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Jury Finds Sprout Guilty Of Murder

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By TODD LESKANIC

tleskanic@tampatrib.com

Published: November 21, 2008

  Sharon Sprout

NEW PORT RICHEY - Jurors deliberated for four hours Thursday before finding Sharon Sprout guilty of second-degree murder in the 2004 killing of her longtime boyfriend, Anthony Candiano.

She will likely be sentenced to life in prison at a hearing Dec. 23.

Sprout, 51, shot Candiano in the head as he slept in their Regency Park home on July 10, 2004. Early that morning, Sprout retrieved a .38-caliber pistol from a desk in another bedroom.

She then went into the master bedroom, pointed the gun behind Candiano's right ear and pulled the trigger.

The bullet cut a path through Candiano's brain, instantly killing the 64-year-old.

The main question debated during the trial wasn't whether Sprout killed Candiano.

Even her attorney, Assistant Public Defender Phil Cohen, conceded that his client was the shooter.

But why did she do it?

Assistant State Attorney Eva Vergos argued Sprout killed Candiano because he refused to marry her and planned to end the relationship.

Sprout also feared Candiano was seeing other women, Vergos said. She was angry, insecure and jealous, insisting Candiano wear a wedding ring even though they weren't married.

The building anger resulted in her decision to shoot her boyfriend of 29 years, Vergos said.

"She went to a desk, pulled out a gun, checked to see if it was loaded and went back to the bedroom," Vergos said. "She kneeled on the bed and put the gun within inches of his head and pulled the trigger.

"And after that, what did she do? She went around the house and put down pictures of his family members. Why? Because that's what she did when she was mad at Tony. That's ill will, hatred. That's murder in the second degree."

The jury of five men and one woman agreed, much to the relief of Candiano's family.

"Justice was served," said his daughter, Carol Candiano, who flew from New York with other family members to attend Sprout's trial.

Cohen abandoned any hope for a not guilty verdict, opting instead to argue that Sprout was guilty of the lesser crime of manslaughter.

The legal difference is simple: Murder requires malice, spite or ill will; manslaughter doesn't.

Cohen argued in his closing that the state had shown the panel no evidence that Sprout killed Candiano because she hated him.

"Sometimes, there just may not be explanations for some things," Cohen told jurors in his closing.

Earlier this year, Cohen filed a notice that he intended to argue that Sprout killed Candiano because she suffered from battered spouse syndrome. Sprout initially told investigators that she shot Candiano because he had abused her.

However, evidence of any physical abuse was nil.

Testimony showed that Sprout had her own car, credit cards, e-mail accounts and friends and could have left Candiano had she been so inclined.

Cohen also chose not to pursue the battered wife defense and instead staked the defense on statements Sprout made to two detectives shortly after the killing. In them, she indicated she wasn't excited about the possibility of marrying Candiano after having seen friends married and divorced shortly thereafter.

The interview also was filled with Sprout's inconsistent statements about what happened on the morning of the murder.

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

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