Opinion ID: 2227991
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Doppler's Confession

Text: Doppler stated that he had known Sargent, a friend of his brother, Keith Doppler (hereinafter referred to as Keith), since Doppler was approximately 9 years old. Doppler was angry with Sargent for getting Keith involved with drugs and for threatening, in front of Doppler's nieces, to put a bullet through [Keith's] head. This anger peaked on April 9-10, 1995. According to Doppler, on April 9, 1995, he and Sargent decided to go out together in Doppler's car. As Doppler and Sargent drove around, Sargent convinced Doppler to try some methamphetamine. Doppler stated that, in addition to ingesting the methamphetamine, he had been smoking marijuana all day on April 9 and had been drinking gin and grapefruit juice for two days in order to get rid of a sinus infection. Doppler stated that after he and Sargent had been driving for a while, the two men pulled off the road to go to the bathroom. Doppler stated that he was just feeling like [he] could take on the whole world, purportedly from the methamphetamine he had taken. When the BCA agents asked Doppler what happened next, he answered, [w]e had both gone outside, out of the car, to go to the bathroom   . I had went back into the car   . I had grabbed a gun that was underneath the seat   . I shot Mike. When questioned about when he formed the intent to kill Sargent, Doppler replied, [w]hen we got out to go to the bathroom. Authorities subsequently confirmed that two other people, specifically Richard Berry, who is Doppler's uncle, and Doppler's brother Keith, were present when Sargent was killed. Both Berry and Keith testified before the grand jury that investigated Sargent's death and at Doppler's trial. Their accounts of what happened the night Sargent was killed differed in several respects from Doppler's confession.