Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
The Watauga Democrat has the story and is the reliable source on this story. The Citizen-Times posted a story Wednesday saying the suspect could face the death penalty, but that’s not what the Watauga Democrat says:
The man found guilty of killing an Appalachian State University student will not face the death penalty.
After a partial verdict on Tuesday, a Watauga County jury on Wednesday unanimously found Neil Sargeant, 26, guilty of first-degree murder, burning of personal property, robbery with a dangerous weapon and first-degree kidnapping in the 2005 suffocation death of an Appalachian State University student, Stephen William Harrington, 19.
Harrington’s body was discovered at 7:45 on the morning of Nov. 8, 2005 in the trunk of his Subaru parked on Sleepy Hollow Lane in the Foscoe community. His arms were bound behind his back, and his face wrapped in duct tape. Harrington’s body had been set aflame in the trunk of the car.
The state medical examiner determined the cause of death to be asphyxiation due to the duct tape over his mouth and nose.
Sargeant was found guilty of first-degree murder on the basis of lying in wait for a personal attack, the felony murder law which designates first-degree murder if the victim was killed during the commission of a robbery or kidnapping, and on the basis of premeditation and deliberation.
The case was set to proceed into the sentencing phase Wednesday afternoon because Sargeant was facing the death penalty. However, the prosecution stated the victim’s family had requested the state not proceed in the sentencing phase. The Harrington family said they were tired and had realized that whatever happens will not bring back their son and brother.
The lack of a sentencing phase takes the death penalty off the table for Sargeant, though he still faces life imprisonment without parole on the conviction of first-degree murder in addition to sentencing on the other convictions.
