In October, 2007, Mechele Linehan was convicted of the 1996 murder of Kent Leppink, a notorious case in Anchorage, Alaska that reached national attention on March 8, 2008, through a special episode of the CBS documentary show, 48 Hours Mystery. On April 2, Linehan was given a maximum sentence of 99 years in prison. Backstory Linehan met Leppnik when she was working as a nude dancer at an establishment called the Great Alaskan Bush Company. She claimed that while she received gifts and money from Leppnik, she was never in a relationship with him, and insists he was an obsessive client who imagined a relationship. However, evidence presented during the trial included a letter from Linehan to Leppnik in which she suggested marriage.
Prosecutors convinced jurors that Linehan had convinced her ex-boyfriend John Carlin, with whom she was living at the time, to kill Leppink in order to receive the benefits from a million-dollar insurance policy, for which Linehan mistakenly believed herself to be the beneficiary.
Sentencing During the sentencing, a forensic psychologist testified that Linehan could not have committed the murder, and friends of Linehan's said that given her longtime vegetarianism and history of community involvement, they couldn't imagine that she would have committed such a crime.
The convictions had, however, been largely based on the testimony of Carlin's son, who said that he saw Linehan and Carlin washing a gun in the sink after the murder.
Fast Facts:
- 35 at time of conviction
- Master's degree: Public administration
- Ran cosmetic laser treatment facility in Olympia, WA
- 1998: Married Dr. Colin Linehan
- June 1999: Daughter born
- 2006: Arrested
- Prosecutors allege Linehan based her crime on the film The Last Seduction
- Known as "Mechele Hughes" at time of the crime
- Allegedly hoped to collect $1 million in insurance
- Eligible for parole in 2041
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YouTube Video: Monday's events in the trial of former exotic dancer (Time: 0:58)
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