07 September 2017 :

A Maricopa County jury sentenced Alan Champagne, 46, White, to death for 1st degree murder in the death of Brandi Nicole Hoffner and 24 yrs in prison for 2nd degree murder in the killing of Philmon Tapaha. Champagne was convicted in the July 2011 killing of Philmon Tapaha, 32, and Brandi Hoffner, 26. Tapaha was the brother of Phillena Tapaha, with whom Champagne had two children. Champagne's then-girlfriend, Elise Garcia, also was arrested and charged for her role in the killings and subsequent cover-up. She was sentenced to 16 years in prison for her role in Hoffner's death. She was a key witness in Champagne's trial, testifying that she only heard the gunshot that killed Tapaha but witnessed Hoffner's killing afterward. The pair were killed inside the apartment that Champagne and Garcia shared. The bodies of the missing couple were not found until March 2013 when a landscaper discovered the makeshift graves of Tapaha and Hoffner in in the yard of the central Phoenix home where Champagne's mother had resided at the time of the murders. Champagne has a previous record. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison for the 1991 murder of Ricky Marquez at a party in central Phoenix at which two rival street gangs fought, according to court documents. He was released in June 2005.