Opinion ID: 2299781
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 22

Heading: Thomas Reigle

Text: On September 1, 1984, Thomas Reigle and his girlfriend returned to Reigle's home after purchasing drugs. Reigle was high on speed and needed money to purchase additional drugs. Reigle resided in a house with his mother, a seventy-three-year-old aunt, and a sixty-two-year-old uncle. The house was a two story home, and the aunt and uncle shared an upstairs apartment. Reigle asked the aunt to allow him to enter the apartment so that he could borrow money. After she refused, Reigle broke into the apartment. Reigle entered the aunt's room and broke her glasses. He took her purse into the bathroom, but before he could get any money, he heard her stirring. Reigle returned to the aunt's room and hit her several times with the bat. He then went to his uncle's room and struck him several times with the pipe, killing him. Reigle's mother and girlfriend saw Reigle with the pipe. He fled to another state, but was apprehended shortly thereafter. Reigle eventually gave a full confession. Reigle was twenty-four years old and high on speed at the time of the offense. He has a history of drug and alcohol abuse dating back to his childhood years. Reigle is a high school dropout. There was evidence that Reigle had emotional and psychiatric problems. At the age of seven or eight, he was put on Ritalin for hyperactivity. Reigle was unemployed at the time of the crime. He had two prior convictions for drug possession and damage to property. Reigle was convicted of purposeful-or-knowing murder, two counts of felony murder, aggravated assault, robbery, and burglary. At the penalty trial, the jury found aggravating factor c(4)(g), contemporaneous felony. The jury found mitigating factors c(5)(d), mental disease, defect or intoxication; c(5)(f) no significant prior record; and c(5)(h), the catch-all factor. The jury did not find that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors. Reigle was sentenced to life imprisonment.