Genealogy Kittrell » Tabatha LaJune Churchill K FgmcBrnyvllOKBu 4 (1984-2000)

Personal data Tabatha LaJune Churchill K FgmcBrnyvllOKBu 4 

• She was born on August 16, 1984 in Huntington Park, Los Angeles County, California.
• She died on June 25, 2000 in Ardmore, Carter County, Oklahoma, she was 15 years old.
• She is buried in Burneyville Cemetery, Burneyville, Love County, Oklahoma.
• A child of (Not public) and (Not public)
• This information was last updated on October 16, 2011.

Household of Tabatha LaJune Churchill K FgmcBrnyvllOKBu 4

Child(ren):

1. (Not public)

Notes about Tabatha LaJune Churchill K FgmcBrnyvllOKBu 4

Tabatha L. Churchill
• MARIETTA -- Services for Tabatha LaJune Churchill, 15, Ardmore, will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Eastside Baptist Church with the Rev. Bob Wright officiating. Interment will be at Burneyville Cemetery.
Born Aug. 16, 1984, at Huntington Park, Calif., she died June 25, 2000, in Ardmore.
She had lived in Ardmore the past four years and was a student at Take II Academy where she was on the student council, took drama and helped operate the student store. Her faith was Pentecostal.
Survivors include her son, Zachariah, of the home; her mother and stepfather, Barbie and Michael Agan, Ardmore; her father, Duane S. Churchill, Los Angeles; three sisters, Jamie R., Jennie R. and Sarah L. Churchill; and stepbrother, Chris Agan, all of the home; and grandparents, Betty Churchill, South Gate, Calif., Sue Cavitt, Marietta, and Chester and Barbara Agan, Ardmore.
Bearers will be A.C Hembree, Walter Lytle, J.D. Harris, Chris Gordon, Daniel and James Cavitt. Honorary bearers are Bobby Skaggs, Chester Agan, Charles Kittrell and Mat Opshal.
The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 tonight at Kennedy Funeral Home, Marietta.
[ardmoreite.com/stories/062700/obi_churchill.shtml]

To be posted###

Jury
decides Lehman guilty of killing teen

By href="mailto:(XXXXX@XXXX.XXX)">Marsha Miller BYLINE1>
News Editor

Carter County jurors deliberated 61/2 hours
Monday before returning a guilty verdict against Jessica Lehman for the June
2000 slaying of Tabitha Churchill.

While the jury convicted the 19-year-old, accused of taking a knife to a fist
fight and then fatally stabbing the teen mom, the jury told Associate District
Judge Lee Card they were unable to reach a decision concerning her punishment.
The stalemate puts sentencing in Card's hands. Card set a sentencing hearing for
10:30 a.m. Oct. 3. Lehman faces as little as four years behind bars or as much
as life in prison.

Lehman showed little emotion as the 9 p.m. verdict finding her guilty of
first-degree manslaughter was read. But Monday afternoon, as prosecutors and her
defense attorney presented their final arguments in the case, she occasionally
wiped tears from her cheeks.

Lehman's defense attorney Ed Frock urged jurors to turn their attention to
the facts of the case.

"You're not here to make moral judgments," Frock said. "You're here to make a
factual judgment."

Frock told the jury his client had acted in self-defense when she stabbed the
victim three times in the chest on the night of June 25, 2000, near the
intersection of South Washington and Stanley streets. The attorney called Lehman
the "victim" in the case.

"Jessica was always the one who ran away. Regardless of who said what ...
Jessica may have yelled something, but she was always the one who ran," Frock
said. "Her brother had hit her before. Dustin Hayes had hurt her before, and
Churchill had thrown rocks at her. Put yourself in Jessica's place. If you're
fighting with a person and you see two boys coming at you, what do your
instincts tell you? Before you get hurt, before you get killed, take action.

"My mother told me 30 years ago. She told me again 20 years ago, 'You reap
what you sow.' In this case the state wants you to blame the harvester not the
cultivator. She did what she had to. The same thing you would do -- nothing
more, nothing less."

Assistant District Attorney Craig Ladd challenged Frock's self-defense theory
telling the jury the evidence was clear. Ladd pointed to Lehman's videotaped
confession.

"She said in the interview she was not afraid of Tabitha Churchill ... She
said she considered Dustin Hayes more of a threat than Tabitha, but later, on
the tape, she says she wants Hayes (her former boyfriend) back. Nobody stabbed
Tabitha Churchill except Jessica Lehman," Ladd said.

Encouraging the jury to "watch the tape," Ladd pointed out the defendant
herself admitted no one else was involved in the fray that cost the 15-year-old
victim her life.

"Jessica Lehman was not in fear for her life ... It's clear well beyond a
reasonable doubt ... She had the knife hidden and never warned the victim. What
it boils down to is an unreasonable amount of force," Ladd said, showing the
jury first photos of Lehman. "There's not a scratch on her." Then, he showed a
photo of the victim's three stab wounds and facial injuries. Comparing the two
photos, Ladd said, "This -- no injuries doesn't justify this."

Following the jury's verdict, Lehman who had been free on bond was remanded
to the custody of the Carter County Sheriff's Office and escorted to the county
jail where she will be held until formal sentencing.

A short time later Churchill's mother, style="COLOR: black; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffff66">Barbie Agan, talked about
the case, saying while she was pleased by the jury's verdict, she did not feel
justice had yet been served.

Holding her slain daughter's toddler son in her arms she said, "Whenever they
give her (Lehman) at least 10 years and she does every bit of it, then justice
will be served although nothing will bring Tabitha back."

Agan said she plans to raise her grandson.

"Right now, I've got five other kids to raise and I'm going to college. When
I get out of college, I will be making enough money and I plan to put him
(grandson) in private school. I plan that he will be going to college," she
said.

Agan is currently working toward a degree in forensic science.

Marsha Miller can be contacted at (XXXXX@XXXX.XXX) or by calling (580)
221-6529.

Do you have supplementary information, corrections or questions with regards to Tabatha LaJune Churchill K FgmcBrnyvllOKBu 4?
The author of this publication would love to hear from you!

Timeline Tabatha LaJune Churchill K FgmcBrnyvllOKBu 4

Click on the names for more info. Symbols used:  grandparents    parents    brothers/sisters    children