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Hearing today in Laster murder case

Sentinel Communications, Orlando Sentinel (Florida) FINAL, LOCAL & BUSINESS; FLORIDA; Regional Report; Pg. B3
BYLINE: Anthony Colarossi, Orlando Sentinel

Orange County, FL

The attorney for a former Winter Garden teacher charged last year in the 1988 shooting death of her husband slammed the prosecution Monday for missing evidence and not producing witness statements he says may have cleared Delores Laster from prosecution.

Defense attorney Thomas Egan said he found two witnesses, former neighbors of Delores and Clarence Laster, who offer potentially exculpatory accounts of what happened the day Clarence Laster was shot and killed at his home 22 years ago.

Egan told Orange Circuit Judge A. Thomas Mihok that he has sought these witnesses' statements in the cold case's investigative files but cannot find them. Meanwhile, the neighbors, Michael Lisi and his ex-wife Ann, have told the defense that they talked to investigators soon after the shooting.

"Lots of evidence seems to be missing, suppressed or concealed," Egan said.

The prosecution maintains Delores Laster shot her husband in the back of the head with a single shot early on a Saturday morning in March 1988 and then had her children help move Clarence Laster to the garage, where he died. She is charged with murder.

But in court Monday, the defense raised concerns about not finding the statements from the neighbors, as well as a pillow and pillow case collected as evidence in 1988 and now missing.

Assistant State Attorney Pam Davis, however, said the complete Sheriff's Office file already was turned over to the defense. "As far as I can tell, there are no statements [from the neighbors]," Davis said.
As for the bedding items, Davis acknowledged they were gone, but said they are not critical pieces of evidence from the state's perspective.

The state and defense have asked Mihok to rule on a number of motions regarding admissibility of certain evidence and witness testimony. Mihok withheld ruling on most requests until the case gets closer to trial, which is scheduled for mid-December.

The old neighbors' testimony may be a key issue. They provided the defense with a different account of what happened back in 1988. Both were weapons instructors, who said they heard five gunshots later that morning and saw others at the house that same day, according to a defense motion. They also said they saw the garage door open during the day and they saw "the husband gone from the house during the morning," the document states.

The motion also says the same witnesses told Orange County Sheriff's Office investigators "these same things in 1988, though probably in better detail."

"If these witnesses or their statements were made available to the grand jury, there would have been no prosecution, certainly of Mrs. Laster," the recently filed motion states.

The prosecution's case relies heavily on testimony of Laster's two adopted children who have said they moved their father that day, but have "no specific memory of moving the body," according to the defense. They've also changed their stories.

Davis did not want to discuss evidence with the case still pending. When asked if any defense issues, including questions about whether someone else might have had reason to kill Clarence Laster, undermine the state's case, Davis said, "Not at this point. No."

CONTACT: Anthony Colarossi can be reached at or 407-420-5447.

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