LOS ANGELES – A
former Los Angeles police detective was found guilty Thursday of the
26-year-old murder of the wife of her former lover in a case that hinged
on a single piece of evidence -- DNA from a bite mark on the victim's
arm.
The first-degree murder conviction came
after a three-week trial that included testimony from a forensic expert
who said the DNA was a match to defendant Stephanie Lazarus.
Her defense attorney countered that the DNA
was packaged improperly and deteriorated while stored in a coroner's
freezer for two decades. He also suggested there might have been
evidence tampering.
Lazarus could face 27 years to life in
prison with the possibility of parole when she is sentenced for the
murder and a gun enhancement imposed by the jury.
The case was submitted to jurors on Tuesday after intense closing arguments by both sides.
Victim Sherri Rasmussen was bludgeoned and shot to death in 1986 in the condo she shared with her husband of three months.
Detectives initially believed two robbers
who had attacked another woman in the area were to blame. But two
decades later, a cold case team using DNA analysis concluded the killer
was a woman and authorities began looking at Lazarus as a suspect.
During the trial, prosecutors focused on the
relationship of Lazarus and John Ruetten, who became her lover after
they graduated from college.
He testified that he never intended to marry
Lazarus, although they were intimate for about a year. He also said she
enticed him into having sex with her shortly before his wedding.
"Here's the deal," he testified. "It was clear she was very upset that I was getting married and moving on."
Lazarus' lawyer, Mark Overland, ridiculed
the claim of a fatal attraction between Lazarus and Ruetten, saying she
never tried to reunite with her former lover after his wife was gone,
"So this obsessing with John must have fizzled out I guess," he said.
"So this obsessing with John must have fizzled out I guess," he said.
Lazarus went on to marry another policeman
and adopt a daughter. She rose in the ranks of the Los Angeles Police
Department, becoming a detective in charge of art forgeries and thefts.
Overland also pointed to the lack of
physical evidence against her. No blood, fingerprints, hair or fibers
connected her to the scene.
But prosecutor Shannon Presby told jurors
the case was based on more than just DNA. At the outset of the trial, he
said it featured "a bite, a bullet, a gun barrel and a broken heart."
Lazarus' gun was never found, but Presby
called experts to testify that bullets fired into Rasmussen's body
matched those issued to police officers in 1986.
Lazarus' husband attended most of the trial
along with other family members. Ruetten sat across the courtroom with
Rasmussen's family.
The deathly pale defendant and her white-haired former boyfriend never looked at each other.
But their past moved before them on a movie screen as both sides showed pictures of them as a young couple.
Among the trial's most dramatic moments came
when Ruetten testified tearfully about finding his wife slain. He said
it never entered his mind that Lazarus might be responsible.
No comments:
Post a Comment