Wife killer from Tulsa County set to die March 15By BARBARA HOBEROCK World Capitol Bureau
Published: 1/21/2012 2:28 AM
Last Modified: 1/21/2012 7:48 AM
Murderer
Timothy Shaun Stemple: He was convicted and sentenced to die for the 1996 murder of his wife, Trisha J. Stemple. She died of blunt-force trauma to the head.
Accomplice
Terry Lee Hunt: Sixteen years old at the time of the murder, he testified at Timothy Stemple's trial that he helped kill Stemple's wife for a promised payment of $25,000 to $50,000. Hunt pleaded guilty to murder as an adult and was sentenced to life in prison with parole possible. Now 31, he's at the Dick Conner Correctional Center in Hominy, DOC records show.
Trisha Stemple, 30, died in 1996. Trisha Stemple was killed by her husband, Timothy Stemple, in 1996. An execution date for Timothy Stemple, who was sentenced to death for her murder, has been set for March 15. Tulsa World file
OKLAHOMA CITY - The Court of Criminal Appeals has set a March 15 execution date for Tulsa County killer Timothy Shaun Stemple.
Now 46, Stemple was convicted and sentenced to die for the murder of his wife, Trisha J. Stemple, in 1996, according to Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt's office.
Evidence showed that Trisha Stemple was hit multiple times with a baseball bat and repeatedly run over with Stemple's pickup alongside U.S. 75 south of Tulsa.
She died from blunt-force trauma to the head and had fractures to her arm, ribs, pelvis, vertebrae and skull, authorities said.
Wendy Mather, Trisha Stemple's sister, spoke Friday about Timothy Stemple.
"I have, with God's help, forgiven him," she said. "I have no need to see him put to death.
"Seeing him die is not going to bring back my sister, and what you have to understand is I loved him very much. I am grieving for him also," Mather said. "It is such a hard situation. He was my brother, and I have lost him, too."
If she could speak to him, she would tell him that she loves and forgives him.
Mather described her sister as a high-spirited woman who was fun, loving and compassionate.
"She always spoke her mind," she said. "She was very principled. She loved her kids, loved her family and was very talented in the job she performed."
Mather said she doesn't know whether any family member will witness the execution. The trial was emotional and difficult, she said.
"I still felt betrayed and angry and had to work through some of that," she said.
Prosecutors said Timothy Stemple's motive was money.
The "defendant had taken out a $950,000 accidental death insurance policy on Trisha and had concocted a plan to make her murder appear to be a 'hit and run' automobile accident," they said in court filings.
"The plan involved luring Trisha to a preselected spot along Highway 75, beating her with a baseball bat until she was rendered unconscious, and then running her over with a vehicle so that it appeared she had been struck by a car as she walked along the highway after having car trouble."
Terry Lee Hunt, who was 16 at the time of the homicide, testified at Stemple's trial that he helped Stemple kill his wife. Hunt said Stemple said he would pay him $25,000 to $50,000 from life insurance proceeds after his wife's death.
Hunt pleaded guilty to murder as an adult and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Now 31, he remains in custody at the Dick Conner Correctional Center in Hominy, according to Department of Corrections records.
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Topic: Shaun Stemple, Wife killer from Tulsa County set to die March 15, 2012 (Read 8727 times)