Arizona high court denies appeal of Phoenix man convicted of killing 2
The Arizona Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and sentences - including the death penalty - of a Phoenix man sent to prison for killing two people and burying their bodies in his mother's backyard.
This undated photo provided by the Arizona Department of Corrections shows Alan Champagne, who was convicted of killing two people whose bodies were found buried in his mother's backyard in Phoenix. (Arizona Department of Corrections via AP)
(Arizona Department of Corrections via AP)
PHOENIX – The Arizona Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and sentences – including the death penalty – of a Phoenix man sent to prison for killing two people and burying their bodies in his mother’s backyard.
The court filed its decision Wednesday morning.
Alan Champagne was sentenced to death two years ago for the 2011 murders of Philmon Tapaha and Brandi Nicole Hoffner.
The death penalty triggered an automatic appeal.
Champagne requested a change in counsel the bench summarily dismissed. He also argued the trial court “erred by telling the jury during voir dire and in the jury questionnaire that a life sentence could result in the possibility of Champagne’s release after twenty-five years,” the court document read.
“Because Champagne did not object at trial, he has forfeited any right to appellate relief unless the purported error rises to the level of fundamental error,” the opinion stated.
Investigators said Champagne fatally shot Tapaha and choked Hoffner to death. He then asked his neighbor to build him a plywood box.
Champagne put the couple inside the box, poured in lime to disguise the odor of decomposing corpses and buried it in his mother’s backyard.
A landscaper found the bodies nearly two years later.
Prosecutors wanted the death penalty against Champagne, who was already serving a 700-year sentence for attempted-murder convictions. He had barricaded himself at his mother’s home in March 2012 and opened fire on officers who went to arrest him on an aggravated assault warrant.
He surrendered after he ran out of bullets. No one was injured.
Champagne was sentenced to death for a first-degree murder conviction and to prison terms for convictions for second-degree murder, kidnapping and concealing a dead body.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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