Guy Biggs; the murderous valor thief

We wrote about Guy Biggs a few years ago. He planned to kill his wife’s lover by having her lure him to their home, where Biggs would shoot him and then wound himself, afterwards his wife would testify that the lover was killed in self-defense. The plot fell apart when Biggs missed his intended target, but scored a hit when he shot himself. The police sorted out the actual story and charged Biggs with Attempted First Degree Murder – in Tennessee, that’s 15-25 years in prison.

For a while, while pending trial, Biggs was released on bond, (probably for medical treatment without forcing Henry County to foot the bill). He stayed at home for a while, but later was returned to jail to await trial when he violated conditions of the bond – specifically that he had contacted his then-wife.

At trial, Biggs took the stand, admitted firing the shot, but claimed to have missed on purpose. In support of that theory, he actually left the courtroom, went home with a police escort, recovered “his DD 214” and brought it back to the courtroom. He read and explained to the jury that as a highly decorated veteran (Silver Star), combat wounded, and expert of every weapon known to man, he missed shooting the lover on purpose.

The prosecutor was caught flat-footed and didn’t have time to check the veracity of the DD214, so the case went to the jury which found Biggs guilty of the lesser charge, Attempted Second Degree Murder, which carried an 8-12 years term behind bars. By the time sentencing came around, the prosecutor proved that the DD214 that Biggs had presented during trial had been forged. The judge was pretty upset, so Biggs got the max – 12 years.

It turns out that when he was out of jail on bond awaiting trial, he spent that time forging the DD214 to reflect his phony heroism.

After sentencing, the District Attorney indicted him for the perjury and forgery. And Guy Biggs, caught square to rights, entered a plea of Guilty. The judge sentenced Guy Biggs to a consecutive five years to serve in the penitentiary for the perjury and the fabrication of evidence.

Well, we’re talking about this now because Biggs appealed the perjury and forgery convictions and the Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee (.pdf link) affirmed the sentence this week.

The upshot is that Mr Biggs is doing 17 years in the can because he introduced a forged DD214 into the court proceedings. We commend the prosecutor for doing his due diligence and for prosecuting Biggs, many prosecutors don’t. And thanks to Charles for the tip on this story.

Category: Phony soldiers, Valor Vultures