Opinion ID: 853589
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: The facts most favorable to the verdict indicate that on March 5, 1995, Defendant Leslie Hauk and her live-in companion, Daniel Sturgeon, brutally beat James Coffman with a crow bar and stabbed him numerous times with a kitchen knife. Defendant and Sturgeon stole as much as $1,500 from Coffman both after he died and during the course of time they spent drinking with and beating Coffman prior to killing him. After Coffman was dead, Sturgeon gave Defendant $389 and told her to get rid of the knife. Defendant left the crime scene, crashed her car soon thereafter, and was arrested for driving while intoxicated. Prior to suspecting her connection to Coffman's murder, the police found the kitchen knife in Defendant's car and credited her commissary account with the $389. Gregory Anderson, a friend of Sturgeon's, testified that on March 6, 1995, he helped Sturgeon carry Coffman's body out of the house and they placed it in the trunk of Coffman's car. Two days later, Coffman's son located Coffman's car and called for a police officer; the two of them opened the trunk and discovered Coffman's body. On March 13, 1995, the State charged Defendant with Murder, [1] Felony Murder, [2] and Robbery, [3] a class B felony. A jury found Defendant guilty of all three charges, but the trial court merged the Murder and Felony Murder convictions, sentencing Defendant to 55 years for Murder and 20 years for Robbery, the sentences to be served concurrently. Sturgeon was also tried, convicted, and sentenced for his part in this matter. See Sturgeon v. State, 719 N.E.2d 1173 (Ind. 1999). Additional facts will be provided as necessary.