Former stripper gets no leniency in murder sentence
Published Friday, April 4, 2008
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ANCHORAGE — During two murder trials in Alaska, most of the focus was on a beautiful ex-stripper with a reputation for charming men into giving her their hearts as well as furs, jewelry and money.
But when it came time to sentence Mechele Linehan, attention turned instead to the man she helped kill in 1996, a gangly, socially awkward commercial fisherman whose body was found sprawled on a trail outside a mining community south of Anchorage.
Kent Leppink, 36, the son of a grocer in Shelby, Mich., was executed by a man he trusted through the manipulations of a woman he had hoped to marry, said Anchorage Superior Court Judge Philip Volland.
The heinous nature of the crime outweighed the promising life Linehan had built in the decade after the murder.
“This premeditated murder in my mind stands alone with some unique characteristics that elevate its seriousness and it’s moral approbation,” Volland said.
On Wednesday, he sentenced the 35-year-old Linehan to 99 years in prison, with no chance for release until 33 have been served.
The sentence matched the one Volland gave to the shooter, John Carlin III, someone Leppink considered a friend but another man who hoped to marry Linehan, who was 23 when Leppink died.
Evidence indicated Linehan and Carlin fabricated a note that led Leppink to believe she was staying in a cabin near Hope, about 70 road miles south of Anchorage. Investigators say Carlin shot Leppink in the back as they walked up a utility trail, then twice more in the abdomen and head.
According to prosecutors, the motive was a $1 million insurance policy that Linehan mistakenly believed named her as beneficiary. Instead, a few days before he died, Leppink made his parents the beneficiaries and wrote them a sealed letter naming Linehan and Carlin as suspects if he died suspiciously.
A cold case team re-interviewed witnesses and used new technology to recover deleted e-mails. Carlin, who had moved to Elmer, N.J., and Linehan were charged in 2006.
Linehan had left Alaska, earned two college degrees, married a doctor, had a child, and settled in Olympia, Wash., when she was arrested. Friends and family sent Volland dozens of letters rejecting her guilty verdict.
Defense attorney Kevin Fitzgerald on Wednesday spoke for an hour on her behalf and questioned the fairness of the trial, starting with pretrial publicity that highlighted her former profession.
“I can’t help but believe that the media frenzy that attended the lead-up to this case created such a toxic environment that Mrs. Linehan was unlikely to get a fair trial,” he said.
The verdict, he said, was shocking. He unsuccessfully tried to call an alternate juror who said she would not have convicted Linehan.
Fitzgerald also pushed for a minimum sentence, or even sending the matter to a three-judge panel to consider a reduction from the 20-year minimum.
Linehan denied she was the monster manufactured by the prosecution, but instead a wife and mother of “a bright-eyed little girl who is and always will be the brightest star in my life.”
She worked as a stripper to pay for her college education, she said, and never asked that anyone be hurt when she lived in Alaska.
“The last decade should speak volumes about my character to you,” she said.
Prosecutor Pat Gullufsen said evidence showed that Linehan’s involvement in Leppink’s death was more than minimal. Her e-mails to Leppink and his parents professed a desire to marry him. At the same time, she was sneering at the notion in a message to her own mother.
“That e-mail is telling and horrific,” Gullufsen said. “She has so little feeling for the man and the situation she has created. It’s just, to her, a big joke.”
As for leniency, Gullufsen ticked off past cases in which the Alaska appellate courts had ruled that premeditated, solicited murder was harshly judged.
“Those who participate in the murder are the worst of the worst,” Gullufsen said.
He asked Volland to hand down the maximum sentence, and Volland did, methodically rejecting Linehan’s bid for leniency.
“I don’t have that lingering doubt about the jury’s verdict,” he said. “I heard the evidence as it was presented. I do not believe that coverage in this case improperly affected the jury’s verdict.
Similar cases, he said, cut defendants no mercy for the lack of a criminal record or for being youthful.
He was bound by the law to treat her as an offender convicted of first-degree murder, not merely solicitation.
He dismissed Linehan’s promising behavior in the decade after the murder. Reading the letters of support made him think of Leppink.
“It echoed to me in a reverse kind of way the life Kent Leppink never had and that he lost,” Volland said.
Linehan only had that opportunity, he said, because she temporarily got away with murder.
The support letters and the evidence suggest two Mechele Linehans, one seductive and manipulative, the other supportive, caring and charming.
“She used the same charm to a criminal design,” he said.
Community Discussion
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Is it absolutly neccesary to make sure the headline readers "Former Stripper"? Or "Ex-Stripper"? I mean come on already, we get the fact that she used to be a stripper--there's really no need to wear that fact out.
looks like pole dancing wont be in her future anymore. People with life sentences should be given other alternatives for their demise and for the sake of the tax payers. This could be the making of yet another reality tv show. Once convicted by a jury of your peers you can go into what I will call the option round. In which you have three doors to choose from which seals your fate. Behind door #1 you could offer your body to science,like a living donor,the possibilities are endless here for those seeking medical donors. Behind door #2 is another chance to become a hero in your own mind, and do something good for your country. "Inmate forces" another branch of the military for those that like to kill and don't have any morale issues against it.You would be sent into the most hostile of places, parachuted into combat armed only with your weapon of choice and a body locator implant so that big brother could keep an eye on you again endless possibilites. Door #3 the lightning round, just you and the chair. Housing murderous inmates loosing battle for taxpayers and society.
ffsgirl,
There is a reason for constantly referring to Michelle Linehan's former occupation. I don't know what DNM's rationale for doing so is but I can tell you why I concur in their decision whole heartedly.
I hate to admit this but sometimes men do not exercise due dilligence in choosing the women in their lives. The photo in the article above is a decade old and shows a strikingly beautiful woman who was "not appropriate" for the poor man who was murdered. He still he became involved with her!
It is also apparent (from other articles I've read recently) that it "began to dawn on him" because it wrote a letter to his family explaining, "that if anything happened to him, she would be a good place to start".
The constant repeated references to "Stripper" serve to remind others (sometimes young men and sometimes their families) that "Strippers" are not the kind of woman you want to be thinking about bringing home to meet Mom and/or Dad.
I like the headline..
Strippers, err.. exotic entertainers, make their livelyhood off of charming men out of their money. Yes, we men can be dogs. Yes, we can be lured into situations pretty easily with a lovely naked woman dancing in our laps, especially if she's telling us how she 'loves us', or strokes our ego a bit. Certainly if we're a bit socially awkward and lonely, we're even more susceptible. I also imagine that the ability to lead men around by the nose in such a fashion, can cause a woman to even have a certain contempt towards the man.
I would add that there are SOME well adjusted ladies that work in the industry, that only entertain. They are upfront, and pretty honest and work well to not mislead the customers. They're a minority.
There have also be a lot of these entertainers who have been on the victim side of the issue, who didn't realize how obsessive and dangerous the men can be. I make no excuse for either.
I've worked in the industry for about 7 years, and frequented a great number of clubs to see the lovely.. napkins they have. So please don't try to flame me on this.
I liked the headline because it draws the specific attention of those who frequent the establishments, as well as those who work in them. Hopefully, it helps them both. In watching for the scams, and those who would scam.
Be careful.
Don't get lost in the drama.
Play nice.
doug,
very good point, well said.
Matthew makes some really good points.
Matthew (& newsreader),
Granted, he - Matthew - did make some good points - some of the "young ladies" in establishments mentioned are the "exception rather than the rule". The fact remains, however, that some of them "prove the rule is there for a reason" and (at least some of) the "young ladies" can be cold, callous, and cruel in the extreme.
I do feel sympathy for any woman who feels she has "no option" but to work in such an establishment. The fact remains however, that until she learns some other means of supporting herself she will not be readily accepted by most "Moms & Dads" (and young men who are going to fish in shark-infested waters should still be extremely cautious).
I'm not going to give some dissertation on each disagreement I have with Ms Linehan's trial, I DON'T think the woman was trully judged by her peers. (I would know I vied for the eleventh seat in that jury but mentioned I was quite prejudiced against pedophiles and was excused.)
Not to fault the people who served as the jurors in this trial, but, Not ONE person on the jury even held a job with the house in a bar. Not ONE person on the jury was ever a stripper. Most were white collar office workers or construction. I think it implausible that there was even ONE who's ever needed to plea for a restraining order.
Leppink had a history of victimizing people for money or control, owed his family hundreds of thousands of dollars, no one did a post mortem psychoanalysis or evaluation of the man from his run ins with others and the law. The psychiatric evaluation of Mechele Linehan was ignored it seems by both the judge and jury.
Fitzgerald & Co. in my opinion, did not go in prepared to FIGHT. IN A MURDER TRIAL? I surmised this when I heard they felt it was the State's job to prove her guilt and that Mrs. Linehan would not be speaking in her own defense: They're throwing in the towel??? I should have used this as my qualifying for excusal. I am not family nor friend to Mechele Linehan, but believe quite honestly she wasn't properly represented.
In the interest of Justice. I implore ALASKA.........push in the APPEAL!
Mechele herself was 23 yrs young, under the influence, and being manipulated herself by TWO men both more than a decade older, more experienced and educated than she (at the time) dwelling in HER residence as roommates. It's not like they had separate dwellings where she could retreat and collect her thoughts was it?
(I wonder who REALLY flipped the bills? The men? Hmmmmmm....????? Men use women too)
I disagree with the DNM in this case. Calling up a former profession really has no bearing on the current issue. It looked like she had turned her life around. Im sad that she committed this crime before it happened.
Sheilah, it's tough enough to get folks to turn out for jury duty, and now you want to narrow the pool even further? Good luck with that. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find half a dozen people in the state of Alaska who would meet your requirements and be willing to serve on a jury.
And to add fuel to the fire of how rudely women of certain professions are treated. The morning Mrs. Linehan was sentenced, poor Mia Sotlis was found dead on someone's porch (probably trying to find help)after working her shift as a dancer at The Crazy Horse.
Makes me wonder why there's seems to be a team aka Jack the Ripper in this state.
Lancaster they picked from a pool of over 150 people, we had to be divided into two groups for this trial. In the cities of Anchorage and Fairbanks, there are a lot of bar/restaurant personel. I am certain I even saw a couple known for being such. None were chosen.
Kewlpop has interesting ideas.
Sheilah, remember that each lawyer can excuse a certain number of jurors without cause. If they were to limit those 150 people to just those meeting one of your requirements -- guessing 20 percent -- that's only 30 eligible folks. Once you take into consideration those who would be excused for other reasons and the objections used by the lawyers, you wouldn't have the 12 jurors needed.
Kewlpop: The U.S. military doesn't want convicted criminals unless they've proven themselves to be rehabilitated. The military is NOT in the rehabilitation business. Judges who hand down 'enlistment or jail' sentences just waste the military's resources, resources that are paid for taxpayers.
The U.S. military is most successful if it doesn't have to kill. I cried when it became apparent Saddam wasn't going to take the hint and get out of Kuwait. On the other hand, the first Gulf War was a classic example of how military operations should be conducted, should they become necessary. We went in, chased the invading army out of Kuwait, made a swing through Iraq, smashed the Iraqi Army's equipment, and left -- all with as little loss of life as possible. The stories of U.S. tanks lining up on Iraqi tanks and waiting for the Iraqi troops to get clear of the tanks before blowing them up is just plain sweet.
Soldiers 'that like to kill' are right up there with 'medal-hunting heroes' on the list of things that scare the wits out of military professionals. Both are too likely to get fellow soldiers killed. (Soldiers who like to blow stuff up, like empty Iraqi tanks, are alright.)
Most interesting to me regarding your post is you seem to have 'morale issues' against killing -- yet offer up three ways of killing convicted criminals.
I am not an attorney, but I would imagine you would want jurors to be neutral and having a jury of strippers does not seem like it would make any sense to either side; however, everyone's view of the "perfect" jury is different so you could never please everyone in this department. I have read several articles on this woman and it does not seem as if she had completely "turned her life around" in the 10 years she ran free from these murder charges.
We can all rest easier now that they have taken a mother from her home and put her away forever. Good job, guys.
So mothers should not go to prison for orchestrating and carrying out a murder? The world would be a scarey place if that were another reason to have children. You do the crime, you do the time!
I dont think that her occupation would have mattered, she has the mentality that murder was an option. I am very partial to pretty woman, I watch them in all walks of life and there are some mean ones and soft ones in every one of those groups. I truely believe that this girl became a dancer because it made it easier for her to find her victims, Im sorry, boyfriends.
As for the media calling her the ex stripper turned killer, once the name was on her it was easier for people following the article to see what the story was about and check the latest. It worked for me, I knew exactly what story we were getting into before I opened by the term stripper killer. (Sounds like a Tarantino movie doesnt it?)
I hope este is trying to say that he/she thinks the woman is innocent. Sounds like rich men can rest easier that a murderer is off the streets!
by not being given a jury of her peers are you saying that there is a pool of murdering strippers out there that should have been serving?
My only contribution to this is that Kent's parents are very good friends with my mother and the last decade has been horrible for them and their family. Instead of debating whether or not the headline is 'correct' how about throwing some positive energy and thoughts toward the family who lost their son, brother, etc...
Mechele made her own decision in instrumenting this murder for money!! No one coerced her....it was her idea, her 'plot'...she lured him out there with the sole intention of having him killed.
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