First defendant guilty of murder in stripper saga

Carlin, a 50-year-old New Jersey construction worker, showed no emotion, staring stonily at the jury box as the foreman announced a finding of first-degree murder in the slaying of Kent Leppink. Leppink's father, Kenneth, who came from Michigan for the trial, wept in his courtroom seat.

"God is good, all the time. And we are very much at peace, thank you," Betsy Leppink, the victim's mother, said later outside the courtroom.

The verdict's arrival early Tuesday, after a day and a half, surprised many who expected more protracted deliberations after three weeks of testimony and a prosecution case that was largely based on circumstantial evidence. Even Superior Court Judge Philip Volland had said he expected a decision today at the earliest.

Carlin faces up to 99 years in prison when he is sentenced in November.

Two jurors dabbed at tears as the verdict was read. Another juror, Patrick Fullerton, reached hours later, said: "It was traumatic. It's not every day you convict someone of first-degree murder."

Prosecutors had portrayed Carlin as a man infatuated with and manipulated by then-23-year-old stripper Mechele Linehan, who urged him to shoot Leppink, a 36-year-old commercial fisherman, and leave his body in the woods near Hope, 90 miles away. He did it for her because she wrongly believed she was the beneficiary on Leppink's $1 million life insurance policy, prosecutors said. But Leppink had changed beneficiaries before he was killed.

Prosecutors focused much of their case on Linehan's patterns of deceit and her abilities to manipulate men. Men lavished her with furs, jewelry and cash in exchange for her affections. At the time of the murder in May 1996, she was engaged to three men. One was the victim. Another was the defendant.

Prosecutors said Carlin would have done anything for her, including kill.

Carlin's defense attorneys, meanwhile, suggested Linehan was the one who shot Leppink in a moment of rage after months of increasing tensions over finances leading up to their wedding.

Juror Donald Sanford, reached by telephone later, said a large part of the reasoning behind the decision was that Carlin lied to investigators about owning the pistol used in the murder, an uncommon .44-caliber Desert Eagle, which has never been recovered. Ballistics evidence supported the contention that it was the kind of weapon used.

Testimony from several witnesses suggested Carlin bought and owned such a handgun.

"I was watching Mr. Carlin when the judge asked for the verdict to be read. There was not a twitch in his eye, not a change in his emotions, not a clinch of his fingers," Sanford said. "He expected it" because he did it, he said.

Sanford said after only half a day of deliberating, the jurors were 9-to-3 in favor of a conviction.

Another juror, Jeff Daniels, said it was the totality of the circumstantial evidence that added up to guilt, even though prosecutors didn't prove how the victim got to the remote crime scene or exactly when he was killed. Daniels said a key consideration was the incriminating testimony of Carlin's son, John Carlin IV, who testified he saw his father cleaning a pistol in a bathroom sink full of bleach, as Linehan watched, in the days following Leppink's death.

Defense attorney Marcy McDannel was visibly stunned by the verdict. She predicted the conviction means Linehan may get an acquittal because her defense attorneys will say Carlin did it and she had no role. "What this means is the real bad player in all of this, the real evil participant in all of this, has a chance of getting off."

"It's just baffling," she said. "I can't even imagine how he (Carlin) feels right now."

Prosecutor Pat Gullufsen said this now boosts the prosecution's confidence in getting a conviction on Linehan, who is scheduled to be tried on a first-degree murder charge in September.

At the time of the killing, Carlin prevented investigators from speaking to his son, Carlin IV, a minor. The cold case led to the arrests of Carlin and Linehan after investigators re-interviewed Carlin IV several years ago. Prosecutors also claimed e-mails recently recovered from computers indicating a conspiracy to murder played a part in taking the case to court.

Reached after the verdict was handed down, Carlin IV said, "I'm pretty upset at the moment because I believe they have an innocent man in prison."

"There's always going to be that part of me that realizes that a big part of why he was found guilty was because of my testimony," he said. "And I know there was e-mails and other things like that. But in my heart I know that's what did it. And I think that's the toughest part to live with."

Linehan now lives in Olympia, Wash., with her physician husband and young daughter.

One of her lawyers, Wayne Fricke, said Tuesday the verdict won't affect Linehan's case.

Linehan heard the news shortly after the verdict was read. Fricke said, "She holds no ill will toward anyone," and her reaction was "not one of jubilation. She is just worried about her case."

Daily News reporter Megan Holland can be reached at mrholland@adn.com.