wednesday that prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty for the killings.
"My hopes are that justice is brought to the citizens of Sanpete County and the Fullwood family," Keisel said.
Michael Fullwood said he hopes "this continues the way it should, that all the steps are followed, that he has a fair trial and that we get the justice we are looking for."
McFarland also is charged with one count of first-degree felony aggravated burglary and one count of first-degree felony aggravated robbery, along with second-degree felony counts of burglary of a dwelling and theft of a firearm.
On Wednesday, McFarland, who appeared in court shackled and wearing a striped jail jumpsuit, spoke only to answer the judge's questions about whether he understood the charges against him.
Judge Marvin Bagley found that McFarland was indigent and said two death-penalty qualified attorneys will be appointed to defend him at a hearing set for March 11.
Meanwhile, McFarland is being held at the Sanpete County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail.
McFarland was charged with the slayings only last summer, and he was extradited to Utah from Nevada just two weeks ago. In May in a Nevada courtroom, McFarland was sentenced to spend up to 56 years in prison for a crime spree that took place there.
Though McFarland has long been the suspect in the double murder, Keisel said in May that he had waited to file on the homicides until Nevada authorities had adjudicated their case against McFarland and his girlfriend, 28-year-old Angela Marie Hill, also known as Angela Marie Atwood.
The Utah murder charges were filed May 22, 2014, a day after McFarland was sentenced for the Nevada crimes.
Hill is charged in Utah with the same counts as McFarland, minus the homicide charges. She has not yet been extradited to Utah, according to the county attorney's office, and a court appearance has not been scheduled.
"We're in discussions," Keisel said of Hill's case. "We're making decisions on how to proceed with Ms. Hill's case."
On Dec. 31, 2011 — the same day the Fullwoods were found dead in their home — police say McFarland and Hill tried to carjack a woman's car outside a casino in West Wendover, Nev. The victim fought off Hill and sped away, but was shot and wounded in the head.
After the botched carjacking, police say the couple fled from West Wendover to Wells, Nev., in a Saturn Ion they had stolen in Utah.
In Wells, they stole a Volkswagen Jetta, which they used to evade capture during a high-speed chase on Interstate 80.
McFarland and Hill were captured by authorities Jan. 3, 2012, after being spotted walking in the Nevada desert by a rancher checking on cattle from an airplane.
A Nevada jury found McFarland guilty of six counts stemming from the carjacking attempt during a February 2014 trial.
Hill pleaded guilty to charges of burglary, kidnapping and robbery relating to the carjacking and was sentenced to up to 30 years in prison in October 2013.
In an arrest affidavit filed in Utah's 6th District Court, which was briefly made public in January 2012 before being sealed, police alleged that on Dec. 29, 2012, McFarland drove around Mount Pleasant looking for a home to burglarize.
McFarland apparently selected the Fullwood home at random and, late Dec. 29 or early Dec. 30, had friends drop him off on a road behind the residence, according to the affidavit. It was then only a short walk through sagebrush to reach the home.
What happened inside the home has not been made public, but the arrest affidavit says the home was ransacked, the contents of cupboards and closets "strewn" around the home. By the time McFarland left, the Fullwoods were dead from gunshot wounds.
On Dec. 30, McFarland allegedly called a relative and told him that they needed to talk because "a 'mission' had gone south," according to a probable cause statement filed in court. Police allege that McFarland told the relative that he had "dispatched lives" in Sanpete County.
Twitter: @jm_miller