Friday, February 27, 2009
Engleman guilty of second-degree murder
Melanie Engleman has maintained that she stabbed Christopher Linn in self defense.
Jared Soares | The Roanoke Times
Melanie Engleman (left) reacts to a Roanoke jury's verdict finding her guilty of second-degree murder. Engleman's attorney, Chris Kowalczuk (right), told the jury during the trial that Engleman was not guilty of any wrongdoing whatsoever.
The jury, which got the case Thursday afternoon, had told Judge Charlie Dorsey that they were deadlocked after 2-1/2 hours of deliberation. But the judge asked them to continue deliberating, and they met until about 9:30 p.m. Thursday. They reconvened this morning and the verdict was announced after lunch.
Dorsey said Engleman can remain out on bond until her sentencing. Because she is a juvenile, the judge, not a jury, will determine her punishment.
Engleman maintained that she stabbed 19-year-old Linn in self defense.
The stabbing occurred June 2 after Engleman and two friends went to the home of Tai Reid, another teenage girl whom Linn was seeing at the same time he was seeing Engleman.
Engleman testified that she went to confront Reid after the two cursed each other over the phone. But no one answered the door. As Engleman and her friends were leaving, Linn came out, yelled at them, then asked to talk to her alone.
They walked to a gravel lot and started to argue. Then Linn grabbed her in a headlock and started hitting her, Engleman said. She thought he was going to kill her, she testified, so she stabbed him.
But in her closing arguments Thursday, prosecutor Alice Ekirch described Engleman's actions the night of the stabbing as classic premeditated murder.
"This is not a self-defense case," she said. "Everything was well-thought, well-planned, and, from the defendant's perspective, well-executed."
She said the case was all about "sex, drugs, teenage drama" and jealousy-driven revenge. She called Engleman's version of events a fabrication tailored to match the evidence in the case. "If she lied to her mother, and she lied to the police, is it unreasonable for you to think she would lie to 12 strangers to save her neck and avoid responsibility in the death of Chris Linn?"
Engleman's attorney, Chris Kowalczuk, asserted repeatedly that Engleman clearly had no plan, that at most she wanted to confront Reid and had no intention of harming Linn.
He told the jury that Engleman was not guilty of any wrongdoing whatsoever. "Even without self-defense, the killing was not malicious," he said. "She was attacked."
