Thursday, June 23, 2011
Staggs Found Guilty In 1992 Murder For Hire
After deliberating throughout the afternoon Thursday, jurors pronounced a Missouri man guilty in connection with the 1992 murder for hire death of Loretto resident Joann Rigling.
Curtis Staggs, 47, of Frederickstown, Missouri, and a native of Lawrence County, Tennessee, was indicted by a Lawrence County Grand Jury in August of last year on charges of first degree murder, felony murder, and aggravated robbery.
Also indicted was Joann Rigling’s husband, Phillip Rigling, 74, of Lawrenceburg. Phillip Rigling faces charges of criminal responsibility for first degree murder, felony murder, and aggravated robbery. Prosecutors allege that Rigling solicited, then paid Staggs $50,000 to kill his wife.
On the morning of June 19, 1992 Joann Rigling, age 57, was working inside Phil’s One Stop, a market owned by she and her husband, when she was shot and killed. The culprit then made off with the store’s cash register.
Lawrence residents Jimmy Dale Hogan and Tammy Smith were later convicted in connection with the murder.
Hogan was convicted during a second trial in 1997 on charges of first degree murder and especially aggravated robbery. He was given a life sentence on the murder count and twenty years on the burglary conviction.
Tammy Smith was sentenced to 23 years in prison after entering a best interest guilty plea to a charge of second degree murder. She has since been released.
Hogan was subsequently granted a new trial due to “ineffective counsel.” It was while preparing for that trial last year that Hogan told investigators it was Staggs who actually committed the murder.
Hogan had already served 16 years of the 20-year sentence. In exchange for his testimony, Hogan was given a plea arrangement that will allow him to be released in four more years.
Judge Stella Hargrove has scheduled Staggs’ sentencing hearing for 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, July 21.
Trial for Phillip Rigling is slated for December 5.
