Global Courant 2023-05-05 11:05:35
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DENVER (AP) — Closing arguments are expected Friday in the trial of a woman accused of murdering her 11-year-old stepson in Colorado, packing his body in a suitcase, then dumping it over a bridge in Florida .
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Authorities allege that Letecia Stauch killed Gannon Stauch by stabbing and shooting him a few hours before he was reported missing on January 27, 2020, while his father was part of a National Guard deployment.
Stauch was charged with first-degree murder, tampering with a deceased human body, and tampering with physical evidence.
Lawyers for Stauch, who pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, countered that by claiming she suffered a “major psychotic tear” from childhood trauma when she killed Gannon.
The state hospital concluded that Stauch was sane at the time Gannon was killed, The Gazette reported. Under Colorado law, that means understanding the difference between right and wrong and having the intent to commit a crime.
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However, the lead defense witness, Dr. Dorothy Lewis, author of the book “Crazy, Not Insane,” concluded that Stauch suffered from dissociative identity disorder, when people have two or more personalities as a result of trauma, and was not well at all. the moment time.
Prosecutors have argued that Stauch took steps to cover up her actions, evidence being that she knew what she was doing was wrong and therefore sane. They said she cleaned up blood in Gannon’s bedroom, where he was killed, and moved his body to various locations to hide it before disposing of it in the Florida Panhandle.
The woman’s daughter, Harley Hunt, testified last month at the week-long trial that she never suspected the boy’s body was in a rented van they used when Staunch and Hunt drove across the country together to Florida and then to South Carolina in February 2020.
Hunt testified at the Colorado Springs trial, saying, “I’m still in shock. I defended her for years. I just feel manipulated and lied to.”
