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Shad
Daniel ARMSTRONG
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: To
avoid being denounced - Robbery
Number of victims: 2
Date of murder: February 19,
1998
Date
of arrest: January 18, 1999
Date of birth: June
14, 1973
Victims profile: Farrah
Armstrong (his sister) and Frank Williams (her fiancé)
In late August 1996, Shad Daniel Armstrong (“Armstrong”),
his sister Farrah, and a friend burglarized a home in Texas. Over the
next couple of years, Farrah’s relationship with Armstrong deteriorated.
In January 1998, Armstrong knew that Farrah was
considering turning herself in for the 1996 burglary. At that time,
Armstrong and another friend, Doogan, began to discuss how they would
murder Farrah and her fiancé.
In early February, Armstrong and Doogan dug a grave
on Doogan’s property. Armstrong then lured Farrah to Doogan’s residence,
where he planned to shoot her with a shotgun, but he was unable to carry
out the plan.
On February 18, 1998, Armstrong and Doogan made a
plan to lure both Farrah and Frank to Doogan’s residence the next day to
carry out the murders.
In preparing for the murders on February 19, 1998,
Armstrong and Doogan hung sheets on the walls to capture any blood
splatter and gathered plastic bags to cover the victims’ upper bodies
after the shooting.
Farrah and Frank arrived at Doogan’s around dusk that
day. The group congregated in the living room where Farrah, Frank, and
Doogan sat down. Armstrong went down the hall to retrieve the shotgun.
He returned with the gun in hand, pointed it at Frank
and shot him in the midsection. Farrah screamed and started to get up,
but Armstrong turned and shot her first in the midsection, and then in
the head. Armstrong then turned back to Frank and shot him in the head.
Armstrong and Doogan gathered the bodies, dumped them
in the pre-dug grave, and covered them, after having stripped Farrah of
her money and jewelry.
Armstrong was on the run until he was finally
arrested in January 1999. He was charged with two counts of first degree
murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder.
His trial started January 24, 2000, and lasted 33
days, at which point he was convicted by a jury on all charges. At the
aggravation/mitigation hearing in August 2000, the trial court found
pecuniary gain and the double homicides were aggravating factors in the
murders.
After considering the mitigating evidence, the trial
court imposed the sentence of death for each homicide and 25 years to
life for the conspiracy conviction.
ISSUES:
Armstrong presents two issues on appeal:
1. Whether prosecutorial misconduct and erroneous
rulings from the court combined to deprive Armstrong of his
Constitutional right to a fair trial.
2. Whether the imposition of the death penalty was
improper. This Summary was prepared by the Arizona Supreme Court Staff
Attorney’s Office solely for educational purposes. It should not be
considered official commentary by the court or any member thereof or
part of any brief, memorandum or other pleading filed in this case.
