Dermatologist convicted of killing wife is found dead in cell
Autopsy results may take weeks
To the man who won a conviction against him, Richard J. Sharpe was a narcissistic and manipulative murderer, a cross-dressing millionaire dermatologist from Gloucester who fatally shot his estranged wife and hatched a brazen plot from prison to kill the prosecutor.
To his appellate lawyer, Sharpe was a complicated man who deeply regretted shooting Karen Sharpe with a .22-caliber hunting rifle in July 2000 and sought to redeem himself by offering to tutor other inmates and writing scientific papers.
Shortly before 7:30 p.m. Monday, the 54-year-old inmate was found dead in his cell at the state prison in Norfolk, said Diane Wiffin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Correction. A cellmate found him hanging from a bedsheet, she said.
Sharpe was pronounced dead at 8:11 p.m. at Caritas Norwood Hospital, Wiffin said.
The State Office of the Chief Medical Examiner performed an autopsy yesterday but was awaiting the results of toxicology tests before disclosing the cause and manner of death, said David Traub, a spokesman for the Norfolk district attorney's office, which investigates prison deaths. Completion of the tests could take weeks.
Michael J. Traft, the Boston lawyer who was preparing an appeal to the Supreme Judicial Court of Sharpe's first-degree murder conviction, said authorities should investigate whether there was foul play in his death. Traft said he had spoken to his client on the phone less than two weeks ago, received a letter from him last week, and detected no signs that Sharpe was suicidal.
"He's given no indication to me that he was in any way despondent, that he would be contemplating any act of self-harm," said Traft.
In October, Sharpe arranged to have a scientific research paper he wrote posted online, Traft said. The paper, which identified Sharpe as a doctor even though he lost his license to practice medicine, was about organ regeneration. Recently, Sharpe also wrote a letter to prison officials volunteering to tutor inmates, Traft said.
"He tried, as best he could, to continue to contribute."
Sharpe attempted suicide at least twice at MCI-Cedar Junction in 2002, once by hanging himself with a shoelace and again by taking an apparent overdose of antidepressant medication, according to a Department of Correction report obtained by the Globe. Dr. Michael Welner, a forensic psychiatrist who teaches at New York University's School of Medicine, said yesterday that he examined Sharpe in 2003 because lawyers were concerned about his depression. Welner said Sharpe was reviled by other inmates and correction officers.
Robert N. Weiner, the former first assistant Essex district attorney who won the murder conviction of Sharpe in 2001, said he got a phone call at home late Monday from his former boss, Kevin M. Burke, the head of the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, informing him of Sharpe's death.
The call stirred memories of how Sharpe, a Harvard-trained dermatologist, long abused his wife during 27 years of marriage.
After she filed for divorce, obtained a restraining order, and moved with her two youngest children to a house in Wenham, Sharpe showed up there at 11:45 p.m. on July 14, 2000. A teenage baby sitter testified that Sharpe drew the hunting rifle from behind his back and fired a single shot point-blank into Karen Sharpe's chest, killing her instantly.
During the televised Superior Court murder trial in Lawrence, sensational details spilled out about how Sharpe engaged in cross-dressing. Prosecutors contended that Sharpe killed his wife because he was angry over the prospect of losing $3 million in their divorce.
Sharpe's lawyer, Joseph J. Balliro Sr., argued that Sharpe had a history of mental illness caused by childhood abuse and was insane when he killed his wife. The jury rejected the defense strategy. Sharpe was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
In 2007, Sharpe went on trial again, this time for allegedly plotting with another state prison inmate to kill Weiner.
But a Norfolk Superior Court jury acquitted Sharpe.
If Sharpe's death is ruled a suicide, it would be the first in the prison system since July 2007, said Leslie Walker, executive director of Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services.
Andrew Ryan of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.com. 