This is the face of 21-year-old Cesar Armando Laurean, a corporal in the United States Marine Corps.
For the next few days, you’ll probably be seeing a lot of Cesar Laurean’s face.
This could be because he went AWOL at about 4 in the morning on the 11th of January, 2008.
Or maybe it’s because the rape investigation centered on him was getting a little too close for comfort.
Or possibly it’s because he killed the woman he had raped, burning both her and the 8-month-old child that the rape had spawned in her womb and buried them in his backyard.
Pick one.
Corporal Cesar Armando Laurean, who is married, is under investigation for the possible rape of 20-year-old Maria Lauterbach, a lance corporal in the Marines.
Despite the fact that rape is a fairly serious offense in the armed forces, Cesar Laurean was never taken into custody by authorities because there was evidence that the two Marines had maintained a “friendly relationship” after Maria Lauterbach had filed the rape complaint against him.
Makes sense, really. Hell, I’m not sure why more rape victims aren’t so forgiving. Why not go out for tea and crumpets on a regular basis with your rapist?
Maria Lauterbach, who originally hailed from Ohio, has been officially missing since the 19th of December, 2007, but the last time anyone can recall talking to her was on the 13th of December, 2007.
Either way, she disappeared only a few days after she had met with military authorities to discuss her alleged rape by Cesar Laurean.
According to Maria’s mother, who was the last person to talk to her, it was very unusual to not receive a daily call from her daughter. Considering that Maria Lauterbach’s cell phone was found lying on the ground near the gates of Camp Legeune, it’s very likely that something happened to her.
Things heated up somewhat when Cesar Laurean’s wife, Christina, came to the local authorities with a note that Cesar had written that claimed Maria Lauterbach had killed herself by cutting her own throat with a knife, that Cesar had found the body and had buried it.
Well, that’s perfectly normal, isn’t it?
Apparently, the local authorities disagreed, issuing a search warrant for the Laurean residence and an arrest warrant for Cesar Laurean himself.
After searching through Cesar Laurean’s home, local sheriffs found blood spatter evidence present inside his residence, along with a somewhat obvious attempt to hide it, first by washing it with water and then by painting over it.
Further searching of the former residence of Cesar Laurean has revealed a dead body of a woman, complete with an 8-month-old fetus in her abdomen, buried under about a foot of dirt and ash. The body was burned and then buried in the backyard of Cesar Laurean’s home.
According to Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown:
The fetus was developed enough that the little hand was about the size of my thumb. The little fingers were rolled up. One of the things that will probably stick with me for a long time, and forever, is that little hand, the way those fingers were turned, that had been burned off the arm. That is bizarre. That is tragic. And it’s disgusting.
This could all be a coincidence, however, so let’s not all rush to judgment too quickly.
Cesar Laurean left the base in his black Dodge pickup with North Carolina license plate TRR1522, so if you see that truck driving around anywhere, you just might want to let someone know about it.
You might want to keep your distance, however, as he’s expected to be a little “off” and possibly dangerous.
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Damn skippy the bastard deserves hell. What the hell was up with him being free anyways? What could have possibly made them think that everything was fine and dandy between them? Dumbasses.
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That is some wild shit
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Epic lulz.
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I think Hell would be too good for him personally. I’d like to know where his wife and child was when he was killing maria and his unborn son. I think if my husband lets see cleaned the house then painted the walls I’d be suspicious,or to see him setting a large bon fire in my back yard and the buzzards may give it away.Has she been blind for the past month.
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so i’m guessing she confronted him with the baby in her womb? sick bastard, i hope they catch him soon.
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Please help me understand how someone can bring rape charges against someone else and yet the court can be convinced that the two people involved still have a friendly relationship? If that’s true, why was the rape trial going forward? I’m very confused here. Also, what court determines detention based on the perceived relationship between the two parties involved? Is this how military courts work? If so, the words ineffective and waste of time come to mind.
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sounds like he was somewhat inspired by the two demons from here in CT - burn the evidence.
How many people are able to kill themselves with a knife then set themselves on fire?
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As far as the friendly part, I read that as they were friendly prior so the military “may not have belived it” based on that. Not necessarily friendly after.
I don’t understand how someone who is 8 months pregnant, obviously ready to pop, was still on active duty. At least that’s how I read it by her just going into the higher authorities office. I think that if she was off on maternity leave (granted this all could’ve happened before) he may have had a harder time reaching her if she had been on leave at home…
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Well, I hope her family members are feeling like huge jerks right now after they repeatedly told the media that the rape allegation was suspect because she was known to tell lies. Hmmm - kind of makes you wonder why he killed her and burned her up in his backyard if he didn’t have something he was trying to hide huh?
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TurtleMania reply on October 18th, 2008:
Yeah. The police aren’t fools. They knew this guy was an asshole.
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Okay, I’ll amend my last statement. Her stepmother told investigators that. However, I would like to think that if a member of my family went missing after she accused someone of rape, my first instinct wouldn’t be to basically accuse her of lying no matter what the history.
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it’s the evil stepmom defense
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This is a tough one; Bush is the one that is responsible for this current mess. He has soldiers doing 5 tours of duty in a place that is truly hell, a place where you can’t tell the enemy from a friend, and a place where you biddies are getting killed around you. You’re constantly in fear of getting killed and then when you come back to the states you are just required to fit in to normal life. If you do require so post battle stress help you need to wait 16 months because the VA is broken.
This is a real problem that is going to get worse as more of our broken soldiers com back from hell to a bankrupt government that is not willing to help them.
Bush / Cheney The huge 2008
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The news reported both of them never served over seas so Bush can be left out of this one even it what you wrote could apply to others. I am curious about Laurean’s wife as well - they also said she was an active marine. Also hear much of the blood was found in the garage - she may be innocent but I still wonder!!!!!!!!
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Yea that wife Christina (who was a USMC reservist and no longer) for sure had something to do with it. And if there are people out there who don’t think that she is, thats pretty ignorant. To not know for almost a month that there was a dead body in your back yard, after a killing where blood was found in several rooms of your house, yea I don’t think so. The fact no one is really doing anything to really drill her as far as we know, really makes me irritated.
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the fact that the above is blaming bush for this horrible murder is so ignorant, Laurean never served a tour in Iraq,and The men and Women serving in our military are doing so by choice, some have served in Iraq and re-enlisted when their tour was finished.I have to admit that their is tons of problems with this country and if the truth be known one should blame Bill Clinton, He is the one that signed the NAFTA agreement that has now put millions of American workers out of jobs by sending them oversees. Our country is no longer able to rely on products made in the USA because their is nothing left. China is poisoning our children, Mexico is poisoning our food and Americans need to wake up.
admin - When the US signed NAFTA, we cut our own throat. The average American worker, no matter how productive, simply can’t compete for jobs with people who will work a 16-hour day for a mouthful of food. It’s a slow suicide, but a suicide nonetheless.
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The latest on cesar laurean . Officials are now saying that his wife christina was told of maria’s death at least 24 hours prior to her coming forward with the letters he wrote, and that the 2 of them went to see an attorney the day before he disappeared and was told he would be facing the death penalty. Now they think he has fled to Mexico to escape the death penalty because they will not return him to the states unless they refuse to seek the death penalty.I still feel that his wife was involved in her death.Neighbors have stated that she was seen painting the inside of the home ,covering the blood stains on the walls. The Truth will eventually come out.
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I don’t think Mrs. Laurean is required to testify against her spouse in any way, shape, form, or fashion.
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We can’t judge him just yet, he wasn’t in jail for a reason. I beleive they were friends and Ms. Lauterbach liked him some way for her not to report the rape sooner….there’s something fishy about this story!
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We can’t judge him just yet?!? wtf?!? Maybe they were friends at one time but when he felt threatened by her and her baby, he flipped and killed her. I think wew can judge him. geez. He is a baby-killer for crying out loud!! That tiny, helpless innocent baby. How can we NOT judge him? Holy Hell, people just continue to shock me. Have you not read about that tiny little hand curled up from being burned? I’m shocked and appalled at the callousness of this guy. I wonder if he was actually stupid enough to think he could get away with this kind of thing. It would have been so much simpler to just go to court and get the rape charge out of the way, DUMBASS!!! Oh no, you couldn’t let that happen, and NOW you have killed a little bitty baby. YOUR baby!!! You deserve to go to hell for being stupid.
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holy hell huh? that’s an oxymoron. ha ha
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you are commenting on a person who was ordered to go past hell on the battlefield daily.
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Cheryl reply on May 2nd, 2008:
I don’t believe he ever saw battle of any kind. He was just a trained Marine.
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TurtleMania reply on October 19th, 2008:
Well, he was just an asshole.
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I hope we cross pathes. I will send him to hell first class.
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tomas how can u say he was ordered to go past hell the only place he was ordered to go was jacksonville nc he has never been to iraq and I don’t think he has the right to even put himself in the same class as the wonderful marines fighting for our freedom. I personally think hell is too good for him what they need to do is string his ass up in a room full of hungry cats , cover him with blood and let them have at it.
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Tomas- Using your logic, any war vet should have free reign to do anything they want by virtue of already having served in ‘hell’.
Not very good logic. Plus, just being enlisted without having been deployed kind of limits being able to use the PTSD excuse.
But, just one in a million reasons why war isn’t good for anyone.
c
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I just wonder if the wife can be charged with anything seeing as she waited until this POS was gone before telling anybody about the letters or the murder (perhaps giving her husband a nice head start to Mexico) and was seen painting the walls. She has to be playing dumb because I don’t understand how anybody could be so stupid to buy into this guy’s pathetic story about Maria killng herself.
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A few days ago, it was revealed the Cesar sent his wife a few letters. Apparently the contents were how much he missed her and their daughter. He ended with “Someday we will be together again”. On the Nancy Grace show, the remarks were “Maybe after they arrest him and he’s in jail they will see each other again”. Honestly, I think both Cesar and Christina planned this well. After some time if, they don’t catch Cesar in Mexico, then his lovely wife and daughter will join him in Mexico.. His wife may have even committed the murder… if not, she certainly was the partner in crime…
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He should have thought about how much he missed them before he started screwing around with Maria. Ya think? Guess he wasn’t missing them when he was sexually assaulting her. Wonder what he was thinking about then? geez. This guy pisses me off. I wish he had gotten caught by some of our Rednecks in a little backwoods Texas town on his way to Mexico. hahahahhahhaha. He might not be feeling very chipper right now. :)
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homeboy’s screwed. plain and simple. especially when they go to Mexico. But then again that’s the smart thing to do. If we want Mexico to send him back we have to guarentee no death penalty.
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Mary Lauterbach DID NOT tell police that her daugher was a liar. She spoke with her on the 14th and was concerned about her raising a child by herself and offered the suggestion of adoption. Her daughter possibly said I’m going to disappear so no one will be bothered by me (as the UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS. DOES NOT GIVE A CRAP ABOUT WOMAN — FACT(MY DAUGHTER IS IN THE CORP AND PUTS UP WITH HARRASSMENT ALL THE TIME, WHEN SHE REPORTS WRONG DOINGS SHE WAS CALLED A LIAR) Maria called her mom more than once a day, when her mom did not hear from her she called Marine authorites (who have told the Lauterbachs to keep quite about the rape charges FACT). I am as close to my daughter, Maria, as Mary Lauterbach, if my daughter did not call me or text me once a day I would be slightly concerned. If she was upset with me and was giving me a cold shoulder I would think it was part of her finding her own way in the cold cruel word. Do not condem Mary Lauterbach Maria and her had a beautiful mother daughter relationship. The USMC has taken her daughter from her.
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My option, the wife is in on this up to her eyeballs. Either that or she’s the most clueless person on the planet. I find it hard to believe that her husband burned a body and buried in their backyard and she had no clue. Plus, the fact she waited 24 hours? Seems fishy to me
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He does deserve hell. Maybe when he is caught and goes to prison, he will suffer the experiences of rape every night in the shower. He is bound to be Bubba’s bride in the big house. They need to castrate him, without anesthesia. His wife does not deserve to be a mother herself. If someone doesn’t intervene NOW, their 18 month old little girl will probably go missing. I wouldn’t put it past the son of a bitch to have molested his 18 month old daughter. He is Mexican trash, I value the trash at the landfill more than him, he’s a sorry piece of shit. I think the US Marine Corps failed Maria too, I think they brush a lot of shit under the rug. Most Marines I know are dirty pigs who think they control everything. Maria’s mother needs to keep her filthy mouth shut in saying that her daughter was a compulsive liar, you are supposed to love your kids unconditional, are you happy Mary Lauterbach, Maria is dead, so you can talk trash about her all you want, she’s not here to defend herself or her innocent baby. What a sorry mother she had!!!!
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I’m still not sure if it was the mother or the stepmother that said all those things, different stories vary. Either way it’s unexcusable. What possibly crawled up her mother or stepmother’s ass to make her talk that way about her missing daughter/stepdaughter. What ever happened to moral support? Those false comments could have jeopardized the search for her (i.e. by making people think she ran away and was lying about it they may not have made much of an effort to search for her) and also could have jeopardized the investigation into her rape case (giving somebody the impression “gee if even her mother/stepmother says she’s a liar, she probably wasn’t raped and is lying about this whole thing”). Proving the bitch mother/stepmother wrong and saying “See she didn’t run away” doesn’t make me feel any better, knowing now the circumstances of this case and that fact that Maria and her unborn child suffered horrible deaths all because some asshole couldn’t keep his dick in his pants.
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I live in NC and this case makes me furious! So many people have the blood of this poor innocent girl and her baby on their hands - Laurean, the DA, the police dept., and the marines! Laurean was accused of rape in April, yet in December he had still not been arrested. If the sick SOB was sitting in jail (where rapists should be) this girl and her child would still be alive!If these people that were supposed to protect the innocent had done their jobs this murder would never have happened. They are so incompentent that he managed to stay in the area for an entire month after the murder without being detected! There is evidence he and his pathetic wife went and consulted with an attorney who warned him he would likely be charged with the death penalty one day before he left the country!He knew damn well what he was doing when he left for Mexico - no death penalty. Also he can only be charged with her murder, since backwards NC does not recognize a viable fetus as a human being! I don’t know if the wife had anything to do with the murder, but she stayed with him after the rape, she stayed with him after the murder of Maria Lauterbach and her baby, and she helped keep him hidden and helped him escape the country - which makes her just as much of a piece of sh*t as him! At the very least she should be charged with aiding and abetting and accesory after the fact. My sincerest hopes are that he walks out in front of an 18 wheeler with faulty brakes going about 85mph! SPLAT!!!
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Look at him. What a fuckin fat head.
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Did ya’ll see Maria Lauterbach’s mother (if you want to refer to her as that) and her crocodile tears on a CNN clip on the Nancy Grace show. She is nothing but a true ass. She deserves hell just as Mr. Dick head Cesar Laurean!!!
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What if the husband was only part of the clean up.
wife confronted by husbands pregnant mistress.
wife could have slit maria`s throat.
husband would feel guilty and help with the cover-up, even leave a note to clear his wife. he could run and wife act clueless. think about it.
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Maybe no rape at all, what if cesar promised to leave wife, then changed his mind. pregnant maria freaks out, says rape. tells cesar`s wife, christina freaks and slits marias throat.
cesar helps cover up, and runs for the border.
leaving note behind.
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sounds like a future hollywood script.
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Yeah, I don’t think think the wife is too innocent. She obviously had some part of it. I mean, who would not notice your hubbys doings in the yard, just like you guys said..
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Interesting theories on Christina Laurean. She claimed to be “surprised” by the note she found from her husband, yet she knew about the whole thing the day before. Strange…but “she’s a cooperative witness” Also wonder if she’s the one who purchased the bus ticket to El Paso, but the plan was cut short when authorities found out about it too quickly. Was she supposed to join him in Mexico via El Paso, which is just a stones throw from the border? Why would Maria Lauterbach
want to go to El Paso? (Hmmmmm…maybe he told her they could make a life togther in Mexico???)
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Yeah..I think she had a lot to do with this. Obviously she isn’t smart enough to keep her damn hands out of the dirt. Seriously, if you were smart, you wouldn’t do anything like that, right?
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My opinion: the wife is in it up to her eyeballs. She supposedly was at a Christmas party when the murder occurred. She comes home.
A month passes before they show up at the attorneys office, and she waits until her husband has enough time to get away out of the country, before coughing up the note.
When she came home from the party in December, wouldn’t she have seen the blood spatters on the wall? Wouldn’t she have wondered about the quickie paint job right during the Christmas holidays (who the heck does THAT?). Wouldn’t she wonder about the smell of burning flesh in her backyard BBQ pit? Wouldn’t she wonder about a “grave” or hastily put together fire pit? And how about her husband suddenly buying wheelbarrows, etc.? My take is that she helped him all the way through it, or she offed Maria herself or they did it together. The attorney may have even suggested he head for Mexico in order to spare himself the death penalty. The fact that the wife has stuck by him, and communicated with him regularly indicates she’s “with” him in the whole mess. Any other person would be horrified and scared to be around him or let him be around their baby. Some things just supersede “love”, and murder is one of them. I know I couldn’t love someone who committed such a heinous crime and offed an innocent baby, to boot.
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The bitch of a wife had more concern with her precious husband than she had with the victim, probably knowing that the victim was pregnant. Her actions indicate, that like her husband, she is subhuman and I hope to God that they can charge her with something given her involvement in the covering up of the murder and the delaying of evidence. Waiting to tell law enforcement about the note until her husband had a head start. Regularly corresponding with the POS while he was running from the law. Such wonderful priorities for somebody who claims to feel bad about this situation. I say hook the bitch up to a lie detector if they haven’t already. I usually feel sorry for POS’s spouses especially when they are unsuspecting in these situations but not this time. She knew what was going on.
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As a wife of a Marine, this story has held my attention. The story saddens me and makes me ill for so many reasons. The obvious is the brutal murder that should never have happend . Secondly, the way the wife is getting away with this makes me SICK. how can the authorities be SO blind to think she had NO KNOWLEDGE OR INVOLVEMENT in this? I think that is the most sickening thing about the whole situation, that she pretty much is getting away with so much. She knew he killed her and if you want my opinion, she helped kill her. She helped clean up the mess, build the fire pit etc. You can’t tell me as a wife that she had no questions as to why he painted the walls ( and they were painted the same color they already where-it was just a touch up job) or build the fire pit in the middle of December. I live here in Jacksonville ( and as a matter of fact live about 2 miles from the Laureans house. which Cesars wife no longer lives in as the house is vaccant) and it doesn’t get THAT warm in December that you would build a fire pit. And I don’t think that they are the only 2 that knew he did it before he ran away. I think he had a few friends that knew of the murder. But the way the corps works, is that what is said in “house” stays in “house”. They dare not tell on each other, as they consider eachother “brothers’. i am so sorry for marias family and what they have to go threw. There are SO many of us that as angry about all of these things but can you imagine how they are feeling right now? God Bless them..
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TurtleMania reply on May 5th, 2008:
“They dare not tell on each other, as they consider each other ‘brothers’.”
Then they’re no better than an organized crime family.
No pledge of allegiance should rest before a human life.
But if Cesar salad came home drunk and happen to take down your mailbox whilst trying to park - then yeah let’s keep that between the bros.
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itsme reply on May 6th, 2008:
I agree with you 100%. Its sickening the way things are handeled in the military sometimes.
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Marine fighting extradition, could delay US trial
By MARLON A. WALKER, Associated Press Writer
Tue Oct 14, 10:01 AM ET
A Marine who fled to Mexico shortly before he was charged with killing a pregnant comrade is fighting extradition in a move that prosecutors said could delay or endanger the chances of him going to trial in the U.S.
A North Carolina prosecutor said Monday that Cpl. Cesar Laurean, 21, is appealing to the Mexican courts, arguing that North Carolina’s life-without-parole sentence for first-degree murder is barred under the countries’ extradition treaty.
Laurean is charged in the slaying of 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, who had worked with him at Camp Lejeune and had accused him of rape. Lauterbach, of Vandalia, Ohio, was eight months pregnant when she disappeared in December.
Laurean fled to Mexico shortly before Lauterbach’s burned remains were found in January in Laurean’s backyard, and he was arrested in Mexico in April.
In North Carolina, a person convicted of first-degree murder can only be sentenced to death or life without parole.
Onslow County District Attorney Dewey Hudson has already agreed not to seek the death penalty, and a Mexican judge agreed last month to extradite Laurean back to the U.S.
Laurean has appealed that ruling, in part arguing that life without parole is considered cruel and unusual punishment.
Hudson said the argument has been used unsuccessfully in the past, but if the Mexican court sides with Laurean, he could be released from jail.
“Common sense tells me if they’re not going to deport him back to (the U.S.), my biggest concern is he could be released to live in Mexico,” Hudson said.
It’s unclear when the Mexican courts will consider Laurean’s appeal. Laurean’s attorney, Dick McNeil of Jacksonville, didn’t immediately return a phone message, but has said Laurean filed the appeal this month.
The extradition fight could delay his trial for several years, Hudson said.
Hudson said he has been in touch with the U.S. Department of Justice, which is in charge of the extradition, and they told him as much about the appeal as they know.
“It’s basically a waiting game for me,” he said. “We’ve done everything we can … everything we’ve been asked to do. I don’t wanna do anything that’s gonna cause any problems here.
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I don’t like it when someone kills, gets caught and tries to run away from death.
This guy should embrace death beacuse he gave it to that poor girl.
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Cruel and unusual punishment????? Cruel and unusual would be raping, slaughtering a woman who is 8 months pregnant.
Fry the fucker.
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TurtleMania reply on October 20th, 2008:
PLEASE DONT KILL ME
_______________________________________
I agree. Oh, he is so afraid to die but can take away a life so easily.
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Max The Cat reply on October 20th, 2008:
He’s may just be hoping he can stay in “Mehico” permanently. Their maximum sentence for murder is 40 years (although in certain very extreme situations someone can get 60 years). With parole, it’s a much more palatable sentence that the Life without Parole he faces here. And people who’ve committed murder here are serving time in Mexican Nationals who killed in the US have been tried and convicted in Mexico for the crime, so it has happened before. This scummy little fuck is the epitome of cowardice. How he got to be a Marine is anyone’s guess.
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