Hide Article Text (OCR)
Jury to consider death for convicted slayerANGLETON (AP) - Jurors who convicted a 22-year-old Ledbetter man of strangling a Brenham schoolteacher must now decide whether he should face death or life in prison.Kavin Wayne Lincecum was found guilty Monday of killing Kathy Coppedge, 35, who was found stuffed in the trunk of her car with her 11-year-old son after they were abducted from a church parking lot in August.The jury deliberated a little over a half-hour after Robert Kuhn, Lincecum’s attorney, waived final arguments. The trial’s punishment phase was set to begin Tuesday.Prosecutors said they plan to prove during the punishment phase that Lincecum raped another woman before the killings and will try to introduce into evidence Lincecum’s previous convictions and prison record.Lincecum at one point agreed to testify, then changed his mind and remained silent throughout the trial.He was arrested in December on an unrelated charge and later was indicted in the death of Mrs, Coppedge and her son, Casey. Monday’s conviction was for the mother’s death only.The mother and son were found dead Aug. 11 in the trunk of Mrs. Coppedge’s car, parked on an isolated stretch of road 12 miles west of Brenham. Authorities said she had been strangled and the boy, whose body was under his mother’s, suffocated inside the trunk.The trial was moved to Angleton in Brazoria County from Brenham because of fears Lincecum could not get a fair trial in the Washington County community.Lincecum was given a mildsedative after sitting through testimony of friends and relatives who described his personal life and actions following the murders. He kept his head down and rarely looked at the witnesses.Kuhri called just two witnesses when the defense presented its case Monday. Lincecum’s aunt and a parole officer both testified.He didn’t question any of the prosecution witnesses and didn’t offer a final argument because “if I had argued that he was not guilty, 1 would have ruined my credibility with the jury.”That might jeopardize any chance of successfully arguing for a life sentence, he said.District Attorney Charles J. Sebesta Jr., who presented 15 witnesses, told jurors in closing arguments that police had a puzzle with few pieces when thecase first broke.On Dee, 3, Sebesta said, the pieces began falling together when sources told police where they could get some information.The prosecutor pointed to con-sistencies in a statement. Lincecum gave police and testimony presented by the prosecution: Description of cars in the church parking lot and an admission that Mrs, Coppedge’s hands had been tied with purse straps.Furthermore, Sebesta noted, Lincecum’s girlfriend, Rita Mathis, 21, of Burton, had testified that Lincecum gave her rings and a watch taken from the victim.Philip Coppedge, Mrs. Coppedge’s husband said on the first day of testimony Thursday that he frantically searched for his wife and son after they failed to return home from church.
Newspaper Details
Baytown Sun
Baytown, Texas, US
Tue, Jun 03, 1986
Page 7
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
NA, NA 05 Jul 2023
Other Publications Near Baytown, Texas
The Lee Lantern
The Lantern
Baytown Sun
