Jan 6, 2009 5:09 pm US/Eastern
Cross-Dressing Doctor Found Dead In Prison
NORFOLK (WBZ) ―
Richard Sharpe, a cross-dressing dermatologist serving life in prison for murder, was found hanging in his cell Monday night.
Department of Correction spokeswoman Diane Wiffin said Sharpe was found by his cellmate at MCI-Norfolk at about 7:30 p.m.
"He tied a bedsheet to the top bunk," Wiffin said.
Sharpe was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead at 8:11 p.m.
A spokesman for the Norfolk District attorney said an autopsy Tuesday listed the cause and manner of Sharpe's death as "undetermined pending toxicology tests."
Those test results aren't expected to be available for several weeks.
HISTORY OF TRIALS
Sharpe, a Gloucester dermatologist, was convicted in 2001 of shooting and killing his wife at close range with a rifle in her Wenham home in July 2000.
A Norfolk Superior Court jury acquitted him in 2007 on charges he tried to hire a hitman to kill Robert Weiner, a former assistant district attorney.
Prosecutors alleged Sharpe believed that having Weiner killed would increase his chances of overturning the murder conviction on appeal.
WIFE'S MURDER
Sharpe, 54, was sentenced in 2001 to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of his estranged wife, Karen.
The case drew national media attention when photographs of Sharpe wearing slinky dresses and fishnet stockings were widely published after his arrest.
His wife had said in affidavits that her husband stole her birth control pills in an effort to enlarge his breasts.
Sharpe shot her at close range with a hunting rifle, and prosecutors successfully argued it was because he was angry over the prospect of losing $3 million in their divorce.
Sharpe was a member of the Harvard Medical School faculty who ran several businesses outside his medical practice and parlayed his earnings into millions in the stock market.
More Background On The Murder
MENTAL ILLNESS
His attorney argued that Sharpe had a history of mental illness caused by childhood abuse, and used a temporary insanity defense.
Sharpe attempted to hang himself during his first year of incarceration in March 2002 at MCI-Cedar Junction in Walpole.
He was also held for a time at Bridgewater State Hospital.
Sharpe's appeals attorney, Michael Traft, told WBZ Radio there was no indication that Sharpe was despondent recently.
REACTION
The attorneys for Karen Sharpe, Atwood & Cherny, P.C., released a brief statement Tuesday:
"This is a sad ending to a tragic tale of deceit, betrayal and murder. Our thoughts today are with the children and family of Karen Sharpe, whose life was tragically ended by Richard Sharpe in 2000. Hopefully Richard Sharpe's death brings some closure to this nightmare for three Sharpe children."
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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