"She was killed in a frenzy"

A man accused of wheeling his deceased girlfriend down the street in a shopping cart to dump her body near a trash bin was found guilty of first-degree murder this week.

Kirk Leon Stapleton, 54, was declared guilty of beating to death Juanita Jeanette Kawash, 47, at the conclusion of a one-week trial, on October 22.  The jury of seven women and five men deliberated for almost a full day.

Sheriff’s detective Bill Anderson testified that he has eight minutes of surveillance video showing Stapleton pushing a shopping cart down a street on August 18, 2013, to discard “something very heavy." A body covered in trash bags was found behind a business located at 1461 North Santa Fe Avenue in Vista.

The body of Kawash was identified by fingerprints. Witnesses testified that the deceased woman was a “known prostitute” and drug addict.

Stapleton lived in a home on Goodwin Drive, about a half mile from where the body was found, detective Anderson said.

Stapleton has at least six convictions in San Diego County, starting in 1986, for stolen vehicle, drugs, and theft, according to records.

The defense attorney for Stapleton argued that he was “provoked” before the killing, because he learned the woman had exposed him to AIDS.

“That’s a death sentence,” said defender Deborah Kirkwood.

Stapleton had found a document verifying that the woman’s ex-boyfriend was HIV positive, the attorney said, and then he “goes ballistic.”  The attorney said Stapleton used his “bare hands” and “it was impulsive, she was killed in a frenzy.”

Those circumstances allow for a lesser degree of homicide, perhaps second-degree murder or manslaughter, Kirkwood told the jury. “Yeah, he was beating her, but when he beat her, he didn’t intend to kill her,” she said in her closing argument.

Prosecutor Jeff Dort said Stapleton is facing a possible prison sentence of 26 years to life at his next court date, December 8, in San Diego’s North County Superior Court.