Confessed killer could get 22 years
|
|
Toolbox
By Brent Curtis Staff Writer - Published: February 9, 2010
Months before David Denny killed Castleton State College instructor Linda Wiggin he made a cryptic remark that the Poultney woman would "pay" for refusing to bail him out of jail.
Denny, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Rutland District Court on Monday, made the threatening remark to another inmate during a jail stint in the summer of 2008 — months before Wiggin was beaten to death in her Poultney home, Rutland County State's Attorney Marc Brierre said during a change of plea hearing for Denny.
"He said she was 'Going to pay for not getting him out on bail,'" Brierre said during a lengthy summary of the evidence that prosecutors were prepared to bring to trial.
Denny's plea eliminates the need for a trial. However, the deal for the 42-year-old, who lived with Wiggin after his eventual release from jail according to court documents, is contingent on approval from Judge Thomas Zonay.
The judge insisted that a pre-sentence investigation documenting the case and Denny's background be conducted before he decides whether to approve the deal.
If Zonay accepts the plea deal, Denny would be sentenced to 22 years to life in prison — a sentence that incorporates both the second-degree murder charge, which carries a 20-year minimum, and a 2-year to 9-year sentence for a burglary charge that Denny was on probation for at the time of the murder.
The weighty sentence and the details prosecutors listed of the killing didn't evoke any emotional reactions from Denny, whose calm expression and voice didn't waver throughout the court proceedings.
Among some of the more gruesome pieces of evidence prosecutors were prepared to present at trial were a hatchet and a heavy frying pan that Denny wielded in each hand during the slaying. Prosecutors say the frying pan was the murder weapon — delivering the blows to Wiggin's head that killed her.
But numerous cuts on the woman's hands and arms spoke to the assault from the hatchet, Brierre said.
The prosecutor also told the court that Wiggin, a 49-year-old English teacher, was found buried under debris in the basement that included piles of Denny's cigarette butts.
Denny didn't argue with any of the evidence that the prosecution laid out although his attorney, Kerry DeWolfe, told the court that while her client was admitting to Wiggin's murder he wasn't in agreement with all of Brierre's details.
"I agree the factual basis is met but please don't confuse that with agreeing with everything you just heard," DeWolfe told the judge.
Wiggin's family also disagreed with the state's attorney — not with the evidence but with the end result.
"To me and my family, the plea agreement is grossly unjust," said Wiggin's older brother Kenneth Wiggin.
Despite an assertion from Brierre, who said the 22-year sentence Denny would receive was based on the murder charge, Kenneth Wiggin said prosecutors told him that nine years of the agreed on sentence were punishment for Denny's probation violation.
"When you're getting nine years anyway, it says to me that my sister's life is worth only 13 years for Mr. Denny," the Jericho man said.
Denny's guilty plea on Monday came more than a year after he was arrested on Nov. 19, 2008. Police said Wiggin's slaying took place more than a week earlier, on Nov. 10, 2008, when an argument escalated to violence at Wiggin's home at 186 College St.
But Wiggin's body wasn't found until a week later when investigators discovered her remains buried in her basement.
From statements given by four college students who lived above Wiggin and from her friends, investigators say it appears that Denny spent the week after Wiggin's death cleaning up evidence of the crime and trying to cash checks and sell collectibles belonging to Wiggin.
Denny also allegedly tried to hide Wiggin's death by calling and canceling appointments on her behalf.
brent.curtis@rutlandherald.com
38