Thursday, July 21, 2011
Staggs Sentencing Rescheduled For August 1
A sentencing hearing for a Lawrence County native convicted last month in connection with the 1992 murder of Loretto resident Joann Rigling, has been postponed.
On June 23 a jury pronounced Curtis Staggs, 47, of Frederickstown, Missouri, guilty of the crimes of first degree murder, felony murder and aggravated robbery. Judge Stella Hargrove had scheduled sentencing for Thursday morning. That hearing, however, was rescheduled.
Prosecutors allege that Joann Rigling’s husband, Phillip Rigling, 74, of Lawrenceburg. solicited, then paid Staggs $50,000 to kill his wife. Joann Rigling, age 57, was working inside her market, Phil’s One Stop, on the morning of June 19, 1992, when she was shot and killed. The culprit made off with the store’s cash register.
Phillip Rigling has been indicted on charges of criminal responsibility for first degree murder, felony murder, and aggravated robbery. He is scheduled to stand trial in Lawrence County Circuit Court on December 5, 2011.
Lawrence residents Jimmy Dale Hogan and Tammy Smith were convicted in connection with the murder and subsequently served sentences incarcerated through the Tennessee Department of Corrections.
It was while prosecutors were preparing last year, for a new trial granted to Hogan that they received information regarding the involvement of Staggs and Phillip Rigling.
Sentencing for Staggs has been rescheduled for August 1, 2011.
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