Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
USA Today
January 15, 2008
Pg. 9
By Mike Baker, Associated Press
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — Federal authorities planned to post billboards nationwide with the picture of a Marine wanted in the slaying of a pregnant colleague, and the sheriff announced a $25,000 reward Monday for information leading to his arrest.
Authorities are looking for Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean, wanted in the death of Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, who had accused him of rape. FBI officials said the first billboards with Laurean's photo would appear in Tampa; Columbus, Ohio; and Las Vegas.
"The search for Laurean is Earthwide," Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown said at a news conference. "You're never gone for good when law enforcement is after you."
Authorities recovered what they believe to be the burned remains of Lauterbach and her 8-month-old fetus from a fire pit in Laurean's backyard over the weekend. Police believe Laurean, 21, of the Las Vegas area, fled Jacksonville, N.C., before dawn Friday, and have said he left behind a note in which he admitted burying Lauterbach's body but claimed she cut her own throat in a suicide. Brown said late Monday that authorities had received a preliminary autopsy report, but he declined to discuss details.
North Carolina is one of 15 states without a fetal homicide law, but Onslow County District Attorney Dewey Hudson said he has no plans to step aside in favor of a military prosecution.
Georgetown University law professor Gary Solis said local authorities have primary jurisdiction in the case. "They have the crime scene and they have the physical evidence," he said.
That makes it unlikely that Laurean would be prosecuted under the federal fetal homicide law passed in 2004 during the height of attention on the California trial of Scott Peterson, who was accused of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci. The law makes it a crime to harm a fetus during an assault on a pregnant woman.
"As a matter of law, the military could prosecute him (Laurean) separately," said Scott Silliman, a former military lawyer who is now director of the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security at Duke University. "But as a matter of policy, it rarely happens."
January 15, 2008
Pg. 9
By Mike Baker, Associated Press
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. — Federal authorities planned to post billboards nationwide with the picture of a Marine wanted in the slaying of a pregnant colleague, and the sheriff announced a $25,000 reward Monday for information leading to his arrest.
Authorities are looking for Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean, wanted in the death of Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, who had accused him of rape. FBI officials said the first billboards with Laurean's photo would appear in Tampa; Columbus, Ohio; and Las Vegas.
"The search for Laurean is Earthwide," Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown said at a news conference. "You're never gone for good when law enforcement is after you."
Authorities recovered what they believe to be the burned remains of Lauterbach and her 8-month-old fetus from a fire pit in Laurean's backyard over the weekend. Police believe Laurean, 21, of the Las Vegas area, fled Jacksonville, N.C., before dawn Friday, and have said he left behind a note in which he admitted burying Lauterbach's body but claimed she cut her own throat in a suicide. Brown said late Monday that authorities had received a preliminary autopsy report, but he declined to discuss details.
North Carolina is one of 15 states without a fetal homicide law, but Onslow County District Attorney Dewey Hudson said he has no plans to step aside in favor of a military prosecution.
Georgetown University law professor Gary Solis said local authorities have primary jurisdiction in the case. "They have the crime scene and they have the physical evidence," he said.
That makes it unlikely that Laurean would be prosecuted under the federal fetal homicide law passed in 2004 during the height of attention on the California trial of Scott Peterson, who was accused of murdering his pregnant wife, Laci. The law makes it a crime to harm a fetus during an assault on a pregnant woman.
"As a matter of law, the military could prosecute him (Laurean) separately," said Scott Silliman, a former military lawyer who is now director of the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security at Duke University. "But as a matter of policy, it rarely happens."