Hi-Fi murders

After Pierre's execution, a petition for a stay of Andrews' execution was submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission petition alleged that a hand-written note, "hang the niggers," had been found in the jury area during a recess, and that the judge had refused a request for a mistrial and a right to question jurors concerning the note. Despite these appeals, both death sentences were upheld. In December 1996, the Inter-American Commission found that the United States had violated its international obligations by denying William Andrews a trial free from racial discrimination.

Pierre and Andrews became notoriously hated prisoners at Utah State Prison, and were particularly reviled on death row. In 1977, convicted murderer Gary Gilmore (also facing capital punishment) was reported to have said, "I'll see you in Hell, Pierre and Andrews!", as he passed their cells on the way to his execution by firing squad. However, the Deseret News reported that Gilmore's parting words to the Hi-Fi killers, moments before his execution were: "Adios, Pierre and Andrews. I'll be seeing you directly."

The Hi-Fi murders were the torture and killings of three people during a robbery at the Hi-fi Shop, a home audio store in Ogden, Utah, on the evening of April 22, 1974. Several men entered the Hi-fi Shop shortly before closing time and began taking hostages; two would survive but with severe life-changing injuries. Violence included kicking a pen into an ear and the brutal rape of an eighteen-year-old girl who was later shot in the head. The hostages were also forced to drink a corrosive drain cleaner, causing burns to their mouths and throats. The crime became notorious for its violence and accusations of racial bias in the Utah judiciary.

On April 22, 1974, Pierre, Andrews, Roberts, and three other men drove in two vans to the Hi-Fi Shop at 2323 Washington Boulevard, Ogden, just before closing time. Four of the group entered the shop brandishing handguns, while Roberts and another man remained with the vehicles. Two employees, Stanley Walker, aged 20, and Michelle Ansley, aged 18, were in the store at the time and were taken hostage. Pierre and Andrews took the two into the store's basement and bound them. The gang then began robbing the store.

The joint trial of Pierre, Andrews, and Roberts for first-degree murder and robbery began on October 15, 1974, in Farmington, in neighboring Davis County. On November 16, 1974, Pierre and Andrews were convicted of all charges; Roberts was convicted only of robbery. Four days later, Pierre and Andrews were sentenced to death. Roberts was sentenced to five years to life imprisonment and was paroled in 1987.

During the trial, it was revealed that Pierre and Andrews had robbed the store with the intent of killing anyone they encountered, and, in the months prior, had been looking for ways to commit the murders quietly and cleanly. The two then repeatedly watched the film Magnum Force (1973), in which a prostitute (played by Margaret Avery) is forced to drink Drano and is shown immediately dropping dead. Pierre and Andrews decided that this would be an efficient method of murder and decided to use it in their crime.