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Shooting Suspect Painted As 'Cold'

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By TODD LESKANIC

tleskanic@tampatrib.com

Published: November 19, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - Sharon Sprout's words about longtime boyfriend Tony Candiano might have seemed a bit strange when she uttered them back in early 2004.

But prosecutors trying the second-degree murder case against Sprout this week contend they were more prophetic than anything else.

Dominick Marchica, a friend of Candiano's, testified Tuesday to Sprout's response when he asked her how much she loved Candiano.

"She turned and looked at me and with a cold, dead look in her eye, she said, 'I love him to death, and if I can't have him nobody else will,'" Marchica said.

A short time later, on July 10, 2004, Candiano was shot to death as he slept inside the Regency Park home he shared with Sprout. Candiano was 64 and in good health. He and Sprout had been together for 29 years but had never married.

That was a bone of contention between the two, said Assistant State Attorney Eva Vergos. Candiano didn't want to get married - he had been married and divorced years before. Sprout, 51, wanted marriage and killed Candiano when she realized he wasn't going to marry her and planned to leave her, Vergos said.

Marchica, who knew Candiano for more than a decade, added credence to that contention in his testimony Tuesday.

"He wasn't happy with the relationship, and he wanted to move on," Marchica testified.

Vergos presented evidence Tuesday that suggested Sprout knew or at least thought Candiano was cheating on her and planned to leave. Among the papers Candiano's family members found when they searched the house after his death were three Internet printouts describing ways to determine whether a mate is cheating.

Jurors also were shown letters from Sprout to Candiano. One read, "You promised me you would wear the wedding ring, and now you say, 'I'll put it on when I remember.'

" Another read, "As we grow older, as we continue to change with age, there is one thing that will never change. I will always keep falling in love with you."

Assistant Public Defender Phil Cohen didn't make an opening statement Monday, opting instead to do so before he puts on evidence later this week. Court filings indicate he plans to argue that Sprout killed Candiano because he abused her for years.

Sprout told investigators of the abuse in interviews after the shooting but her accounts of what happened inside the house on the night of the shooting varied. At one point, she said Candiano shot himself. Later, she said the couple was in a struggle over the gun when it went off.

What hasn't been disputed is that Sprout sat inside the house for about 30 hours before she called 911. She told investigators she played computer solitaire, sent e-mail and stared out a window in the time between Candiano's death and her call to authorities.

Sprout faces a life sentence if she is convicted of second-degree murder.

Reporter Todd Leskanic can be reached at (727) 815-1084.

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