Mechele Linehan

Infobox Criminal


subject_name= Mechele Linehan
date_of_birth= Birth date and age|1972|10|12|mf=y
place_of_birth= New Orleans, Louisiana
charge= First degree murder
penalty= 99 years in prison
status= Imprisoned
spouse= Colin Linehan
children= 1 daughter
parent(s)= Sandy McWilliams

Mechele Linehan, aka Mechele Hughes, was convicted of the 1996 murder of Kent Leppink by an Anchorage, Alaska jury on October 22, 2007.cite news|publisher=People|date=November 5, 2007|title=Alaskan Temptress|page=95|author=Alex Tresniowski, Megan Holland, Vickie Bane, Champ Clark, Johnny Dodd] According to prosecutors, the killing mimicked the plot of the film "The Last Seduction". On April 2, 2008, she was sentenced to 99 years in prison. [cite news|publisher=CNN|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/04/03/linehan.trial.ap/index.html|title=Ex-stripper sentenced in plot to kill former fiance|date=April 3, 2008|accessdate=2008-02-03]

Early life and childhood

Mechele Linehan was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on October 12, 1972. As a child she moved from city to city, at first with her Air Force father, then with her stepfather who worked for the airlines. After her second divorce, her mother resettled herself and her daughters near New Orleans, where she had relatives and a long family history. Linehan excelled in school getting A's and B's. Linehan left home at age 17 and moved to New Jersey where she worked as a deli clerk and secretary at a modeling agency, while volunteering and helping the community with issues such as animal rights and suicide prevention. [cite news|publisher=Anchorage Daily News|url=http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/crime/stripper/story/117424.html|title=Linehan: femme fatale or is she a PTA mom?|author=Megan Holland|date=September 16, 2007|accessdate=2008-09-14]

Kent Leppink

Kent Leppink was a former Michigan resident who was killed in 1996. He moved to Alaska to become a fisherman. At the Alaskan Bush Company he met Linehan, who was known as Mechele Hughes (her maiden name) at the time.

On May 2, 1996 Leppink was found dead near Anchorage in Hope, Alaska with three bullet wounds. Leppink's parents had been sent a letter from their son identifying three suspects, Mechele Linehan, John Carlin, and Scott Hilke. Just days before his death Leppink removed Linehan from his $1 million life insurance policy. [An insurance agent testified at trial that Ms. linehan tried to cancel the policy days before Leppink's death.] Linehan allegedly arranged for John Carlin III to murder him in order to get the revenue from Leppink's million-dollar life insurance policy. Carlin has also been convicted of the crime. Linehan claims that Kent Leppink was an obsessive client and friend who fabricated a romantic relationship that did not exist. There were no witnesses to the murder, and the murder weapon was never found.

Aftermath

Between the 1996 murder and her arrest in October 2006, Linehan married a medical student named Colin Linehan, settled in Olympia, Washington where she earned a Master of Public Administration degree, and operated a laser clinic, while Colin worked at Madigan Army Medical Center. Colin and Mechele married in 1998 in New Orleans and in June 1999 Linehan gave birth to her daughter, Audrey.

Trial

Prosecutor Pat Gullufsen alleged that Linehan, once a Great Alaska Bush Co. stripper known as Mechele Hughes, followed the plot of "The Last Seduction" in the 1996 slaying of her fiancé Kent Leppink because she was "obsessed with the film." Former co-worker Lora Aspiotis, testified that Mechele told her Linda Fiorentino's "character was her heroine and that she wanted to be just like her." Linehan convinced John Carlin III, another man to whom she was engaged, "to do the dirty work [and] pull the trigger." Carlin was convicted in April 2007 of Leppink's murder. So strong were the similarities between the film and Leppink's murder that prosecutors attempted, "unsuccessfully, to have the movie shown to the jury." [cite web|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21230656/?GT1=10450|title=Ex-stripper accused in plot similar to the 1994 movie|publisher=AP via MSNBC|date=October 11, 2007|accessdate=2007-10-31] The defense, however, argued that it is unlikely Linehan was involved in the murder. She stated repeatedly that she never dated Leppink, and that he was an obsessive customer who created a relationship with her in his head. A forensic psychologist argued that it is impossible that she murdered Leppink. Friends and family state that, given her history of volunteerism, such a murder does not match her personality. [cite news|publisher=Anchorage Daily News|url=http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/crime/stripper/story/364106.html|title=Linehan sentenced to 99 years|date=April 3, 2008|author=Megan Holland|accessdate=2008-04-03] An ex-boyfriend of Linehan's, who painted a picture of Linehan as a gold-digger, was shown by the defense to be contradicting previous testimony made in 2006, when he said that he never really dated her and she never asked him for money. [cite news|publisher=KTUU|url=http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=7166971&nav=menu510_2|title=Ex-boyfriend testifies in Linehan trial|date=October 3, 2007|author=Angela Blanchard|accessdate=2008-04-03] [cite news|publisher=The Olympian|url=http://www.theolympian.com/news/story/250987.html|title=Linehan’s Olympia neighbors express sadness|date=October 23, 2007|author=Jeremy Pawloski|accessdate=2007-10-31] On October 22, 2007 the jury found Linehan guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

Appeal

In April 2008 after her sentencing, Linehan, now represented by "two of Alaska's best known lawyers" filed an appeal of her murder conviction.cite news|title=Linehan adds heavy hitters to legal team|url=http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/crime/stripper/story/391155.html|publisher=Anchorage Daily News|author=Megan Holland|date=April 30th, 2008|accessdate=2008-05-01]

Aftermath

Linehan has been held at Hiland Mountain Correctional Center in Eagle River, Alaska ever since her conviction. On March 8, 2008, 48 Hour Mystery played an episode on Linehan's case which received national attention when she was interviewed by the show's correspondent Susan Spencer in an exclusive interview. Linehan stated, “I just feel like there is nothing I can do to make people believe me or make people like me”. Linehan tells a different story, “Anybody else that knew me or worked with me didn’t feel that way,” she says. “You tell me how a 22-year-old girl can make grown men do these things.” Her trial garnered national attention with Alaska State Troopers calling her "evil" and Linehan's family and friends said troopers fabricated a Hollywood-esque picture of her and went on a witch hunt to get a conviction. More recently friends and family of Mechele Linehan have launched a web site where supporters who believe she was wrongfully convicted of murder by an Anchorage jury last year can buy "Free Mechele" merchandise. It also promises visitors Linehan herself will send dispatches from prison. Supporters say they want people to meet the Linehan her friends and family know and love, not the diabolical temptress portrayed by the people who think she's a murderer. The goal of the website is to build public support for her pending appeal and a re-trial. [ [http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/crime/stripper/story/425967.html "Web site set up to raise money for Linehan appeal"] ]

References