ASU student murder trial closes

Sargeant receives a life sentence, no parole
By Melanie Davis
melanie@mountaintimes.com

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The man found guilty of killing an Appalachian State University student will not face the death penalty.

After a partial verdict was delivered on Tuesday, a Watauga County jury on Wednesday unanimously found Neil Sargeant, 26, guilty of first-degree murder, burning of personal property, robbery with a dangerous weapon and first-degree kidnapping in the 2005 suffocation death of an Appalachian State University student, Stephen William Harrington, 19.

On Thursday morning Superior Court Judge Ronald Payne sentenced Sargeant to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Harrington’s body was discovered at 7:45 on the morning of Nov. 8, 2005 in the trunk of his Subaru parked on Sleepy Hollow Lane in the Foscoe community. His arms were bound behind his back, and his face wrapped in duct tape. Harrington’s body had been set aflame in the trunk of the car.

The state medical examiner determined the cause of death to be asphyxiation due to the duct tape over his mouth and nose.

“We have been given a life sentence of pain,” Julie Harrington, Stephen’s mother, said during an address to Payne.

Julie Harrington also addressed Sargeant, calling him “cruel” and heartless.
Sargeant drew back from his seated position at the defense table, visibly upset.

Sargeant was found guilty of first-degree murder on the basis of lying in wait for a personal attack, the felony murder law which designates first-degree murder if the victim was killed during the commission of a robbery or kidnapping, and on the basis of premeditation and deliberation.

The case was set to proceed into the sentencing phase Wednesday afternoon because Sargeant was facing the death penalty.

However, the prosecution said the victim’s family had requested the state not proceed in the sentencing phase. The Harrington family said they were tired and had realized that whatever happens will not bring back their son and brother.

The lack of a sentencing phase takes the death penalty off the table for Sargeant, though he still faces life imprisonment without parole on the conviction of first-degree murder in addition to sentencing on the other convictions.

“These folks have shown more compassion than I have seen in other trials of this nature,” Payne told Sargeant.

“You should be eternally grateful. You will never be free but you will have contact with people.”

The defense attorneys’ had attempted to prove Kyle Quentin Triplett, 23, one of the co-defendants in the case, acted on his own accord and that Sargeant had very little involvement in the events leading up to Harrington’s death and the disposal of the body on Sleepy Hollow Lane.

Triplett was called to testify Friday by the prosecution.
He testified that he played an active role in the robbery, kidnapping, murder and burning of personal property in the death of Harrington. Triplett contended, however, that he did so at the direction of Sargeant.

Triplett entered into a plea agreement with the prosecution during his mid-September trial. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, a lesser offense, first-degree kidnapping, robbery with a dangerous weapon, burning of personal property and conspiracy with Sargeant to sell and/or deliver a schedule II controlled substance (cocaine).

He was sentenced to a minimum of 40 years in prison without the possibility of parole.

Matthew Brandon Dalrymple, 22, the third co-defendant in the case, was called by the defense Friday afternoon. He refused to answer any questions on the advice of his attorney to avoid self-incrimination.

During Triplett’s mid-September trial, Dalrymple had entered into an agreement with the prosecution to testify in exchange for removing the possibility of the death penalty.