Death penalty candidate Leon Lamar Tripp was back in court Friday, along with a dozen other Richmond County inmates charged with possessing contraband at Webster Detention Center.
Tripp, 44, was charged with possessing a deadly weapon in the jail. He and the other inmates who appeared before Magistrate Judge H. Scott Allen for possessing drugs, shanks or cell phones were denied bond.
Already jailed on serious charges, “I find there is a likelihood of you committing further crimes,” Allen said to Tripp.
Tripp married the mother of LaTania Janell Carwell in 2015 and in 2017 became the prime suspect in Carwell’s kidnapping and murder. Law enforcement and the community searched for Carwell for more than 10 months before discovering her body March 8, 2018, in a shallow grave near her home in the Belle Meade area.
Tripp was indicted for murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, cruelty to children and concealing a death. Former District Attorney Natalie Paine filed notice of the intent to seek the death penalty if he’s convicted of murder.
Tanya Faye Tripp, Carwell’s mother who told police her daughter left with Leon Tripp to help a friend with car trouble, was indicted for murder in the second degree, concealing a death and hindering the apprehension of her husband.
As they enter their sixth year awaiting trial, little has happened in the case since March, when Chief Superior Court Judge Daniel J. Craig denied a motion to dismiss Leon Tripp’s indictment filed by his capital defender Laura Cobb.
Cobb contended Tripp’s constitutional rights had been violated when he spoke with attorney Peter Johnson in a sheriff’s interview room that may have been recorded or viewed live by law enforcement.
Craig denied the motion but ordered any statements Tripp made that day after Johnson’s visit not be admitted at trial.
