Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 1, 1995 TAG: 9506010095
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
Moments earlier, Armijo said, Coon had attempted to molest him.
Shocked, Armijo said he'd run to the kitchen of Coon's Callaway-area home, where he tried unsuccessfully to unlock a back door. Armijo said that's when Coon came after him and he grabbed the frying pan.
Then, Armijo said, he ``freaked out.''
``I was in a state of mind that I've never been in before,'' he said Wednesday during his trial.
Armijo, 28, was found guilty of second-degree murder. A Franklin County jury recommended a sentence of 18 years. Armijo will be sentenced later.
It was after 1 a.m. Dec. 17 when, Armijo said, he found himself trapped in Coon's house - where he had rented a room for just six days.
After bopping Coon in the head, kicking him in the chest and hitting him on the jaw, Armijo said he used two knives he had grabbed from a holder on the kitchen counter to stab his landlord several times as they struggled on the couch in the living room.
One knife cut Coon's throat so deeply that his spine was visible.
Armijo told a Franklin County jury that he killed Coon, 56, in self-defense.
Franklin County Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Hapgood said Armijo's actions were deliberate, malicious and premeditated, and deserved a first-degree murder conviction.
The jury settled on second-degree murder, which excludes premeditation.
Armijo's attorney, Wayne Inge, called two witnesses Wednesday - Coon's ex-wife and a 20-year-old Ferrum student - who gave accounts confirming that Coon was a homosexual.
Coon's wife, Martha, said she returned home early from church one Sunday last summer and found Coon molesting a 14-year-old boy. Martha Coon, who moved out of the house shortly after the incident, said she believes the act was consensual.
Several months later, the Ferrum College student said he was befriended by Coon, who worked as a maintenance man on the campus. After visiting Coon's house once to drink beer, the student said, he returned several days later.
``He got me drunk and he molested me,'' the student said, adding that he was afraid to try to stop Coon.
The student said Coon began sending him love letters through the campus mail.
The school fired Coon when administrators learned about the incident, the student said.
The last person to take the stand Wednesday was Armijo. The most intense moments of the trial took place as Hapgood relentlessly popped questions to try to poke holes in Armijo's account.
And Armijo had no answers for several discrepancies between his testimony and the what investigators found at Coon's home.
Armijo said that after he stabbed Coon to death, he wrapped the body in a blanket and dragged it to Coon's car. He opened the trunk with a screwdriver and dumped the body inside.
Investigators said they found no drag marks in the mud outside Coon's home. The army-green blanket covering the body had no mud on it either, they said.
Armijo left Coon's house the night of Dec. 16 and rode around Franklin County with two other men, he said. As part of a 17-page statement he gave to the investigators the day of the murder, Armijo said he never left the house.
But, he said Wednesday he was inside Coon's home as daylight broke on Dec. 17. He poured himself some Pepsi and sat down on the couch, now soaked with Coon's blood.
On the carpet in front of the couch was a burgundy pool of blood the size of a throw rug.
Armijo waited until 12:15 p.m. to call the Sheriff's Department to report the killing.
Hapgood asked him what he was doing from the time the sun came up until after lunch.
Replied Armijo:
``I just sat there and cried and smoked cigarettes.''
by CNB