This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A Utah man convicted in the brutal 2009 murder of retired Brigham Young University professor Kay Mortensen won't be getting a new trial, the Utah Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
Martin Cameron Bond, 28, had asked the high court to overturn his conviction, arguing that Utah County prosecutors tried to sneak evidence into his 2013 trial while questioning his co-defendant, Benjamin David Rettig, on the witness stand.
A 4th District Court jury found Bond guilty of aggravated murder, kidnapping, burglary and robbery. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
But the state Supreme Court found that Bond failed to show that the prosecutor committed misconduct as he asked several leading questions of Rettig, who refused to testify about the Nov. 16, 2009 slaying.
The justices also rejected Bond's claims that the prosecutor's leading questions were a violation of Bond's rights and that his trial attorneys were ineffective for not asking that the aggravated murder and aggravated kidnapping convictions be merged together.
Rettig and Bond of Vernal broke into Mortensen's Payson Canyon home the night of Nov. 16, 2009 to steal his extensive weapons collection. During the burglary, Rettig trained a handgun on Mortensen as Bond retrieved a knife that he used to slash the 70-year-old man's throat, trial evidence showed.
Attorney Jennifer Gowans Vandenberg argued in May during oral arguments that Bond's right to cross-examine witnesses was denied when the prosecutor asked the leading questions about Bond's role in the killing. Retting refused to answer but the prosecutor used his questions to try showing that Bond was the leader of the two during the crime, and not Retting, as Bond claimed, Vandenberg argued.
"If you take it in context of all the leading questions the prosecutor asked, the whole purpose of that line of questioning was to show Bond was in charge," she said.
But Assistant Utah Attorney General John Nielsen argued that there was a great deal of other evidence that showed that Bond had planned and led the robbery and carried out the murder.
"The balance of the evidence showed Mr. Bond was the mastermind," he said.
Rettig pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and aggravated kidnapping for his role in Mortensen's death. He is currently appealing his case to the Utah Supreme Court, as well.
Twitter: @jm_miller