'I had to forgive myself': Utahn granted parole 25 years after killing

Razor wire and fencing on the Utah State Jail is pictured on Monday, Sept 14, 2020. A person who was as soon as known as the mastermind behind a failed theft that led to a taking pictures demise has been granted parole from the Utah State Jail after 25 years.

Scott G Winterton, Deseret Information

A person convicted of homicide greater than twenty years in the past will get one other likelihood to be a productive member of society.

Michael Paul Pierson, 44, has been granted parole by the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole. He shall be launched from the Utah State Jail on March 1.

Pierson was one in every of 4 individuals convicted within the Jan. 27, 1997, taking pictures demise of Donald Dobson, 21, in West Valley Metropolis. On that day, Pierson, Clint R. Hartley, Melisa Parker and Jeffery Ray Burgener deliberate on going to a residence and stealing marijuana at gunpoint.

"We have been going to get in the home, get the medicine at gunpoint, after which go away. That was the plan," Pierson informed the board of pardons throughout parole listening to on Feb. 1, which was recorded.

Pierson mentioned as a result of his group had weapons, they thought the residents can be scared and easily comply.

"We had a false sense of safety," he mentioned. "We thought we have been in management. We had weapons."

However shortly after coming into the home, Dobson was shot and killed, unintentionally, in line with courtroom information.

At trial, Hartley and Parker testified in opposition to Pierson, calling him the mastermind of the theft try. Prosecutors described Pierson as a "serial predator" who set the plan in movement. Pierson was convicted of homicide, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated housebreaking. He was ordered to serve two jail sentences of 5 years to life and 15 years to life, to run consecutively. His co-defendants pleaded responsible to a lowered cost of manslaughter.

Throughout his parole listening to, Pierson gave a considerably totally different model of what occurred that night time in 1997 than what was introduced in courtroom. He mentioned his gun went off after he was bumped, and that he and Hartley didn't burst into the home and instantly begin taking pictures. However, Pierson additionally admitted that what he did was "horrible" and that he deserved to be despatched to jail.

He informed the board that after he entered the home, one of many residents tried to flee by speeding via the group. That man bumped Pierson on his approach out, inflicting his gun to go off. Then, Hartley shot the person "on accident," Pierson mentioned.

Pierson described the incident as "chaotic" and believes they have been solely in the home for about three minutes.

"After I take into consideration this 25 years in the past, it is form of in a blur for me. There are components of it which can be lacking," he mentioned.

It wasn't till later that night time after they have been watching the information that the group discovered that Dobson had died.

Throughout his parole listening to, Pierson additionally talked about his "horrible resolution" to hitch a gang about 5 years previous to the homicide. "All the things I did revolved round that gang," he mentioned, including that he "lived a very reckless life-style."

After was convicted and despatched to jail, Pierson admitted his gang life-style precipitated him to have disciplinary points at first.

"I used to be doing the identical factor I used to be doing on the streets. Jail itself breeds contempt. And it is a suffocating surroundings, particularly for younger males who take part or discover id with a gang. And so, I used to be doing what 19-, 20-year-old youngsters did," he mentioned.

However Pierson mentioned after some time he did some soul looking and acknowledged how he had harm Dobson's household, in addition to disenchanted his personal. He mentioned he then determined to separate himself from the gangs that had been "brainwashing" him.

"And that modified each facet of my life. That allowed me to develop in so some ways," he mentioned.

From that day, Pierson mentioned he discovered peace with himself and determined to reside with a way of goal, regardless of the horrible resolution he made when he was 19.

"I needed to look in a mirror and had to have the ability to ask myself what I used to be. ... Was I a monster that was OK dwelling this delinquent life-style? In my coronary heart and soul I knew I wasn't that. And in my coronary heart and soul, I had to determine a technique to take away myself from that. So for me, it was a matter of discovering out who I used to be and what I actually was. This crime I dedicated as a young person, once I was a misplaced man, just isn't the person you see as we speak," he informed the board. "It was unacceptable to me to reside like that anymore."

The board member conducting the listening to famous that it had been a very long time since Pierson had had any disciplinary write-ups on the jail, and he has accomplished quite a few programs designed to assist inmates enhance.

In the present day, Pierson mentioned he will get up and goes to work at jail, works out and research. He's now not related to gangs and can also be drug free. Pierson has even helped corrections officers create programs to assist different inmates.

Largely, Pierson mentioned he has reached a degree the place he has discovered peace together with his previous errors.

"I do not really feel sorry for myself. I earned my jail sentence. I deserved to come back to jail," he mentioned. "For me, I attempt to be a realist. After I was a child, I did one thing that was horrible. And due to that, when you sit in right here and you're feeling sorry for your self, you'll be able to't develop. It's a must to discover peace in your errors. It's a must to. So for me, I accepted my mistake. I accepted my punishment. And I do not get up every single day mad about it. That is how guys find yourself getting tattoos throughout their face. That is how guys find yourself with drug habits in right here. That is the way you destroy your soul. So I needed to forgive myself."

Though none of Dobson's members of the family spoke on the listening to, Pierson apologized a number of occasions to the household for what occurred.

"I've finished a number of time enthusiastic about what you'll be able to say if you harm a household like this. And I've thought of it for years … a long time. I've taken 30, 40 courses about this form of factor. And I do not know what to say besides I am sorry. That was by no means deliberate. That was younger, dumb youngsters who was placing society, their son and themselves in peril. And I remorse that deeply. I am sorry."