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Charles
B. REINHARDT
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Drugs
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder:
September 5,
1995
Date of arrest:
Same day
Date of birth:
December 8,
1970
Victim profile: Michael Ellis
Method of murder:
Beating with heavy rocks
Location: Pima County, Arizona, USA
Status: Sentenced to death on May 20, 1996
Date of Birth: December
8, 1970
Defendant: Caucasian
Victim: Caucasian
One of Reinhardt's friends
introduced Michael Ellis to Reinhardt for the purpose of helping
Reinhardt purchase methamphetamine.
On September 4, 1995, Reinhardt,
a female friend, the victim, and his male contact person met at Charles
Nadeau's apartment to negotiate the deal.
Reinhardt gave the male $1,180
cash so he could get the methamphetamine, and the victim stayed behind
as "collateral."
After several hours when the
drugs did not arrive, Reinhardt and Nadeau threatened Ellis with
physical injury and demanded either the money or the drugs.
Early the next morning, Nadeau
and Reinhardt drove Ellis in a Buick to the Reddington Pass area of Pima
County, where they beat him in the face, shot him in the shoulder with a
shotgun, and beat his head with heavy rocks which resulted in blood
spatters on their clothes.
Reinhardt and Nadeau then drove
the Buick to a shopping center, and while Reinhardt was on the telephone,
Nadeau tried to start a fire inside the Buick.
When a patrol car drove into the
area, Reinhardt and Nadeau fled in a friend's car, which resulted in a
high speed chase until the friend's car was wrecked.
After officers apprehended the
two, they noticed blood on their clothing. In the Buick at the shopping
center, officers found a bloody towel, a shotgun, the victim's wallet,
and charred newspapers.
At Nadeau's apartment, officers
saw blood smears near the entry of the apartment and spatters of blood
leading out to the parking lot. Nadeau's friends admitted seeing blood
near the entrance and on the interior of the apartment, and on the chair
where the victim was last seen sitting.
PROCEEDINGS
Presiding Judge: Michael Alfred
Prosecutor: Teresa Godoy
Start of Trial: February 13, 1996
Verdict: February 22, 1996
Sentencing: May 20, 1996
Aggravating Circumstances:
Prior conviction involving violence
Pecuniary gain
Especially heinous/cruel/depraved
Mitigating Circumstances:
None sufficient to call for leniency
PUBLISHED
OPINIONS
State v. Reinhardt, 190 Ariz. 579, 951 P.2d 454 (1997).
