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Speaking of cases with interesting parallels
http://www.northeasttimes.com/2003/0731/heather.html
Sheehan pleads guilty to murder
By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer
Raymond Sheehan said he wished he could take back the morning of Feb. 16, 1987.
That day, Sheehan walked into a Horrocks Street home and raped and strangled 10-year-old Heather Coffin.
Sheehan, 38, got away with the crime until July 8 of this year. Almost immediately after his arrest, he confessed in a seven-page statement to homicide detectives.
Last week, Sheehan pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, which carries an automatic sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole. In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty.
"Alls I can do is apologize wholeheartedly," Sheehan said at his July 23 court hearing, adding that hell try to atone for his crime.
Coffins family was not in a forgiving mood.
"Let him rot," said Randall Coffin, Heathers dad.
The Coffins supported the death penalty immediately after Sheehan was arrested, but accepted the plea because the suspect would never be released from prison.
Besides, no punishment would erase the painful memories of that February morning.
"Its not going to bring my sister back," Kim Coffin said.
Sheehan, a 10th-grade dropout, worked for Randall Coffins contracting business but lost his job because of a poor attitude.
According to Sheehans confession, he entered the Coffin house in Frankford through an unlocked door shortly after midnight "in a drug-induced cloud" because he believed Randall Coffin owed him money.
Sheehan walked upstairs, entered Heathers room and banged into a lamp.
"Poor Heather woke up," he said in his confession.
Heather, a fifth-grader at St. Martin of Tours, recognized Sheehan, and he choked her to put her back to sleep. But the girl kept waking up. Thats when Sheehan raped and strangled her one final time.
Randall Coffin denied he owed Sheehan money when he fired him, and the Coffin family remains angry that he would kill Heather during the attempted burglary.
"Its not the right way to get even," said Shawn Watson, Heathers cousin.
The rapist and murderer left a pubic hair and sperm on his victim, but DNA technology was not sophisticated enough at the time to tie Sheehan to the crime.
The technology advanced over the years, with police saying the odds that someone other than Sheehan committed the crime were 1 in 740 million.
Sheehan, of the 3400 block of Shelmire Ave. in Mayfair, waived his preliminary hearing on July 16, and the next court date was set for a week later an indication that he was likely to plea.
At the July 23 court hearing, about 30 Coffin family members and friends were in attendance. A framed picture of Heather in her St. Martins uniform sat on the desk of Assistant District Attorney Ed Cameron.
No family or friends were there in support of Sheehan.
Besides the murder plea, Sheehan pleaded guilty to rape. Common Pleas Court Judge Benjamin Lerner, who labeled the crime an "unspeakable evil," tacked on 10 to 20 years for rape to the life sentence for murder.
Watson, who was 14 at the time of the murder, said Sheehan robbed his family of innocence.
http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0307/08/se.10.html
...
JOHNSON: The fact that DNA technology has caught up with our investigation is tremendous. CARROLL: Heather's sisters, then 7 and 4, were sleeping in the same room when she was killed. Today, they are relieved and feel their family has finally been vindicated.
DANIELLE COFFIN, SISTER: My dad went through so much. Everybody saying that it was my dad. Everybody saying, when I would go to school, people saying, "Oh, yes, you're the sister that your dad killed your other sister."
KIM COFFIN, SISTER: It's not anger, I don't think, now. I think everyone's relieved. It's just a matter of who did it, why they did it, and, I mean, what's he going to get for doing it?
...
http://www.northeasttimes.com/2003/0731/heather.html
Sheehan pleads guilty to murder
By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer
Raymond Sheehan said he wished he could take back the morning of Feb. 16, 1987.
That day, Sheehan walked into a Horrocks Street home and raped and strangled 10-year-old Heather Coffin.
Sheehan, 38, got away with the crime until July 8 of this year. Almost immediately after his arrest, he confessed in a seven-page statement to homicide detectives.
Last week, Sheehan pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, which carries an automatic sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole. In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty.
"Alls I can do is apologize wholeheartedly," Sheehan said at his July 23 court hearing, adding that hell try to atone for his crime.
Coffins family was not in a forgiving mood.
"Let him rot," said Randall Coffin, Heathers dad.
The Coffins supported the death penalty immediately after Sheehan was arrested, but accepted the plea because the suspect would never be released from prison.
Besides, no punishment would erase the painful memories of that February morning.
"Its not going to bring my sister back," Kim Coffin said.
Sheehan, a 10th-grade dropout, worked for Randall Coffins contracting business but lost his job because of a poor attitude.
According to Sheehans confession, he entered the Coffin house in Frankford through an unlocked door shortly after midnight "in a drug-induced cloud" because he believed Randall Coffin owed him money.
Sheehan walked upstairs, entered Heathers room and banged into a lamp.
"Poor Heather woke up," he said in his confession.
Heather, a fifth-grader at St. Martin of Tours, recognized Sheehan, and he choked her to put her back to sleep. But the girl kept waking up. Thats when Sheehan raped and strangled her one final time.
Randall Coffin denied he owed Sheehan money when he fired him, and the Coffin family remains angry that he would kill Heather during the attempted burglary.
"Its not the right way to get even," said Shawn Watson, Heathers cousin.
The rapist and murderer left a pubic hair and sperm on his victim, but DNA technology was not sophisticated enough at the time to tie Sheehan to the crime.
The technology advanced over the years, with police saying the odds that someone other than Sheehan committed the crime were 1 in 740 million.
Sheehan, of the 3400 block of Shelmire Ave. in Mayfair, waived his preliminary hearing on July 16, and the next court date was set for a week later an indication that he was likely to plea.
At the July 23 court hearing, about 30 Coffin family members and friends were in attendance. A framed picture of Heather in her St. Martins uniform sat on the desk of Assistant District Attorney Ed Cameron.
No family or friends were there in support of Sheehan.
Besides the murder plea, Sheehan pleaded guilty to rape. Common Pleas Court Judge Benjamin Lerner, who labeled the crime an "unspeakable evil," tacked on 10 to 20 years for rape to the life sentence for murder.
Watson, who was 14 at the time of the murder, said Sheehan robbed his family of innocence.
http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0307/08/se.10.html
...
JOHNSON: The fact that DNA technology has caught up with our investigation is tremendous. CARROLL: Heather's sisters, then 7 and 4, were sleeping in the same room when she was killed. Today, they are relieved and feel their family has finally been vindicated.
DANIELLE COFFIN, SISTER: My dad went through so much. Everybody saying that it was my dad. Everybody saying, when I would go to school, people saying, "Oh, yes, you're the sister that your dad killed your other sister."
KIM COFFIN, SISTER: It's not anger, I don't think, now. I think everyone's relieved. It's just a matter of who did it, why they did it, and, I mean, what's he going to get for doing it?
...