Opinion ID: 2299781
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 31

Heading: Larry Durden

Text: Larry Durden worked as a part-time security guard in an apartment building. Durden changed the locks on the door of a seventy-two-year-old tenant's apartment, and the woman invited Durden for dinner. Durden went to dinner at her apartment and sometime during the evening, Durden stabbed the woman. The woman died from the stab wounds to her forehead and abdomen. A small ax-type object found in the victim's apartment was believed to be the murder weapon. Durden took the woman's groceries, television set, and radio. Durden went to another apartment in the same building and asked the family if they wanted to buy groceries that he had gotten for free. Later that day, Durden went back to the same apartment to try to sell the radio and television. Eventually, Durden admitted to stealing the television and radio, but he stated that the woman was dead when he went to the apartment. Durden was charged with purposeful-or-knowing murder, felony murder, and burglary, and was convicted on all counts. The prosecutor submitted aggravating factor c(4)(g), contemporaneous felony, to the jury. The jury found that factor and the catch-all mitigating factor, c(5)(h). The jury determined that the aggravating factor did not outweigh the mitigating factor. Durden was sentenced to life imprisonment with a thirty-year parole bar for murder and a seven-year consecutive sentence for burglary. Durden was thirty-one years old at the time of the crime. He had received a general equivalent diploma and had been honorably discharged from the United States Navy. He was employed at the time of his arrest and had no mental problems or drug addiction. He had prior convictions for armed robbery, felony breaking and entering, and a parole violation.