Eric Copple Enters Not Guilty Plea

Murder suspect enters plea

Eric Matthew Copple, the man accused of murdering Williamston beauty queen Leslie Ann Mazzara and her roommate, on Wednesday morning pleaded not guilty.

“Mr. Copple entered not guilty pleas on both counts and denied special allegations,” Napa County District Attorney Gary Lieberstein said in a statement.

Mr. Copple of Napa, Calif., appeared in court Wednesday morning in Napa County. Mr. Copple is accused of murdering Ms. Mazzara, 26, and her roommate, Adrienne Insogna, 26, in their Napa home in November 2004.

Mr. Copple has been charged with two counts of murder, using a knife in the commitment of both murders, and two special circumstances, according to the Napa County District Attorney’s Office.

One of the special circumstances alleges Mr. Copple committed multiple murders during the same time period. The other special circumstance alleges he committed the killing while he was lying in wait, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

According to the Attorney General’s Office, physical evidence, such as cigarette butts with Mr. Copple’s DNA on it, were found in a gutter near Ms. Mazzara’s home. A second cigarette butt was also found in the backyard of the home. A bundle of flex ties — which are used to bind things — with his DNA was also found in the home near a window where it is believed the killer entered the home.

The case has been continued until 8:30 a.m. Nov. 15 for further proceedings and possible setting of trial date, Mr. Lieberstein said. He said he anticipated the trial date would most likely be set to take place during the spring or summer of 2007.

Mr. Lieberstein said he anticipates the prosecution will meet with the defense during the first week of November, at which time the defense will give a presentation in mitigation of the death penalty. He said the date was set in November in order to provide sufficient time for the defense team to continue to investigate and prepare the presentation — which the prosecution requested be presented before their decision on whether to seek the death penalty.

“We wanted to be certain that the defense had sufficient time to have that be a meaningful meeting,” Mr. Lieberstein said.
After the presentation, prosecutors plan to meet with family members of victims to discuss the possibility of seeking the death penalty before the final decision is made, Mr. Lieberstein said.

He expects the decision to be made public by Nov. 15.

I wonder if they knew this was coming. The buzz is definately growing. Hell I even recieved a phone call from a researcher from CBS/48 Hours wanting either an interview from me (I explained I barely knew Leslie or Adrianna as Leslie was a friend of my sisters and I anly met her once in passing) or my sister (she basically told me she didn’t want to go there). In talking with them (they called twice and emailed once) they explained that they where checking on doing a follow up story. The post in which I meantioned that my sister had been a friend has been visited like crazy the last few days. And so I do a search to find out why… and find this one story (I guess the others will be posted tomorrow) and I have to wonder why it’s such a big deal. How many murder trials had you heard of that the person actually bothered to admit there guilt.

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