A cult leader who killed his sister-in-law and niece has avoided being executed by firing squad by dying of natural causes in prison.
Ronald Lafferty died today while on Death Row, according to the Utah Department of Corrections.
The 78-year-old and his brother Dan Lafferty were convicted of killing his sister-in-law Brenda Lafferty and her infant daughter in 1984.
On the night of killings the brothers broke into Brenda and her husband's home and slit the 24-year-old's throat.
Dan then did the same to his 15-month-old niece Erica.
While Dan was sentenced to life in prison in 1984, Ron was sentenced to death in 1996.
In August it was reported that Ron was months away from being executed by a firing squad for the double murder.
He would have been the first American to be executed by firing squad in nearly a decade after choosing the method decades ago.
Ron's decision to be shot to death stood despite a change in Utah law that banned the practice except when lethal injection drugs were unavailable.
The court case garnered a lot of public attention when it came to light that Ron and Dan been a part of a polygamist cult called the School of Prophets, having left The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
They blamed Brenda for not letting her husband, Allen Lafferty, join them, while also holding her responsible for helping Ron's wife leave him.
After breaking into her home the pair brutally beat Brenda and strangled her with a vacuum cord before finally slitting her throat.
They later claimed in court that they had a revelation from God before committing the murders on July 24 - the day commemorating Latter-day Saint pioneers’ arrival in the Salt Lake Valley.
Although Dan was found guilty on two counts of first degree murder in January 1985 having represented himself, the jury could not come to a unanimous decision regarding the issue of the death sentence.
When Ron was tried three months later the jury decided he should be put to death - a decision that was first overturned and then reinstated 11 years later.
The brothers were due to go on trial together until Ron tried to hang himself in prison and kill Dan.
Renewed attention was afforded the case in 2003 when it was featured in Jon Krakauer's book about radical offshoots of Morminism.
Krakauer also wrote the popular books "Into Thin Air" and "Into the Wild."
