Leppanen found guilty of murder, faces 25-to-life sentence

SCHENECTADY — Andrell Leppanen was found guilty of murder Friday for killing his stepfather last year by setting him on fire.

The jury found Leppanen intended to kill Kevin Hawkins when he doused Hawkins with gasoline and lit him ablaze.

Leppanen’s defense had sought a lesser conviction for manslaughter, arguing that Leppanen did not intend to cause Hawkins’ death and cited Leppanen’s long-documented mental health history.

But prosecutors argued Leppanen made a series of choices to do what he did, transported the gasoline, sought Hawkins out and not only threw a lit cigarette on him, but chased the fleeing Hawkins with a lighter.

The jury returned its verdict after about a day and a half of deliberations. Attorneys met with jury members afterward and indicated they fully analyzed the defense arguments, but ultimately rejected them.

“They said they were very confident that this is the correct justice to be served in this case,” prosecutor Christina Tremante-Pelham said.

Leppanen now faces up to 25 years to life in prison at his January sentencing.

The attack happened Aug. 26, 2016, at the 925 Bridge St. apartment where Leppanen lived with his mother and Hawkins. After he chased the burning Hawkins from the house, Leppanen fled. The 59-year-old Hawkins ran to a neighboring house for help. Paramedics flew Hawkins to Westchester Medical Center’s burn unit, where Hawkins later died.

When investigators caught up with Leppanen, he eventually told them of animosity he had with Hawkins, Tremante-Pelham has said. He felt demeaned by Hawkins, despised him and believed he was evil, Tremante-Pelham said.

Though Hawkins was Leppanen’s stepfather, he raised Leppanen since the age of 2, according to family members. Hawkins owned Keys World, a store that sells clothing and other items on Albany Street. He was known to patrons and others simply as “Uncle Kev,” a good-natured and caring man who helped others.

Leppanen underwent treatment and took medication since 2013 for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Episodes continued up until days before the attack, defense attorney Stephen Signore said. Leppanen’s mother, Latonia Hawkins, has said Leppanen displayed aggression and indicated problems with both his medication and mood in the weeks leading up to the attack. He twice checked himself in to Ellis Hospital over that time, signing himself out the second time hours after arriving, she said.

Signore said after the verdict that he had hoped for the manslaughter verdict, that he intended to injure, not kill. That would have limited Leppanen’s sentence to up to 25 years. “But they chose to go differently,” Signore said.

Signore did not pursue a different mental health defense that, if successful, would have left Leppanan confined to a secure mental health facility. Signore said he did not believe it fit the case.

Tremante-Pelham noted that two experts testified at the trial that, despite his mental health history, Leppenan still possessed the capacity to know what he was doing.

“No one discounted that he was mentally ill, including the jury,” Tremante-Pelham said. “We can see it. But he clearly understood what he was doing, the nature and consequences of what he was doing, that he was wrong and that he intended to do it. And they said they based that on his own statements and what he did.”

Judge Michael V. Coccoma presided.

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