Man convicted of 1986 Emigration Canyon murder seeks parole

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UTAH STATE PRISON — A man who has spent 33 years in the Utah State Prison is making another plea to be paroled.

In 1986, William Michael Raine, of California, who had been in Utah only a month, met Vivian Morse, 43, a transient, outside a Salt Lake bar. The two drove to Emigration Canyon where Raine sexually assaulted her, then killed her with a crowbar.

Raine was originally charged with capital murder but pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.

On Oct. 29, Raine, now 56, went before the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole seeking another chance at parole.

“I think I’m finally ready to be reintroduced into the community. It took a long time,” he said in a recording of the hearing.

Board member Greg Johnson, who conducted the hearing, noted that Raine had been doing better over the past year than in years past and was staying out of trouble while incarcerated.

Raine, who stated during a previous parole hearing that he had been talking to cockroaches and drinking a case of beer a day prior to his arrest, told Johnson that he does not blame mental illness or alcoholism for his crime.

“I am guilty,” he said.

Raine said he has changed his behavior while incarcerated and the way he thinks about things, which has resulted in him following the rules better. He attributed part of that slow change to the death of Corrections employee Stephen Anderson who was killed by an inmate during an escape attempt in 2007.

Raine said he became friends with Anderson who frequently drove him to the hospital for ongoing medical treatment. His death, Raine said, had an impact on him.

He also talked during his hearing about his ongoing health issues, which Raine said are getting worse. He said his condition requires a special diet that isn’t available in prison.

If he is released, Raine said he wants to return to California.

The full five-member board will now vote on whether to grant parole.

from Deseret News https://ift.tt/33e2Ref