Killer To Plead Guilty If Assured Death Penalty Confessed Murderer Lovelace Tells Judge He Wants To Die Instead Of Being Imprisoned For Life

Confessed killer Faron Lovelace told a judge Tuesday he doesn’t want a trial and will plead guilty to murder if he is assured a death sentence.

Lovelace, 39, is a self-proclaimed white supremacist charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated assault.

He told authorities he wants to die for his crimes rather than spend the rest of his life in prison. Lovelace was supposed to enter a plea in court Tuesday, but asked the judge for more time and a new attorney.

Lovelace said he feared his lawyer, Bonner County Prosecutor-elect Phil Robinson, was not doing enough to get him sentenced to death.

“I am prepared to enter a plea of guilty,” Lovelace told Judge James Judd. “But I feel I have not had enough counsel perhaps to ensure my personal feelings can be achieved as well as justice for the state.”

Lovelace wanted to stop other attorneys or anti-death penalty groups around the country from appealing his death wish.

“I don’t wish to waste the court’s time but I don’t want to be used as a political tool by those against the death penalty,” Lovelace said. “I am prepared to go through with this but I would like to find a way to block that outside interference.”

Lovelace was arrested last summer in Bonner County and confessed to killing Jeremy Scott, 24, more than a year ago. Lovelace said he thought Scott was a government informant or would interfere with his plans to kill some local elected officials.

Authorities said Lovelace waited for Scott to return to his cabin north of Sandpoint, tied him up for several hours then executed him with one shot to the back of his head.

Lovelace buried Scott’s body in a shallow grave. He led authorities to the corpse a year later after they promised to seek the death penalty in the case.

“We are seeking the death penalty and we are not wavering on that,” prosecutor Tevis Hull said.

Lovelace has tried to speed up his execution. He waived one court hearing and said he will plead guilty to murder instead of having a trial. He asked for a new lawyer, saying Robinson could delay his sentence because of a conflict of interest.

After Robinson was appointed to defend Lovelace, he was elected the county’s new prosecutor. Robinson will take over the post in mid-January.

Current prosecutor Hull said if the case is not complete by then, a special prosecutor may have to be appointed to take over. That could mean the state attorney general’s office handles the case, or Hull said he may ask county commissioners to appoint him the special prosecutor.

“It’s an option,” Hull said. “I have been involved from the start and know the case.”

Robinson said he would step down from the case, but Judd declined to appoint a new lawyer for Lovelace. The judge also advised Lovelace there is little his lawyer could do to stop outside appeals if he is sentenced to death.

“That is something we don’t have a lot of control over, other groups interfering in your life,” Judd said.

Lovelace was given until Dec. 9 to decide what his plea will be.

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