Just before a judge sentenced her to 99 years in prison, former stripper Mechele Linehan, 35, pleaded for leniency, describing herself as a happy wife and mother to a young daughter, someone who enjoys renovating her old Olympia, Wash., home and having homemade pizza parties.
But Superior Court Judge Philip Volland sided with the prosecution and handed down the maximum sentence, saying Linehan's young daughter won't likely be seeing her mother outside of a prison until she is well into her own adulthood. Linehan will be first eligible for parole in 33 years.
Linehan was convicted of orchestrating the 1996 murder of fisherman Kent Leppink, whose homicide had been unsolved for 10 years before Linehan and a former boyfriend, John Carlin III, were arrested in 2006. Prosecutor Pat Gullufsen said Linehan conspired with Carlin to dupe Leppink into believing she loved him, got him to make her the beneficiary of a life insurance policy, and then had Carlin kill him.
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