Man convicted in 1997 killing appears before parole board

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A Utah man who killed his friend in 1997 but wasn’t convicted until more than a decade later has asked for parole.

Alan Lee Marx, 67, told the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole at his hearing last week that he has become a mentor to other inmates and has completed several life skills programs in prison, the Deseret News reported Tuesday.

Marx was convicted in 2014 in the death of Ward Woolverton. He was sentenced to up to 15 years in prison for manslaughter and five years to life for aggravated robbery.

He told the board that he and Ward had been drinking when a fight erupted between them.

“We were both drunk, and it accelerated and went in a real bad place,” Marx said.

Police investigated the death, but the case went cold. Marx was charged in 2011 after DNA evidence led police to him.

“I always figured I would pay for it. I really did,” Marx said. “This thing has haunted me ever since it happened.”

Marx told parole board member Clark Harms that most of his problems were linked to drinking but he stopped after the killing.

The board will vote on whether to grant Marx parole. Marx might be given a parole date sometime in the next two years, Harms said.

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Information from: Deseret News, http://www.deseretnews.com