Hope you find this link a good source for ALL updates/news articles:
http://search.msn.com/news/results.aspx?q=maria+lauterbach&FORM=EWRE
DA won't seek death penalty if Laurean has to be extradited from Mexico
Caesar Laurean may not face the death penalty.
Onslow County District Attorney Dewey Hudson said he made an agreement on Friday with Mexico that if Laurean is found there and extradited to the United States, he will not face the death penalty if convicted in the killing Lance Cpl. Maria Frances Lauterbach.
“I am not happy with the decision that I had to make and was very reluctant to give up the death penalty,” he said. “However, the agreement only deals with Mexico and no other countries.”
Thanks for the link, sodpoodle. One piece of this whole case that has been reported quite differently is the relationship between Cesear and Maria. The military has seemingly painted a picture that Maria was not afraid, could not necessarily be believed, and there was an ongoing relationship. They merely tried to make the best of a confusing “he said/she said” situation with little actual facts.
The family, on the other hand, has painted a picture of Maria being afraid, claiming a rape, harrassment, with fear of the actual process required to convict Cesear.
The available evidence currently gives more credibility to Maria’s assertions. She and her baby have been murdered at the hands of the man she accused of rape. The autopsy indicated she was 8 months pregnant which would easily fall within the time frame of the second incident she reported.
Her checkup in late Nov. revealed a baby that was 6 plus pounds. Doing a little research, predicted weight of a 7 month baby is 3 pounds, 5 pounds at 8 months, and 7 pounds at 9 months. So, there is ample information that the baby was closer to her proposed conception from a rape than the military’s proposed May 14 conception date would allow.
One “fact” that has been put out there, with no verification, is that Maria told the military that she no longer thought Cesear was the father. Why would she do this? One theory could be she was afraid Cesear would try to get custody of her baby. Nobody seemed to believe that she had been raped. If it went before a military jury panel, he was the “stellar” Marine, she was only a “solid” Marine, and she had credibility issues. If DNA established that Cesear was the father, and a rape conviction was off the table, then he would have rights to the child. She could have been more afraid of his custodial rights than trying to prove rape charges, which at this point would have been almost impossible to do.