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Shawn
Patrick LYNCH
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Robbery
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder:
March 25,
2001
Date of birth:
December 18,
1961
Victim profile: James Panzarella
Method of murder:
Slashed throat
Location: Maricopa County, Arizona, USA
Status: Sentenced to death on May 23, 2006
Shawn
Patrick Lynch – white, age 38
Sentenced to death in Maricopa
County, Arizona
By: A jury
Date of Crime: 3/25/01
Prosecution’s case/defense
response: During a home invasion robbery, Lynch and a cohort tied
James Panzarella to a chair and slashed his throat. The first penalty
phase jury could not reach a verdict. The State elected to retry the
penalty phase and obtained a death verdict.
On March 24, 2001, Shawn Patrick Lynch and Michael
Sehwani met the victim, James Stanley Panzarella, at a local bar.
When the bar closed, Lynch and Sehwani went back to
Panzarella’s residence, a guest house behind his parent’s home.
In the early morning hours of March 25, 2001, someone
from the residence called an adult entertainment business for a dancer.
Sehwani wrote the dancer several checks from Panzarella’s banking
account.
After the dancer left, Lynch tied the shirtless
victim to a chair with telephone cord. After rendering him helpless and
unable to resist, Lynch slashed Panzarella’s throat with a knife, nearly
severing his head from his shoulders.
Lynch and
Sehwani subsequently made purchases using the victim’s credit cards, and
checked into several motels to watch numerous adult movies. Law
enforcement tracked Lynch and Sehwani to one of the motels, where both
were taken into custody.
PROCEEDINGS
Presiding
Judge: Hon. David M. Talamante
Prosecutor: Juan M. Martinez
Defense
Counsel: Joel T. Brown, Robert D. Stein & Anna M. Unterberger
Start of
Trial: October 31, 2005
Verdict:
December 1, 2005
Sentencing: May 23, 2006
Aggravating Circumstances
Pecuniary
gain
Especially heinous, cruel or depraved
PUBLISHED OPINIONS
[Direct
Appeal pending before the Arizona Supreme Court]
