Kathy Marie Alfano Augustine (May 29, 1956 – July 11, 2006) was an American politician from

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

. A Republican, Augustine served in the

Nevada Assembly The Nevada Assembly is the lower house of the Nevada Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Nevada, the upper house being the Nevada Senate. The body consists of 42 members, elected to two-year terms from single-member distri ...

(1993–1995) and in the

Nevada Senate The Nevada Senate is the upper house of the Nevada Legislature, the state legislature of U.S. state of Nevada, the lower house being the Nevada Assembly. It currently (2012–2021) consists of 21 members from single-member districts. In the pr ...

(1995–1999). She was Nevada's first female State Controller, serving from 1999 until her 2006 death, except for a brief period of suspension during her 2004

impeachment trial An impeachment trial is a trial that functions as a component of an impeachment. Several governments utilize impeachment trials as a part of their processes for impeachment. Differences exist between governments as to what stage trials take place ...

which led to

censure A censure is an expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. In parliamentary procedure, it is a debatable main motion that could be adopted by a majority vote. Among the forms that it can take are a stern rebuke by a legislature, a sp ...

but not termination from office.Kathy Augustine Biography, Controller's Office. She was murdered in 2006 by Chaz Higgs, her second husband, who was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole.

Early life

Augustine was born as Kathy Marie Alfano in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, and was

Italian-American Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...

. Her educational background included a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in political science from

Occidental College Occidental College (informally Oxy) is a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1887 as a coeducational college by clergy and members of the Presbyterian Church, it became non-sectarian in 1910. It is ...

, and a

Master of Public Administration A Master of Public Administration (MPA) is a specialized professional graduate degree in public administration that prepares students for leadership roles, similar or equivalent to a Master of Business Administration but with an emphasis on the ...

degree from

California State University, Long Beach California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), also known in athletics as Long Beach State University (LBSU), is a public teaching-focused institution in Long Beach, California, United States. The 322-acre campus is the second largest in the ...

. While in college, she worked in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

as a

Congressional A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ad ...

intern. Prior to entering politics, Augustine worked for

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc. is a Major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, operating nine hubs, with Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport being its ...

as a flight scheduler for twelve years, and briefly as a flight attendant, based out of

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, after 1988. She had two short-lived marriages, both ending in divorce and one producing her daughter Dallas. Augustine married Delta Air Lines pilot Charles Augustine. They were married for seventeen years until his death from complications of a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

on August 19, 2003. She had three stepchildren from her marriage to Charles. Three weeks after his death, she married William Charles "Chaz" Higgs on September 19, 2003, a

critical care nurse ''Critical Care Nurse'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed nursing journal covering research about bedside care of critically and acutely ill patients and critical and acute care nursing practice. It is published by the American Association of Critical- ...

who had been involved in Charles Augustine's care.

Political career

From 1993 to 1995, Augustine served one term in the

. During the 1992 election campaign, she was criticized for a campaign advertisement featuring a bad photograph of her

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

opponent (the same photograph, however, was used by her opponent in her own campaign literature). Above descriptions of the two candidates' positions on various issues was a caption reading, "There is a real difference." Augustine served in the

from 1995 to 1999. In the 1994 state senate election, she defeated incumbent Lori Lipman Brown, and once again drew controversy for a campaign advertisement in which she accused Brown of being opposed to prayer and the

Pledge of Allegiance The U.S Pledge of Allegiance is a patriotic recited verse that promises allegiance to the flag of the United States and the republic of the United States. The first version was written in 1885 by Captain George Thatcher Balch, a Union Army o ...

. In fact, Brown, who is ethnically Jewish (though an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

theologically), declined to participate in a prayer led by a Christian minister, and the accusation regarding Brown's opposition to the Pledge was false. In

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, Augustine was elected as the state's first female State Controller, serving in that post until her death. In January 2004,

George W. Bush administration George W. Bush's tenure as the 43rd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2001, and ended on January 20, 2009. Bush, a Republican from Texas, took office following his narrow electoral college vict ...

officials advised Augustine that she was a finalist to become

Treasurer of the United States The treasurer of the United States is an officer in the United States Department of the Treasury who serves as the custodian and trustee of the federal government's collateral assets and the supervisor of the department's currency and coinage pr ...

; however, Anna Escobedo Cabral was subsequently nominated and confirmed as Treasurer.

Impeachment and censure

In September 2004, Augustine was accused of violating state ethics laws during her 2002 re-election campaign for using state personnel and equipment for her personal re-election campaign. Following the investigation the Ethics Commission found that she committed a willful violation of the Nevada Ethics Law and Augustine was fined a record $15,000 by the state Ethics Commission. The Ethics Commission referred the case to the Nevada Legislature where she was

impeached Impeachment is a process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In Eu ...

by the

in November of the same year, and temporarily relinquished office. She was the first Nevada state official to be impeached. Following a week-long trial in the

, she was convicted on one charge, but

acquitted In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal means that the criminal prosecution has failed to prove that the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charge presented. It certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an o ...

on three others. Augustine was censured, but allowed to resume office.

2006 State Treasurer race

Unable to seek a third term as State Controller due to term limits, in January 2006, Augustine announced her candidacy for Nevada State Treasurer, despite opposition from state Republican Party leaders stemming from her impeachment. In May 2006, the party voted to deny her party support in the State Treasurer race. Despite her death, her name remained on the ballot for the August 15 primary, and she received 18.64% of the vote.

Murder and subsequent death investigation

On July 8, 2006, Augustine was found unconscious in her

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

home, and died three days later without regaining consciousness. Following Augustine's death

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Kenny Guinn Kenneth Carroll Guinn (August 24, 1936 – July 22, 2010), was an American businessman, academic administrator, and politician who served as the 27th Governor of Nevada from 1999 to 2007. He previously served as interim president of the Universi ...

appointed Steve Martin, an accountant and Republican candidate in the 2006 State Controller race, to succeed her. Although early reports stated that the cause of death was a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

, police soon came to suspect foul play. On July 14, 2006, her husband, nurse Chaz Higgs, attempted suicide by slitting his wrists in the couple's Las Vegas home. Higgs was arrested in

Hampton, Virginia Hampton is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 137,148 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, seve ...

on September 29, 2006, and charged with

first degree murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

in Augustine's death after an

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

toxicology test found traces of the paralyzing drug

succinylcholine Suxamethonium chloride (brand names Scoline and Sucostrin, among others), also known as suxamethonium or succinylcholine, or simply sux in medical abbreviation, is a medication used to cause short-term paralysis as part of general anesthesia. T ...

in her system. Higgs, a critical care nurse, allegedly made suspicious remarks to a co-worker about how to kill someone undetectably using succinylcholine. He was

extradited In an extradition, one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, into the custody of the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdic ...

back to Nevada. The warrant and test results were kept secret until Higgs's arrest. Higgs was convicted of murder by a Reno jury on June 29, 2007. He was sentenced to

life in prison Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life imprisonment are co ...

, with a chance of

parole Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...

after 20 years. He was placed on

suicide watch Suicide watch (sometimes shortened to SW) is an intensive monitoring process used to ensure that any person cannot attempt suicide. Usually the term is used in reference to inmates or patients in a prison, hospital, psychiatric hospital or militar ...

after twice trying to kill himself while in custody. Higgs is housed in the High Desert State Prison near

Indian Springs, Nevada Indian Springs is an unincorporated town and a census-designated place located on U.S. Route 95 next to Creech Air Force Base in northwestern Clark County and southern Nevada. The population was 912 at the 2020 census. History The communit ...

. In May 2009, the Nevada Supreme Court upheld Higgs' murder conviction in a majority decision.

Early life

Political career

Impeachment and censure

2006 State Treasurer race

Murder and subsequent death investigation

References

Further reading