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Kyle David SHARP
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
Rape
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder:
July 1,
1995
Date of arrest:
Same day (suicide attempt)
Date of birth:
August 27,
1970
Victim profile: Judith A. Coughlin (motel manager)
Date of Birth:
August 27, 1970
Defendant: Caucasian
Victim: Caucasian
Nine-year-old Brandon Coughlin
became worried after his mother, the motel manager, did not return after
he heard a woman screaming, a door slamming, and footsteps pounding in
the room above at the Sands Motel in Wilcox.
After Brandon was unable to find
his mother, he wandered over to a nearby Circle K where the clerk
noticed him in distress.
The clerk called the police who
went to the motel and found Brandon's mother, who had been sodomized and
strangled to death, on the bathroom floor of Appellant's room. The
police found Appellant lying on the bed fully clothed except for shoes,
faking unconsciousness.
Appellant strangled the victim
so hard that the bone at the base of her tongue was broken. The victim
also suffered two tears in her anus, which had semen inside it, while
conscious.
PROCEEDINGS
Presiding Judge: Matthew W. Borowiec
Prosecutor: Chris M. Roll and Vincent J. Festa
Start of Trial: June 25, 1996
Verdict: July 2, 1996
Sentencing: April 7, 1997
Aggravating Circumstances:
Especially heinous, cruel, or depraved
Mitigating Circumstances:
Some degree of personality or antisocial personality disorder
PUBLISHED OPINIONS
State v. Sharp, 193 Ariz. 414, 973 P.2d 1171 (1999).
