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Thread: Makhail Anthony Purpera Sentenced to Life in 2016 CO Murder of Wayland Busby, 54

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    Makhail Anthony Purpera Sentenced to Life in 2016 CO Murder of Wayland Busby, 54

    Man charged with murder in shooting death of homeless person

    DENVER — A Louisiana man has been charged in the shooting death of a homeless man in early November, the Denver District Attorney’s Office said Thursday.

    Makhail Anthony Purpera, 29, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated robbery.

    The district attorney’s office said that on or about Nov. 5, Purpura shot and killed 54-year-old Wayland Busby while trying to steal marijuana and other belongings from him.

    Busby was living in a tent near South Platte River Drive and West Dartmouth Avenue when his body was discovered by a Denver Parks ranger who was conducting a routine check of the area.

    Purpera is in custody at the Denver Detention Center. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 23.

    The district attorney’s office said Purpera was also wanted in Gonzales, La., for two counts of attempted murder in connection with an August shooting.

    http://kdvr.com/2016/12/01/man-charg...meless-person/

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    August 24, 2018

    Louisiana man convicted of murdering homeless Denver man living in tent by South Platte River

    Convicted man also a suspect in two other killings, scheduled for sentencing Oct. 19

    By Elise Schmelzer
    The Denver Post

    A Louisiana man suspected in two homicides and an attempted homicide could face the death penalty or life in prison after a jury convicted him Thursday of murdering a homeless man in 2016.

    Makhail Purpera, 30, was found guilty of first- and second-degree murder after seven days of trial, according to a news release from the Denver District Attorney’s office.

    Purpera shot and killed 54-year-old Wayland Busby on Nov. 5, 2016, while trying to steal Busby’s marijuana and other possessions, officials said. Busby was living in a tent by the intersection of South Platte Drive and Dartmouth Avenue in Englewood when he was killed.

    A Denver Park Ranger found Busby’s body during a routine check of the area. Busby collected scrap metal and possibly panned for gold.

    Purpera’s sentencing for the murder is scheduled for Oct. 19. He faces maximum penalties of life imprisonment or the death penalty.

    Prosecutors also charged him with murder and aggravated robbery on suspicion of the killing another man. In February 2017, a passerby found the remains of Patrick Murphy in a pond near the intersection of South Broadway and West Jefferson Avenue. Police said the body could have been in the pond since November 2016. Murphy had been shot in the head.

    Purpera was arrested on suspicion in Murphy’s death while he was in jail for Busby’s killing. He is expected to appear in court in October for a hearing on the nine charges he faces in connection to Murphy’s killing.

    Prosecutors previously said Purpera was also wanted in Gonzales, Louisiana, for two counts of attempted murder.

    https://www.denverpost.com/2018/08/2...eless-killing/

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    Trial pushed to next year for Englewood duck-pond murder suspect

    Mikhail Anthony Purpera was convicted in Denver in a separate case

    By Ellis Arnold
    The Englewood Herald

    The suspect accused of killing an Englewood man who was found dead in a pond two years ago has had his trial moved from November to March.

    Mikhail Anthony Purpera, 31, allegedly shot Patrick Murphy, 33, to death on Nov. 12, 2016, according to evidence presented at a 2017 preliminary hearing. He faces several charges, including first-degree felony murder, aggravated robbery and possession of a controlled substance, according to the 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office.

    Purpera was recently convicted in Denver of second-degree murder in a different case and was set for sentencing on Nov. 19.

    In the Englewood case, a judge in November 2017 also decided Purpera would face a count of murder with extreme indifference — another first-degree murder charge.

    “A jury could conclude from the evidence that defendant did not care who his victim was; he simply wanted to satiate a depraved desire to destroy human life,” Judge Phillip Douglass wrote for the Arapahoe County District Court.

    Purpera's trial was scheduled to run in November but was rescheduled for mid-March, according to the DA's office.

    Here's a look at the details leading up to the trial.

    Englewood police Detective Brian Taylor testified in court in 2017 that a man who knew Purpera told him in an interview that Purpera killed Murphy “for the fun of it, if you will — for no reason.” The man told police that Purpera tossed a blood-covered hat — allegedly Murphy's — at him on Nov. 12, 2016. Purpera called the bloody hat a “present” and said he liked the look on the man's face, according to statements the man gave police.

    That man also said Purpera showed him two shell casings and called them “trophies,” according to police interviews. Police found that the gun Purpera had when arrested was linked to casings he also possessed at the time, and also consistent with the bullets found at the scene of the death of 54-year-old homeless man Wayland Busby, at a transient campsite along the west bank of the South Platte River just outside Englewood. Purpera was suspected of killing Busby on or around Nov. 5, 2016, according to his Englewood arrest affidavit.

    Purpera was found guilty of second-degree murder and first-degree felony murder in Denver District Court Aug. 23 in that case, according to Kristin Wood, district administrator. He was acquitted of an aggravated robbery charge, Wood said. His first name is spelled “Makhail” in Denver records.

    Authorities found Murphy’s body in the suspected area of his death, in what’s known as the "duck pond" northwest of the interchange of South Broadway and U.S. Highway 285 in Englewood. Police initially searched the area in November 2016 but did not find a body. Taylor told the court that recent snow at the time hindered the search. Murphy’s body wasn't found until Feb. 11, 2017, when a pedestrian spotted it after the pond was drained for maintenance.

    At the 2017 hearing, Taylor, the detective, testified that a man who said he knew Purpera and knew of Murphy said Murphy often bought drugs from Purpera.

    Purpera also faces charges of possession of a weapon by a previous offender, resisting arrest, obstructing a law enforcement officer, possessing drug paraphernalia and theft of less than $50 in the Englewood case, according to the DA's office.

    Louisiana officials had previously issued a warrant for Purpera's arrest for two counts of attempted murder in connection with an Aug. 22, 2016, shooting in that state. Police in Gonzales, Louisiana, chased down tips that Purpera had fled to Mississippi and Mexico, the local Advocate newspaper reported, but while searching Purpera upon arrest, Englewood police found Greyhound bus tickets showing him arriving in Denver Aug. 31, 2016, according to the arrest affidavit.

    Police arrested Purpera after a report the night of Nov. 12, 2016, about shoplifting at the Walmart at 601 Englewood Parkway, according to the affidavit.

    At the time of the Gonzales shooting in August, Purpera had been out of prison for four months after a five-year sentence for second-degree battery and other charges from prior convictions, The Advocate reported.

    http://englewoodherald.net/stories/e...n-trial,272493

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    Louisiana man suspected in multiple murders sentenced to life in prison for killing Denver homeless man

    Purpera also faces charges in death of Englewood man

    By Elise Schmelzer
    The Denver Post

    A Louisiana man will spend the rest of his life in prison after a Denver judge sentenced him Monday for the murder of a homeless man he shot and killed during a robbery.

    A jury convicted Makhail Purpera, 31, in August of first- and second-degree murder for killing 54-year-old Wayland Busby on Nov. 5, 2016, according to a news release from the Denver District Attorney’s office. He will not have to option of parole while he serves his sentence.

    Busby lived in a tent by the South Platte River near the intersection with Dartmouth Avenue in south Denver where he collected scrap metal. Purpera was attempting to steal Busby’s possessions when he shot and killed Busby, police said.

    A Denver park ranger found Busby’s body.

    Purpera faces another murder charge in connection to the killing of Patrick Murphy, whose body was found in February 2017 in a Englewood duck pond. Purpera was already in police custody for Busby’s killing when prosecutors added the charges in Murphy’s death.

    He is scheduled to appear for a hearing in that case in February, said Vikki Migoya, spokeswoman for the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

    Murphy had been shot in the back of the head, and his body may have been in the pond for nearly four months, police have said.

    Prosecutors previously said Purpera was also wanted in Louisiana for two counts of attempted murder.

    https://www.denverpost.com/2018/11/2...meless-murder/

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    Louisiana fugitive convicted of second murder in Colorado, will receive second life sentence

    Mikhail Purpera is scheduled to be sentenced in the latest murder case April 23

    By Saja Hindi
    The Denver Post

    An Arapahoe County jury found a fugitive wanted for attempted murder in Louisiana guilty of killing an Englewood man, his second murder in Colorado.

    The jury convicted Mikhail Anthony Purpera, 31, on Friday of first-degree murder in the killing of Patrick Murphy, 33, according to a news release from the Arapahoe County District Attorney’s Office.

    He was convicted of first-degree felony murder, first-degree murder with extreme indifference, aggravated robbery, possession of a weapon by a previous offender, possession of a controlled substance, obstructing a peace officer, resisting arrest and theft.

    He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 23.

    Purpera is facing another life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole.

    The district attorney’s office said Purpera fled Louisiana in August 2016 as he was being pursued by police on allegations of two counts of attempted murder.

    He was arrested on Nov. 12, 2016, by Englewood police on suspicion of shoplifting, and he was found with a loaded .40 caliber gun as well as Murphy’s health care card and cell phone, the release stated.

    The handgun was tied to the shooting death of Wayland Busby, a 54-year-old transient man found dead on Nov. 5, 2016, in Denver, as well as to the shooting in Louisiana. Purpera was found guilty of first-degree felony murder in Busby’s death by a Denver jury in August 2018, and he was sentenced that November to life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to the DA’s office.

    A witness told detectives that Purpera killed Busby because he wanted to steal his marijuana, the release said.

    Witnesses told detectives during interviews related to Busby’s death that Purpera said he killed a man near a pond in Englewood, according to the district attorney’s office. A witness said he killed Murphy to get a rush, the release said.

    Police did not find a body during the November search of the pond, which had been iced over.

    In February 2017, when the pond was drained, a bystander saw a body and reported it to Englewood police. The body was identified as that of Murphy, who had been reported missing since Nov. 12, 2016, the DA’s office said. He had been shot in the head.

    “Law enforcement officers, scientific experts and brave witnesses from across county and state lines banded together in the quest for justice. The slayings of Patrick Murphy and Wayland Busby were not the first times the defendant pulled a trigger, nor would they have been the last,” said Deputy District Attorney Michael Mauro in the news release.

    https://www.denverpost.com/2019/03/2...r-convictions/

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    Killer tries to flee Arapahoe County courtroom as family testifies during sentencing hearing

    Patrick Murphy’s aunt called her nephews killer a sociopath

    By Saja Hindi
    The Denver Post

    Lauri Murphy read a letter to her nephew’s killer Tuesday afternoon calling the man a sociopath with no redeeming qualities, and as she spoke the killer, who was shackled in chains and handcuffs, tried to walk out of the courtroom, refusing to listen as she wished him a life of misery in prison.

    Deputies rushed to restrain Mikhail Purpera and briefly took him to the Arapahoe County jail. Upon Purpera’s return, Arapahoe County District Court Judge Ryan Stuart threatened to shackle Purpera to a chair if he did not stay seated to listen to his victim’s family.

    “I understand this is a difficult day for you,” Stuart said. “But I have done nothing but treat you with respect and I demand the same.”

    Purpera, 31, was sentenced to life in prison without parole Tuesday for killing Patrick Murphy, 33, of Englewood, in 2016. Purpera now has been convicted of killing two Colorado men, and he has been accused of two attempted murders in Louisiana.

    An Arapahoe County jury convicted Purpera last month of first-degree felony murder, first-degree murder with extreme indifference, aggravated robbery, possession of a weapon by a previous offender, possession of a controlled substance, obstructing a peace officer, resisting arrest and theft in Murphy’s death. In November, he was sentenced to life in prison for the 2016 killing of Wayland Busby, a homeless man in Denver.

    During the sentencing, Michael Murphy spoke of the pride he had in his son, Patrick.

    Patrick Murphy had spent his younger days living a vagabond life and ran into trouble, but he had just graduated from Metro State University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a 3.2 grade point average, his father told the court.

    “During his last two semesters, he excelled and matured,” the dad said. “I am so, so proud of his accomplishments and achievements … and growth.”

    As his parents’ only child, Patrick Murphy was a large part of both their lives.

    “I hope Mr. Purpera has a great deal of time to think about what he’s done,” Michael Murphy said.

    Patrick Murphy’s mother, Cheryl, told the judge how difficult it was to not only lose a son but in such a violent way.

    The last time she saw her son was in October 2016, the month before he was killed, when he was helping her around the house. She will never forget how cheerful he was.

    “Patrick was everything I ever wanted in a son,” she said. “There is emptiness where he used to be. There is silence where his voice was once heard.”

    Lauri Murphy, the aunt, said her nephew had “a great life ahead of him.”

    But Purpera cut that short, as he did with Busby. Both people deserved their lives more than the killer, she said.

    “May your life be short and brutal,” Lauri Murphy said.

    https://www.denverpost.com/2019/04/2...orado-murders/

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