Opinion ID: 1907203
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Kim Kuchler (life sentence)

Text: Defendant murdered her two sisters and one sister's husband following a series of disputes between the parties. In 1985, during one of the disputes, the police were called. They found ten plastic garbage bags emitting foul odors. The bags contained bones and flesh, but the officers, believing the contents to be cow bones, placed the bags at the curb for garbage pickup. Seven years later, defendant confessed that she had hired three gang members to kill her sister and the sister's husband. Defendant also admitted that she had continued to use the victims' money by forging checks. Eventually, defendant admitted that she shot the victims herself and cut up their bodies. Defendant, thirty-nine years old at the time, was a resident alien from Korea who had been raised in a poor and dysfunctional family. She had no prior convictions, aside from a shoplifting charge and the pending murder charge of her other sister. She had no known history of child abuse or mental illness. She pleaded guilty to two counts of non-capital murder (in exchange for dismissal of all other charges relating to the three murders). The AOC coded the c(4)(c) (vile), c(5)(a) (mental disturbance), c(5)(b) (provocation), c(5)(f) (no criminal history), and c(5)(h) (catch-all) factors as present.