After 10 years, a court will decide whether Donald Eugene Younge Jr. will face trial for the death of U student Amy Quinton.
Younge is scheduled for his first preliminary hearing today and Wednesday to face one count of aggravated murder, one count of aggravated burglary, three counts of aggravated kidnapping, three counts of aggravated robbery and two counts of attempted aggravated murder8212;all first-degree felonies. Prosecuting attorneys will present their witnesses and evidence to 3rd District Judge Ann Boyden to determine whether there’s enough to go to trial for Quinton’s death and the violence that surrounded it.
On Aug. 3, 1999, Younge allegedly entered an apartment belonging to Quinton, then a senior in theater, and two of her friends. He
assaulted the three women, tied them up and stabbed Quinton and one of her friends, according to the charging documents. He is also accused of stealing their wallets and making his escape to Illinois. Quinton died from her stab wounds.
In May 2008, law enforcement finally charged Younge with Quinton’s death after one of his family members identified his voice on a 911 call one of the young women tried to make when he was assaulting them, according to the charging papers.
But Younge’s track record isn’t in the prosecutors’ favor8212;he’s already been charged with, and walked away from, three murder charges.
He arrived in Salt Lake City in the summer to face his charges. Since last May, he was still undergoing trial for the death of three female prostitutes in Illinois. But all of the cases were dismissed because of a problem with the evidence gathered against him.
“We don’t support the court’s decision to dismiss,” said Alicia Cook, spokeswoman for the Utah District Attorney’s Office. “But I don’t think those cases will have any effect on this one.”
Younge could face up to life in prison if found guilty for his charges, since the DA’s office is not seeking a death penalty for the count of aggravated murder.