2 men convicted of 1996 Bluffdale murder get parole dates.

By Paul Koepp, Deseret News

Published: Sunday, March 20, 2011 7:16 a.m. MDT

DRAPER — The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole has set release dates for two men who killed a Sandy man in 1996 over a drug deal gone bad.

Damon Munford, 43, is scheduled to be released in April 2016, and John Kiriluk, 39, in March 2026, the board announced after parole hearings for the pair earlier this month.

They were convicted of killing Michael B. Brown, 23, in the foothills outside Bluffdale the night of March 21, 1996, after an argument over missing chemicals used to make methamphetamine. Brown said he would lead them to a meth lab in a cabin, but when he admitted he did not know where it was, Munford hit him in the back of the head with a rock and Kiriluk slit his throat.

Munford's wife, whose knife was used in the killing, testified against the men in exchange for a reduced charge.

At his parole hearing, Kiriluk said he was scared he would be blamed if he could not produce the drugs to pay back his suppliers.

"I was filled with self-loathing and hate for myself, and I didn't care about what was going to happen," he said.

"I was cowardly," Kiriluk said, addressing Brown's family. "I think about Mike every day. I think about the pain I've caused his family and the things I've taken away from them."

Munford said he could not explain why he attacked Brown, other than that he was high on meth at the time and felt angry and frustrated.

"I believe I thought if I just hit Mr. Brown a couple of times, maybe that would be the end of it and we could leave," he said.

Brown's brother, Jack Retallick, testified at both hearings to ask the parole board to keep the men in prison. He said his family believes the murder was an execution-style killing, not done simply in the heat of the moment.

"We feel there was a cold, premeditated plan between John and Damon to take Michael's life," Retallick said.

He said Brown's family has been haunted by knowing that Brown spent his "last moments in fear and darkness," his body left by a lone cedar tree to be discovered days later by a group of youths riding all-terrain vehicles.

In making its decisions, the parole board noted as an aggravating factor that Kiriluk attacked a "vulnerable victim," while Munford's lack of prior incarcerations was a mitigating factor. Both men are serving terms of up to life in prison.

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