Prayers for L/Cpl Maria Lauterbach

[Phantom Blooper]

Laurean trial security set


To be treated as normal inmate
July 24, 2010 12:38 PM
LINDELL KAY
While standing trial next month for murder in the bludgeoning death of a pregnant colleague, former Camp Lejeune Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean will be treated just like any other inmate in the Wayne County Jail, authorities said.

For example, during the trial, set to start Aug. 9, Laurean will wear braces under his clothes which can be locked to prevent him from bending his knees to run. It is a precaution Wayne County jailers take with every on-trial murder suspect.

Laurean, currently being held in the Onslow County Jail, fled to Mexico hours before the charred remains of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach and that of her unborn child were found buried in his Half Moon community backyard in mid-January 2008. Laurean was arrested three months later and extradited to North Carolina in 2009. Lauterbach had previously accused Laurean of rape. DNA tests concluded Laurean was not the father of Lauterbach’s unborn child.

N.C. Superior Court Judge Charles Henry ruled earlier this year that the trial be moved to Wayne County because of pre-trial publicity.

Onslow County will pay Wayne County $50 a day — the same rate it pays to Sampson County for housing population overflow inmates there — to house Laurean. He will not be allowed books there but can purchase a local newspaper. He will have normal visitation times with people already on the approved Onslow County Jail visitors’ list.

Although Laurean is sharing a cell in Onslow, he will be given a single cell while in Wayne County because he will be on trial. At the completion of the trial, he will be returned to Onslow County where he will be either released or sent to prison, depending on the verdict.

Earlier this week, Wayne County Sheriff Carey Winders and Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown signed a mutual-aid agreement in accordance with N.C. General Statutes that will allow Brown’s deputies to act with authority while in Goldsboro for the trial.

The sheriffs met Wednesday to talk about security and logistics for the trial.

“It is important my deputies who will be in Wayne County every day for the trial act in accordance with what Sheriff Winders needs,” Brown said.

Onslow County Sheriff’s Sgt. T.J. Cavanagh, the lead detective in the case, and Capt. Pat Garvey, the supervisor of the department’s crime scene investigation unit, will be present every day for the trial. Garvey has four large boxes containing evidence that he will secure at the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department for the duration of the trial.

Wayne County authorities are focused on the possible media circus and disruptions it may cause to everyday business at the courthouse. Winders said parking is limited downtown around the courthouse; and traffic will undoubtedly be backed up during the trial, which is expected to last about six weeks.

Television news crews will have to share one courtroom camera, which will provide a video and audio feed to individual satellite trucks. Still photography will be permitted in the courtroom as long it does not distract from the proceedings. The jail is connected to the courthouse so no photographic opportunities of Laurean being led into or out of the courtroom will be possible.

“We are going to get this done with as little disruption to everyone else as possible,” Winders said.

[Phantom Blooper]

Laurean moved to Wayne County Jail


August 06, 2010 5:49 PM
LINDELL KAY

A former Marine charged with killing a pregnant colleague has been moved to the Wayne County Jail to await his murder trial set for next week.

Cesar Laurean is charged with first-degree murder in the 2007 bludgeoning death of 20-year-old Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach. His case received too much pre-trial publicity to be tried in Onslow County, according to a court ruling.

His attorney, Jacksonville lawyer Dick McNeil, confirmed his client had been transferred to Wayne County early Friday.

[Phantom Blooper]

Last minute Laurean evidence upsets lawyers


August 07, 2010 12:00 PM
LINDELL KAY
On the cusp of the high-profile murder trial of Cesar Laurean, his attorney is busy poring over 1,300 documents just recently released to the defense by prosecutors after the files were found in a box at the Onslow County Sheriff’s Department.

Eleventh-hour discovery situations are frowned upon by the N.C. State Bar and could be potential grounds for a trial continuance.

Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown said as soon as his investigators found the box on July 26 he notified the District Attorney’s Office.

“My investigators tell me what they have seen so far in the box is duplicates of papers already given to the D.A.,” Brown said late Friday.

Laurean is charged with first-degree murder in the 2007 bludgeoning death of 20-year-old Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach. His case received too much pre-trial publicity to be tried in Onslow County, according to a court ruling.

His attorney, Jacksonville lawyer Dick McNeil, confirmed his client had been transferred early Friday to Wayne County — where is trial is scheduled to begin on Monday.

McNeil said much of what he has read in the stacks of papers are duplicates of files he has already received, but having to read through each document to make sure there isn’t new evidence is frustrating so close to the start of the trial and makes preparation difficult.

McNeil made it clear that he doesn’t blame prosecutors, saying District Attorney Dewey Hudson and Chief Assistant District Attorney Ernie Lee have done an outstanding job of handling discovery issues.

“Mr. Lee has been great throughout this whole case,” McNeil said. He stopped short of forgiving the sheriff.

Lee told The Daily News on Friday that his office was made award of the box of documents late in the afternoon of July 26. He said he called McNeil immediately. He made copies of the documents July 27 and turned over the copies to McNeil on July 28.

“As soon as we found out about the additional evidence at the Sheriff’s Office we immediately notified the defense and delivered it to them as soon as we could,” Lee said, adding he has personally worked to make sure the defense received discovery from local, state, federal and military agencies.

The State Bar Discovery Hearing Commission notified prosecutors statewide last year that “the game has changed in North Carolina.”

“Every District Attorney’s Office is now on notice that they must institute checks and balances to assure that all information from all agencies is disclosed to a criminal defendant,” the DHC announced in December 2009.

Since the box of documents was in the possession of the Sheriff’s Department unbeknownst to prosecutors after a request for all evidence in the case, Hudson and his prosecutors cannot be held accountable for the discovery delay, according to the N.C. State Bar Rules of Professional Conduct.

Hudson wrote Brown a letter this week expressing his ire that the Sheriff’s Department placed his office in such a possibly precarious position.

Laurean’s trial begins Monday in Wayne County Courtroom No. 1 with a conference between the lawyers and N.C. Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III. Jury selection is set for Tuesday morning at 9 a.m.

[Big Jim]

Jesus....That poor family and what they musty be going through....I'll try and call them tomorrow. Those frikkin "professional" people anyway....sounds like they need a refresher course in learning how to handle evidence properly.

[Phantom Blooper]

Laurean's wife will not attend murder trial

August 08, 2010 5:58 PM
LINDELL KAY

Two of the most important women in the life of first-degree murder defendant Cesar Laurean will not be in the courtroom when his trial begins this week in Wayne County.

Maria Lauterbach is the 20-year-old Marine lance corporal from Vandalia, Ohio, who Laurean is accused of killing in 2007. And Laurean’s wife, Cpl. Christina Laurean, who has avoided the media during the nearly three-year buildup to the high-profile trial, does not plan to attend the proceedings unless she is called to testify, according to sources intimate with the case.



The colleague



Clerks in the same Camp Lejeune billet, Cesar Laurean and Lauterbach’s work relationship turned romantic in early 2007. She later accused him of rape.

Reporters asked Laurean in April 2008 as he was being processed at a Mexican jail whether he killed Lauterbach. His response was, “I loved her.”

On Dec. 14, 2007, Lauterbach, pregnant in her third trimester, left a note with her roommate saying she was tired of the Marine Corps. She withdrew cash from an ATM, purchased a set of baby clothes, bought a bus ticket to El Paso and stopped at Laurean’s Half Moon community home.

It was the last stop she would ever make.

Lauterbach remained missing for three weeks while local and federal authorities believed she was a deserter. But her mother, Mary Lauterbach, sure something was amiss, traveled from Ohio to Onslow County in January 2008 to spur a deeper search.

Less than a week later, on Jan. 11, 2008, Maria Lauterbach’s charred remains were discovered in Laurean’s backyard. He had fled to Mexico just hours before.

An autopsy would reveal Lauterbach’s head was bashed in with a blunt object, which authorities believe to be a crowbar.



The wife

Court documents would reveal that Laurean had told his wife the day before that he had buried Lauterbach’s body. A wrongful death lawsuit filed on the second anniversary of Lauterbach’s death claimed Christina Laurean knew about Lauterbach’s death and conspired with her husband to cover it up.

Several theories on what happened Dec. 14, 2007, at 103 Meadow Trail and in the following weeks began to circulate the Internet. From bizarre tales of the Laureans hosting a barbecue over Lauterbach’s shallow grave to conspiracies involving a superior officer in their workspace, public speculation ran wild. Most presumptions centered on Christina Laurean’s duplicity in Lauterbach’s homicide, fueled by the fact she communicated with her husband while he was on the lam and visited him in a Mexican jail after he was captured.

Law enforcement called her a cooperating witness throughout the investigation, and most of her detractors overlook that she was the one who told the authorities — via her command — that her husband had fled and Lauterbach’s body was in their backyard.

Her attorney, Jacksonville lawyer Chris Welch, declined to comment about the upcoming trial. He previously said his client, an active duty Marine, has been ordered by the Corps not to speak publicly about her husband’s case.



The sheriff



The trial is expected to last between three and six weeks depending on how many of the nearly 100 witnesses in the case are actually called to the stand. Out of the numerous people who have been involved in the process from the start, about a dozen stand out — either because they are just strong personalities or are intrinsic to the proceedings.

Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown is on the witness list, but it is unclear whether he will be called. Defense attorney Dick McNeil has said he would like to question Brown on his divining rod techniques.

Brown said he borrowed a wire coat hanger from one of Laurean’s Meadow Trail neighbors. He straightened the hanger and fashioned it into a divining rod, which he said led him to where Lauterbach’s body was buried. No magic involved, Brown said, the rod works the earth’s magnetic field to indicate where pockets exist under the ground.

Sheriff since 1990, Brown is up for election in November.



The state



In his career as a prosecutor, District Attorney Dewey Hudson has sent 13 defendants to death row. But he was forced to take the death penalty off the table in the Laurean case in order to secure Laurean’s extradition from Mexico.

Hudson was on the short list of names considered last year for appointment to U.S. Attorney. He did not get the Raleigh-based Eastern District federal prosecutor job, but may be heading to Raleigh anyway. Hudson, a Democrat, is in the running to fill Charlie Albertson’s state senate seat after Albertson announced he would not run again.

Hudson — born and raised on a farm in Sampson County — has worked as a prosecutor for 22 years and has been the elected D.A. for the Fourth Prosecutorial District since 1998.

Representing the state with Hudson will be two of his top prosecutors: Chief Assistant District Attorney Ernie Lee and Senior ADA Mike Maultsby.



Lee — who is running unopposed to assume Hudson’s office — has successfully prosecuted more than 100 murder cases since 1987. Lee gained a conviction earlier this year in the case of Bill Miller, a Camp Lejeune Marine who was gunned down in 1972. The conviction is one of the longest unsolved homicide cases to be tried and result in a first-degree murder conviction in state history.



Maultsby won two recent trials with similarities to the Laurean case. Last year, Jonathan Gould, a Camp Lejeune Marine at the time of his crime, was convicted of trying to murder his wife by cracking her skull with a hammer while she slept on their couch. And Albert Bedford was sent to prison for life for killing his mistress and burying her body in his daughter’s backyard.

Those cases were referred to as “Laurean-lite” by court officials because of the similarities between them and the Laurean case.



The defense



Jacksonville lawyer Dick McNeil was assigned Laurean’s case by the Office of the Capital Defender in Raleigh. McNeil is well-versed in Marine-related crimes and high-profile trials. He acted as defense counsel in a 2002 Camp Davis parachute sabotage case and a 2003 pipe bludgeoning of a Marine sergeant by a lance corporal. He also represented participants in a court-martial arising from the 2005 killing of 24 Iraqi civilians in the northern Iraqi city of Haditha.

McNeil is familiar with Wayne County as well.

In April, he represented William Bandy, who was charged with first-degree murder. The four-day trial resulted in a manslaughter verdict. Bandy, who was facing life in prison, was sentenced to 12 years. McNeil insisted throughout the trial that Bandy acted in self-defense when he shot Fred Coleman in March 2006.

Laurean left letters to his wife when he fled Onslow County saying that Lauterbach had showed up at their home acting enraged the day she was killed. McNeil may have a self-preservation defense ready.

McNeil said the case is all about evidence and what the state can prove.

A Syracuse, N.Y., native and retired Marine, McNeil tried rape and murder cases in the Corps as both prosecutor and defender. He also served as judge later in his military career.



The judge

No stranger himself to high-profile cases, N.C. Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III presided over the Duke Lacrosse rape case.

He found disgraced District Attorney Mike Nifong in criminal contempt of court for lying about the case and sentenced the former top prosecutor to one day in jail.

In 2005, Smith presided over the highly-publicized trials of two brothers accused of killing a Marine Corps officer and a Chicago businessman during a football tailgate party at N.C. State University the year before. Both brothers were convicted.

Smith is the Senior Resident Superior Court Judge for the 9A Judicial District, which includes Person and Caswell counties. He is up for re-election.

The judge has already made rulings in the Laurean case, limiting camera use in the courtroom.



The mother



It was at Mary Lauterbach’s behest that her oldest daughter reported her alleged rape by Laurean.

Maria told her mother about it before Mother’s Day 2007 and Mary told her she had to tell the Marine Corps, which she did shortly after their conversation.

Mary Lauterbach is the first witness expected to be called in the trial.

After Maria’s death, making the Marine Corps recognize its supposed failure to act became a crusade for Mary Lauterbach. She challenged the Defense Department and won.

With the help of Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, Mary called on legislators to force the DoD to change the way the military handles sexual assault accusations. After two years of testifying on Capitol Hill, Lauterbach made a difference and Congress voted to amend the military’s sexual assault reporting policy allowing alleged victims to transfer to a new duty station among other changes.

Often a controversial, polarizing figure, Mary Lauterbach pushed the Marine Corps and local law enforcement to look for her daughter, took a hit for calling Maria “bi-polar” and a “compulsive liar” and filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Laurean — and his wife.



Contact Lindell Kay at 910-219-8456 or lkay@freedomenc.com.

[Phantom Blooper]

Marine accused of killing colleague to go on trial


August 08, 2010 11:39 PM
KEVIN MAURER
Associated Press

Investigators said Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean had an obvious motive to kill his pregnant Marine colleague: She accused him of raping her and fathering her unborn baby.

However, Naval investigators said they have no physical evidence or eyewitnesses to corroborate Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach's claims, and Laurean denied they ever had sexual contact. It will be up to a jury to decide what happened when Laurean goes on trial Tuesday in Goldsboro on first-degree murder and a litany of other charges.

Onslow County District Attorney Dewey Hudson has said the case is one of the most perplexing he's seen in three decades as a prosecutor. And the accounts of how Lauterbach died aren't any less tricky. Her charred remains were found in a fire pit behind Laurean's white, ranch-style home, which remains a curiosity for passers-by.

The day Lauterbach was killed, she showed up at his door, demanded money and said she was leaving North Carolina.

According to a January 2008 affidavit, Lauterbach bought a bus ticket to El Paso, Texas, on the day she was killed but later came to Laurean's home. In a note to his wife, Laurean said they had been arguing when Lauterbach pulled out a knife and slit her own throat. But an autopsy on Lauterbach's remains showed she died after being hit in the head.

For investigators, though, the blood spatter on the ceiling and the blood pooled on the wall of Laurean's home were telltale signs of a violent confrontation.

Lawyers on both sides of the case and Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown all declined to discuss the details of the murder before trial. The trial was moved out of Jacksonville in January after a judge ruled pretrial publicity could influence jurors.

"The change of venue was absolutely the right call based on the amount of publicity and discussion the case has brought about in Onslow County," said defense attorney Dick McNeil.

Attorneys expect the trial to last between two and three weeks. Neither side has offered any plea arrangements, McNeil said.

Hudson has called the trial a logistical nightmare, saying he has been working to bring a number of Marines back from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan to testify.

"A lot of them are in harm's way," Hudson said. "It is sort of a worldwide trial."

Lauterbach and Laurean were both personnel clerks in a combat logistics regiment at Camp Lejeune. Naval investigators never brought rape charges against Laurean. Lauterbach told a military prosecutor that Laurean couldn't be the father based on a medical examination and recalculated conception date. In a May 2009 report by the Department of Defense Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, analysts concluded DNA from Laurean did not match that of Lauterbach's unborn child.

The authorities' only lead when she disappeared in December 2008 was a note left for Lauterbach's roommate in which the Vandalia, Ohio, native said she was tired of the Marine Corps lifestyle. Onslow County authorities took up the case two days later, after her mother reported her missing. Investigators figured she left Camp Lejeune voluntarily, citing her note and missing belongings, and sheriff's deputies told Lauterbach's family that she was probably headed back to Ohio.

Authorities were still optimistic they might find Lauterbach alive until Laurean's wife, Christina, turned over the note in which her husband claimed Lauterbach had killed herself and that he had buried her nearby. Hours after getting the note, authorities found her remains in a firepit behind the Laureans' home.

Laurean already was on the run when her remains were discovered, leading authorities on an international manhunt for the next three months. Laurean was arrested in April 2008 in western Mexico and was extradited last year. Hudson agreed not to seek the death penalty so Mexico would consider returning Laurean to the U.S. He faces life in prison if convicted.

Former neighbors say people driving by still slow down, straining to see through the wood fence that covers the backyard where Lauterbach's burned remains were found. Laurean's house near Camp Lejeune, a coastal North Carolina base that is home to roughly 50,000 Marines, was sold last year. Holes in the fence have been repaired and the flower beds are slightly overgrown, but the house looks much like it did almost two years ago when Lauterbach's body was found.

Kristin Greer didn't know Laurean or his wife, Christina, and met him only once when her dog ran over to his house while he was working in the yard. Greer said the couple wasn't friendly with neighbors and preferred socializing with other Marines.

Greer is reminded every day of the crime.

"We can't forget about it because you look across the road and see the fence and yard," she said. "I hope they get justice for that girl."

[Phantom Blooper]

Updated: 11:01 AM Aug 9, 2010Judge Recesses Cesar Laurean Trial After 30 Minutes A former Camp Lejeune Marine spent about 30 minutes in a Wayne County courtroom this morning on the first day of his trial.Cesar Laurean is accused of killing Maria Lauterbach, a pregnant Marine who claimed that Laurean raped her.The judge took up several "housekeeping" matters before starting jury selection. We now know the jury, along with potential witnesses, will be sequestered during the trial.Laurean's parents and two sisters were in the courtroom, along with Mary Lauterbach, the mother of the murder victim.The judge recessed the proceedings until 9:30 a.m. Tuesday

Witness list in Laurean trial made public

August 09, 2010 11:00 AM
LINDELL KAY

Prosecutors in State v. Laurean have made public their list of potential witnesses.
While not every witness is expected to testify, the list is a long one. The 128 names on the list are bookended with Mary Lauterbach, the mother of homicide victim Maria Lauterbach, and Christina Laurean, wife of the defendant Cesar Laurean.

While not every witness will be called to the stand, they are listed in the order the state intends to call them:

Mary S. Lauterbach
Marine Cpl. Elisabeth Kay Caudill
Marine Lance Cpl. Christopher Poparis
Marine Staff Sgt. Randolf Revert
Marine Sgt. R.L. Kepner
Marine Cpl. Nathaniel Wolf
Marine Lance Cpl. Ricky Lopez
Marine Lance Cpl. Pichardo
Marine Lance Cpl. Justin Goodman
Marine PFC John Koregay
Marine Cpl. Andrew Johnson, II
Marine Staff Sgt. Zenaida Rodriguez
Marine Lance Cpl. Jorge David Rios
Jessica Marie Meade
NCIS Special Agent John S. Sweeney
Thomas Edward Hall, II
Wake County Sheriff’s Investigator Brent David
Wake County Sheriff’s Deputy Daniel McLeod, Jr.
NCIS Special Agent Jason Henderson, San Diego, Calif.
Special Agent Noel Zuniga, San Diego, Calif.
FBI Supervisory Special Agent Steve Kling
Onslow County Sheriff’s Sgt. TJ Cavanagh
Marine Sgt. Daniel Durham
Marine CWO2 Joel Larson
Onslow County Sheriff’s Sgt. John Dubois
Onslow County Sheriff’s Maj. Frank Terwilliger
Onslow County Sheriff’s Deputy Harry Weatherly, CSI
Onslow County Sheriff’s Deputy Bill Meredith, CSI
Onslow County Sheriff’s Capt. Patrick Garvey, CSI
Onslow County Sheriff’s Sgt. Jason Daughtry
FBI Special Agent Rick Sutherland
Bob Sanders
Angela Mills
Roshaun Hames, Greyhound Bus Station manager
Consuela Bledsoe
Elizabeth Foy
Onslow County Sheriff’s Sgt. Adam Stock
Kevin Hughes
William McClain
Chrystal McClain
Patty Hane
Brandon Melton
Megan Melton
Mark Mahan
FBI Special Agent Jason Hodge
NCIS Special Agent Megan Grafton
Special Agent Scott Smith
Special Agent Matt Clifton
Marine Master Sgt. Mariane Pruneda
NCIS Special Agent L.N. Eliopulos, Forensics
NCIS Special Agent M.D. Wigent, Forensics
NCIS Special Agent James Hawks
NCIS Special Agent Lisa Werner
NCIS Special Agent Graham Grafton
NCIS Special Agent Sonya Carmical
NCIS Special Agent Kevin Marks
NCIS Special Agent Randy Dulay
SBI Special Agent Hiram N. Coble Jr.
SBI Special Agent Steven Combs
SBI Special Agent A.N. Mann
SBI Special Agent Jenny Elwell
SBI Special Agent Sharon R. Hinton
SBI Special Agent Kristen M. Crawford
Dr. Charles Garrett, retired Onslow County Medical Examiner
Clyde Gibbs, N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
Dr. Cynthia Gardner, N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
Dr. Maryanne Gaffney-Kraft, N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
Dr. Thomas B. Clark III, N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
Dr. Allen D. Samuelson, UNC School of Dentistry
Marine Cpl. Gregory Filburn
Terry Nogast
Dr. Albert I. Zachary, USN
Janet G. Robinson, Camp Lejeune Naval Hospital
Onslow County Sheriff’s Deputy Linwood Foy
Trenton Dixon
Ruth Brown
Frank Davis, Marine Federal Credit Union
Jennifer Perry, Sgt. Daniel Durham’s girlfriend
Julio Cesar Arreola Guillen, Mexican State Police
Marine Cpl. Eric Santiago
Marine Lance Cpl. Hilary Hobson
Marine Lance Cpl. Michelle Bronowski
Marine Lance Cpl. Aaron Brevik
Marine Lance Cpl. Terisha Charlene
Evan Romaine
Marine Gunnery Sgt. Eric Lester Darmstadt
Marine Sgt. SK Santiago
Marine Sgt. Louis Emrick
NCIS Special Agent Allyson M. Kidd, Washington, D.C.
Marine Cpl. Destiny Torres
Marine Cpl. Lisa Villarreal
Dr. Carol J. Solomon, USN, Deputy Medical Examiner, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
Dr. Edward Reedy, USN, Deputy Medical Examiner, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
Dr. William Rodriguez, Chief Forensic Anthropologist, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
Kevin Gerity, Autopsy Facility Manager, N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
Jamie Elmore, Morgue Assistant, Camp Lejeune Naval Hospital
Navy Hospitalman Tom Bush, Biomedical Photography, Camp Lejeune Naval Hospital
FBI Special Agent Shane Taylor, Wilmington
Onslow County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Washington
SBI Special Agent Sara B. Clay
SBI Special Agent Melanie Brown
SBI Special Agent Jim Mahaffee
Onslow County Sheriff’s Capt. Jon Lewis
Onslow County Sheriff’s Detective David South
Onslow County Sheriff’s Capt. Donnie Worrell
Marine Capt. Alex Desjardins
Cecil Jones
Lance Cpl. Blake Costa
CPL Dennis Ward
Samantha Ward
Lance Cpl Benjamin Borsari
Levan Shontell Powell
Noel William Strawn
Pamel Chavis
Sa Raul Perdomo, FBI-Laredo, Texas
Geraldo Tejado
Lucas Wilford, Lejeune Naval Hospital
Manny Rivero
Mary Yordy
Officer CJ Wisnieski, Durham PD
Richard Alander
Wanda Alander
Malo Menard
Maria Neuyen
Alice Green-Guy, SBI
Frankie Davis, SBI
Sheriff Ed Brown, OCSO
Christina Sue Laurean

The Daily News will have an in depth review of the witness list available in Tuesday's print edition

[Phantom Blooper]

Laurean attorney files to limit wife's testimony


August 09, 2010 4:26 PM
LINDELL KAY
The attorney for a former Camp Lejeune Marine accused of killing a pregnant colleague has filed a motion to limit testimony by the Marine’s wife.

The first-degree murder trial of Cesar Laurean, 23, gets underway today in Wayne County with opposing counsel meeting with the presiding judge to discuss the case. Jury selection begins Tuesday morning.

Laurean is accused of bashing in the head of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, burning then burying her body and that of her unborn child in the backyard of the Half Moon community home he shared with his wife in December 2007. A court ruling earlier this year moved the proceedings from Onslow County due to pre-trial publicity.

The defendant’s wife, Camp Lejeune Marine Cpl. Christina Laurean, 27, has been called a cooperating witness by investigators and a co-conspirator by Lauterbach’s family in a 2009 wrongful death lawsuit.

Cesar Laurean’s attorney, Jacksonville lawyer Dick McNeil filed a still-unanswered motion in July asking the court to apply marital privilege in the case.

N.C. General Statute 8 states that "no husband or wife shall be compellable in any event to disclose any confidential communication made by one to the other during their marriage."

McNeil’s motion, citing State v. Holmes, asks the court to consider written correspondence to be included under spousal privilege. The ruling in that case "allows marriage partners to speak freely to each other in confidence without fear of being thereafter confronted with the confession in litigation."

While Christina Laurean is listed last as a potential witness for prosecutors and much of the Onslow County Sheriff’s Department’s early investigation depended heavily on what she relayed to detectives, it remains unclear how much of the state’s case depends on her testimony.

Christina Laurean told authorities Jan. 11, 2008, the same day her husband left out of town in his Dodge, that he had told her the day before Lauterbach killed herself, he panicked and buried her body.

Christina Laurean handed over hand-written notes her husband had supposedly left behind. The notes contained enough information for Sheriff Ed Brown to announce at a noon Jan. 12, 2008, press conference that Lauterbach was dead and buried before investigators confirmed they had found her grave.

If McNeil’s motion is ruled on favorably by N.C. Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III, the jury will not hear most of Christina Laurean’s account of the days leading up to her husband’s absconsion just hours before the grisly discovery of Lauterbach’s shallow grave.

Other communications between Cesar and Christina Laurean would also be excluded, including letters he mailed his wife before crossing into Mexico and electronic e-mails they shared while he was on the lam south of the boarder.

Once Cesar Laurean was captured in Mexico in April 2008 and returned to the U.S. in April 2009, any communications he had with his wife in the visiting areas of the Onslow County Jail would not be considered privileged, because there should be no expectation of privacy in public visiting areas of a corrections facility, according to State v. Rollins.

Through her attorney, Jacksonville lawyer Chris Welch, Christina Laurean has indicated that she does not intend to attend her husband’s trial, except and if called to testify.

Christina Laurean was in reserve status in the Marine Corps at the time of her husband’s flight from prosecution, but was quickly activated and given residence in on-base housing.

Welch has previously told reporters his client was precluded form public comment concerning the case by the Corps.

Contact Lindell Kay at 910-219-8456 or lkay@freedomenc.com.

[Phantom Blooper]

What Christina Laurean told authorities


August 09, 2010 4:28 PM
Murder defendant Cesar Laurean’s attorney has filed a motion to limit testimony by his client’s wife, citing marital privilege. The following section taken verbatim from a legal document in the case highlights information the wife provided to authorities. From a cell phone records search warrant affidavit filed by Onslow County Sheriff’s Sgt. John Dubois on Jan. 12, 2008:

On January 11, 2008, I spoke to Christina S. Laurean, the wife of Cesar Laurean … She told me:

a. In May of 2007, her husband, Cesar Laurean, told her that he had been accused of rape by a junior Marine

b. Her husband told her he did not do it

c. Her husband updated her on the progress of the investigation of the allegation of rape every couple of months

d. In July of 2007, her husband told her that the female who had accused him of rape was pregnant

e. Her husband told her he was not the father of the baby

f. Her husband recently told her that the Marine who had accused him of rape had been placed in a military status of "Unauthorized Absence"

g. She asked him what that meant for his case and he said he did not know

h. Her husband later told her that civilian investigators wanted to speak to him about the disappearance of Maria Lauterbach

i. He told her that he had retained legal counsel

j. On the morning of January 10, 2008, she and her husband rode to the office of Jacksonville Attorney Mark Raynor. While enroute, her husband asked her, "If she was with him on this" She told him, "I do not know. Is there anything you have not told me"

k. Cesar Laurean told her that:

(1) On December 15, 2007, Maria Lauterbach visited their residence at 103 Meadow Trail, Jacksonville, North Carolina.

(2) Maria Lauterbach told him she had a plan and was leaving the area.

(3) Maria Lauterbach demanded money from him.

(4) He then went to the bus station and helped Lauterbach to purchase a ticket.

(5) Later in the evening, Maria Lauterbach went back to their residence, told him her plan had failed, that an argument ensued

(6) Maria Lauterbach was disoriented, agitated and acting differently

(7) Maria Lauterbach produced a knife and killed herself by slitting her throat

(8) He became scared, took her body to a wooded area adjacent to his residence, and buried her

(9) He obtained legal council and explained the facts to them

(10) He was told that he was facing the death penalty

[ABrevik]

They got my rank wrong but that's typical...

[Phantom Blooper]

Jury selection begins today in Laurean murder trial


August 10, 2010 7:07 AM
LINDELL KAY

Potential jurors in Cesar Laurean’s first-degree murder trial will be questioned individually beginning this morning about whether they’ve seen, heard or read any reports about the case in the last two and a half years, a judge ruled Monday.

Laurean, 23, is accused of murdering pregnant 20-year-old Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach and burying her body in his backyard in December 2007.

Several media outlets reported that Lauterbach’s mother, Mary Lauterbach, who sat behind prosecutors, cried at the sight of the man she believes bashed in her daughter’s skull with a crowbar. It was the first time Mary Lauterbach had seen Laurean face-to-face. Laurean’s mother and family members were present as well, his attorney, Dick McNeil said.

The first day in court was a brief one for Laurean. Laurean, wearing a dress shirt and tie according to multiple news reports, spent 30 minutes in Wayne County Courtroom No. 1 as the judge and lawyers in the case took care of a few details before jury selection begins today.

N.C. Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III decided that potential jurors exposed to pre-trial publicity in the case should not be allowed to muddy the jury pool by being questioned about what they knew about the case in open court, McNeil said.

The trial was moved out of Onslow County earlier this year by a judge citing pre-trial publicity.

[Phantom Blooper]

Judge ruled witnesses sequestered


August 10, 2010 7:07 AM
LINDELL KAY
Updated at 4:41 p.m.

Potential jurors in Cesar Laurean’s first-degree murder trial will be questioned individually beginning this morning about whether they’ve seen, heard or read any reports about the case in the last two and a half years, a judge ruled Monday.

And witnesses, with the exception of family and chief investigators, will not be allowed in the courtroom until it is their turn to testify.

Laurean, 23, is accused of murdering pregnant 20-year-old Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach and burying her body in his backyard in December 2007.

Several media outlets reported that Lauterbach’s mother, Mary Lauterbach, who sat behind prosecutors, cried at the sight of the man she believes bashed in her daughter’s skull with a crowbar. It was the first time Mary Lauterbach had seen Laurean face-to-face.

Laurean’s mother and family members were present as well, his attorney, Dick McNeil said.

The first day in court was a brief one for Laurean. Laurean, wearing a dress shirt and tie according to multiple news reports, spent 30 minutes in Wayne County Courtroom No. 1 as the judge and lawyers in the case took care of a few details before jury selection begins today.

N.C. Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III decided that potential jurors exposed to pre-trial publicity in the case should not be allowed to muddy the jury pool by being questioned about what they knew about the case in open court, McNeil said.

The trial was moved out of Onslow County earlier this year by a judge citing pre-trial publicity.

Smith also ruled to sequester witnesses — with the exception of immediate family and chief investigators — barring them from hearing other testimony.

One witness the public has been clamoring to hear from for nearly two years might not take the stand at all.

The defendant’s wife, Christina Laurean, is last on a list of 128 witnesses made public by prosecutors Monday morning. McNeil said he has a witness list of 20 or so names. He has filed the list with the court, but it has not yet been added to the public file.

McNeil has filed an unanswered motion seeking spousal privilege in the case, meaning the state would be unable to compel Christina Laurean to testify about private conversations she had with her husband.

The state has subpoenaed around two dozen Marines who knew either Cesar Laurean or Maria Lauterbach or both. Marine Sgt. Daniel Durham let Lauterbach move in with him into his Hunter’s Creek home after she said she was harassed aboard Camp Lejeune in the fall of 2007. He is expected to testify about a note Lauterbach left behind when she disappeared in December 2007. His girlfriend Jennifer Perry is also named on the witness list.

Another Marine, Cpl. Dennis Ward, is set to testify about handing over to authorities a crowbar he says Laurean gave to him to keep in December 2007. Authorities believe the crowbar is the murder weapon and have run DNA tests on the tool.

Ward is the person shown on Lowe’s Home Improvement surveillance video from Dec. 24, 2007, shopping with Laurean for cinderblocks, paint and a wheel barrel.

A slew of forensic experts and pathologists from local, state and federal agencies are also on the list. Dr. Charles Garrett, an Onslow County medical examiner who retired in 2008, is expected to testify about certifying Lauterbach’s death a homicide.

The Laureans’ Half Moon community neighbors such as Richard and Wanda Alander — who say they loaned Laurean a shovel in mid-December 2007 — are listed to testify.

Also set to give testimony is roadside scavenger Cecil Jones who found Lauterbach’s cell phone Dec. 20, 2007, on the side of Lejeune Boulevard near Camp Lejeune’s main gate. He promptly turned it over to the Sheriff’s Department.

Mary Lauterbach is top of the witness list. She was one of the last people to speak to Maria — via cell phone — before her daughter disappeared.

Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown is second to last on the witness list.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Potential jurors in Cesar Laurean’s first-degree murder trial will be questioned individually beginning this morning about whether they’ve seen, heard or read any reports about the case in the last two and a half years, a judge ruled Monday.





Laurean, 23, is accused of murdering pregnant 20-year-old Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach and burying her body in his backyard in December 2007.

Several media outlets reported that Lauterbach’s mother, Mary Lauterbach, who sat behind prosecutors, cried at the sight of the man she believes bashed in her daughter’s skull with a crowbar. It was the first time Mary Lauterbach had seen Laurean face-to-face.

Laurean’s mother and family members were present as well, his attorney, Dick McNeil said.

The first day in court was a brief one for Laurean. Laurean, wearing a dress shirt and tie according to multiple news reports, spent 30 minutes in Wayne County Courtroom No. 1 as the judge and lawyers in the case took care of a few details before jury selection begins today.

N.C. Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III decided that potential jurors exposed to pre-trial publicity in the case should not be allowed to muddy the jury pool by being questioned about what they knew about the case in open court, McNeil said.

The trial was moved out of Onslow County earlier this year by a judge citing pre-trial publicity.

[Phantom Blooper]

Jury selection slow going in Laurean trial


August 10, 2010 5:03 PM
LINDELL KAY

GOLDSBORO — Each potential Wayne County juror vetted by lawyers in the murder trial of Cesar Laurean said Tuesday that they had at least heard about the case.

Laurean, 23, a former Camp Lejeune Marine corporal, faces first-degree murder charges in the 2007 bludgeoning death of 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach of Vandalia, Ohio. Lauterbach had accused Laurean of rape and of being the father of her unborn baby, a charged he denied to military investigators. He evaded authorities for three months in Mexico until his arrest in April 2008. A DNA test has since revealed Laurean was not the father of Lauterbach’s unborn child.

The state and defense counsel spent the day probing more than two dozen potential jurors whether they have been influenced by pretrial publicity, especially cable news shows and online news blogs.

The trial was moved out of Jacksonville to Wayne County in January after a judge ruled that pretrial publicity could influence jurors. At least three possible jurors were released from duty by the court. One of the dismissed jurors said he felt the defendant was guilty without being asked.

District Attorney Dewey Hudson said it was difficult to find jurors who haven’t heard about the case because of the local and national news coverage, but said it is not whether they knew about the case, but whether they had formed an opinion as to guilt or innocence.

“It is important that they be honest during this phase,” he said. “Nothing is more frustrating than to get two weeks into a trial and realize you have a hung jury because a juror that should have been eliminated in the beginning wasn’t.”

Laurean’s attorney, Jacksonville lawyer Dick McNeil focused his queries on potential jurors’ television viewing habits, including whether they watched news shows such as Dateline. He also asked whether potential jurors had read newspapers about the case and how many conversations they had held about it.

Laurean’s parents, Salvador and Elvira Laurean, and two of his sisters, sat behind him in Court Room No. 1. Laurean traded glances with his family during the proceedings.

Lauterbach’s mother Mary Lauterbach sat behind prosecutors and at one point helped N.C. Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III to pronounce her daughter’s last name correctly.



The Associated Press and Daily News columnist Mike McHugh contributed to this report.

[Phantom Blooper]

Updated at 6:19 p.m.

GOLDSBORO — Each potential Wayne County juror vetted by lawyers Tuesday in the murder trial of Cesar Laurean said they had at least heard about the case.

Laurean, 23, a former Camp Lejeune Marine corporal, faces first-degree murder charges in the 2007 bludgeoning death of 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach of Vandalia, Ohio. Lauterbach had accused Laurean of rape and of being the father of her unborn baby, a charged he denied to military investigators. He evaded authorities for three months in Mexico until his arrest in April 2008. A DNA test has since revealed Laurean was not the father of Lauterbach’s unborn child.

The state and defense counsel spent the day probing about 50 potential jurors on whether they have been influenced by pretrial publicity, especially cable news shows and online news blogs.

About 20 of the potential jurors were dismissed by the court.

The trial was moved out of Jacksonville to Wayne County in January after a judge ruled that pretrial publicity could influence jurors. At least three possible jurors were released from duty by the court. One of the dismissed jurors said he felt the defendant was guilty without being asked.

District Attorney Dewey Hudson said it was difficult to find jurors who haven’t heard about the case because of the local and national news coverage. However, he added, it is not whether they knew about the case, but whether they had formed an opinion as to guilt or innocence.

“It is important that they be honest during this phase,” he said. “Nothing is more frustrating than to get two weeks into a trial and realize you have a hung jury because a juror that should have been eliminated in the beginning wasn’t.”

Laurean’s attorney, Jacksonville lawyer Dick McNeil, focused his queries on potential jurors’ television viewing habits, including whether they watched news shows such as Dateline. He also asked whether potential jurors had read newspapers about the case and how many conversations they had held about it.

Laurean’s parents, Salvador and Elvira Laurean, and two of his sisters sat behind him in Court Room No. 1. Laurean traded glances with his family during the proceedings.

Lauterbach’s mother Mary Lauterbach sat behind prosecutors and at one point helped N.C. Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III pronounce her daughter’s last name correctly.

[Phantom Blooper]

‘Citizen reporter' ejected from Laurean trial


August 11, 2010 6:51 AM
LINDELL KAY and MIKE MCHUGH

GOLDSBORO — A Wayne County man well-known to local courthouse officials was ejected Tuesday from the Cesar Laurean murder trial for trying to record jury selections.

Tom K. Drew — a self-proclaimed “citizen reporter” and publisher of The Card Post, a public address bulletin — was removed from Courtroom No. 1 by bailiffs enforcing guidelines established by the presiding judge in the trial, N.C. Superior Court Judge W. Osmond Smith III.

Laurean, a former Camp Lejeune Marine corporal is on trial for first-degree murder in the 2007 death of 20-year-old Maria Lauterbach. A judge’s ruling moved the proceedings from Onslow County to Wayne County because of pre-trial publicity.

Drew entered the courtroom prior to the start of jury selection with two cassette recorders.

He was told by one of the Onslow County Sheriff’s deputies on loan to Wayne County for courthouse security during the trial that he could not record jury selection.

While Drew was disputing the judge’s rules on recorders in the courtroom, a Wayne County deputy referred to him as a “10-73,” which is police radio code for a mentally disturbed person.

Drew later told The Daily News that he has spent time in Dorothea Dix Hospital for a mental heath evaluation, but said that too was a misunderstanding.

Bailiffs escorted Drew out of the courtroom and he spent the day walking in the media staging area set up for reporters across the street from the courthouse and the historical marker that signifies Goldsboro as the birthplace of the North Carolina Press Association.

Drew, who purchases want ad space in local newspapers to run his bulletin, said he had the right to record any court proceeding or government meeting.

However, Smith issued orders Monday that make it clear the use of recording devices during jury selection could result in a criminal contempt of court charge.

“There shall be no still or television cameras or recording devices permitted in the courtroom during any portion of jury selection,” the ruling states and concludes with this admonishment, “Any violation of these orders may result in the violating party being found in direct criminal contempt, subjecting that person/entity to serving up to thirty (30) days in the Wayne County Jail.”