ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A former stripper-turned-doctor’s-wife whose murder conviction was overturned earlier this year is seeking looser bail conditions as she awaits a second trial.
Mechele Linehan of Olympia was released from prison in May and has been staying in Anchorage under strict bail terms that require her to stay at her home nearly all the time and under the watch of a third party.
Her attorney, John Cashion, recently filed a motion protesting the conditions and asking that Linehan — who has been offered a job as a reception at a local hair salon — be put on electronic monitoring.
“Linehan is again innocent until proven guilty and entitled to reasonable bail,” Cashion wrote in criticizing the current conditions in his motion.
Linehan was accused of murder in the 1996 killing of Kent Leppink in 2006. Prosecutors contend that the 37-year-old woman hoodwinked Leppink into a marriage engagement, then killed him for a life insurance policy payout.
Juries convicted her and another man, John Carlin III, in the slaying. Carlin has since been killed in prison. The Alaska Court of Appeals overturned Linehan’s conviction in February, saying she did not get a fair trial.
Superior Court Judge Philip Volland, in setting the bail conditions, said Linehan must be in constant sight or sound of one of the court-approved third parties — her husband, her mother and an Anchorage woman who volunteered for the job after watching the case.
Prosecutor Pat Gullufsen has said Linehan is a flight risk and needs to be under tight controls.
“Our family is frustrated,” Colin Linehan said as he sat next to his wife in the family’s rented one-bedroom apartment during an interview late last week.
“Why is it that I can’t work?” Mechele Linehan said. “I have a master’s degree and I should be able to work. I’ve worked hard my whole life.”
Linehan said she has been relying on others for financial help, especially since her physician husband declared bankruptcy, something that the family says was driven by legal expenses.
“I don’t want to take public assistance,” she said.
Linehan’s next bail hearing is scheduled for July 7.
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