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A lawyer's body refrigerated after murder.
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benn



Joined: 19 Sep 2002
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Location: Sacramento, CA

PostPosted: Fri Feb 21, 2003 12:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dutra on tape admits lying

By Linda Hughes-Kirchubel
Record Staff Writer
Published Thursday, February 20, 2003

Prosecutors on Wednesday played a videotaped interview of a sobbing, incoherent Sarah Dutra confessing she lied to authorities about key details surrounding Lawrence McNabney's final hours alive.

Charged with McNabney's special-circumstance murder, Dutra faces life in prison if convicted. The jury charged with deciding her fate watched, fascinated, as Dutra's story, videotaped Feb. 24, 2002, unfolded with her boyfriend by her side and her small dog on her lap.

Crying uncontrollably, she admitted for the first time to detectives that on Sept. 11, 2001, she drove a barely conscious McNabney from the City of Industry -- where authorities say he was poisoned -- to Woodbridge, where authorities say he died.

On Feb. 5, 2002, McNabney's body was discovered in a
Linden-area grave. Authorities began a series of interviews with Dutra on Feb. 7, 2002, and on Feb. 23, 2002, Dutra told San Joaquin County homicide detectives that she last saw McNabney in the City of Industry on Sept. 11, after renting a wheelchair for McNabney's wife, Laren Sims. She said she helped Sims put the drunken McNabney in the back seat of his truck and never saw him again.

But barely 24 hours later, Dutra changed her story. On Feb. 24, 2002, Dutra told detectives that Sims, who was her best friend, ordered her to drive north with McNabney in the back of the truck on Sept. 11. Dutra said she was so upset and fearful that periodically she needed to pull over to compose herself.

And it was fear, she said, that kept her from telling the truth in earlier interviews.

Sims summoned Dutra to the horse show Sept. 10, Dutra said, saying McNabney was "acting crazy." Dutra said she flew down, took a taxi to the hotel where the couple was staying, and witnessed McNabney yelling "I'll kill you" to Sims in the couple's room. Both Dutra and Sims slept in McNabney's truck that night in the hotel's parking lot, Dutra said.

The next day, Dutra said, Sims said she needed a wheelchair to move McNabney. The pair rented the wheelchair and took McNabney from his hotel room to his truck.

Dressed in a white T-shirt, jeans and tennis shoes, McNabney cooperated when Sims tried to get him into the wheelchair. Once in the car, Dutra said, Sims told her "We're going to Sacramento."

During the ride home -- as the world reeled from the disaster of terrorist attacks on the New York's twin towers and the Pentagon -- McNabney reminisced about the past, mumbling incoherently.

Authorities say he had been poisoned with a horse tranquilizer.

As they drove, Dutra said, the 35-year-old Sims told her: "You need to forget that Larry was in this car. It's in your best interest to forget that he was in this car."

"And I said, 'Elisa, what's going on?' " Dutra said. "She had the most horrible look in her eye."

Dutra said she asked Sims whether she should go to the police.

"She said, 'That's the last place you will ever go, or else there will be trouble for you and the people you love,' " she told detectives.

Dutra said the drive north ended at the McNabneys' Woodbridge house, where Sims walked McNabney into the house. Dutra then said she drove to Vacaville to pick up her dog and returned to the Woodbridge home in the wee hours of Sept. 12. That night, she told detectives, she slept downstairs on a sofa and never saw McNabney again.

McNabney's family and friends became suspicious during the fall as Sims and Dutra told varying stories about McNabney's whereabouts, trying, authorities say, to keep his law office running and conceal his absence. An office worker reported him missing in late November.

In January 2002, Sims fled the state.

Though Dutra insisted she was telling the whole truth during the Feb. 24 interview, she would again change her story about the details of that night. In March 2002 she told authorities the trip included a detour to Yosemite National Park -- where she attempted to dig a hole in which to bury him. But the ground was too hard and McNabney was still alive.

In the March interview, Dutra also admitted that she helped bring McNabney into the home, observed him lying dead on the floor and helped Sims place him in a spare refrigerator in the garage.

Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa hopes to prove that Dutra knew McNabney was poisoned and that she knew his body had been kept refrigerated for months until he was buried sometime in late December or early January, just before Sims left the state.

In March 2002 Florida police apprehended Sims, and days after her first court appearance, she hanged herself.

Before she did, she signed a statement admitting she poisoned McNabney, but implicating Dutra. Sims insisted the college student participated in McNabney's murder and the coverup of the crime.

* To reach reporter Linda Hughes-Kirchubel, phone 546-8297 or
e-mail lkirch@recordnet.com
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 01, 2003 7:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dutra's lawyer plays portions of videotape

By Linda Hughes-Kirchubel
Record Staff Writer
Published Wednesday, February 26, 2003

The most dramatic and emotional courtroom moments of Sarah Dutra's trial on murder charges unfolded Tuesday as defense attorney Kevin Clymo played portions of a videotape in which Sarah Dutra incoherently told authorities she helped her best friend hide Larry McNabney's body inside a refrigerator in his garage.

Authorities contend Dutra and McNabney's wife, Laren Sims, poisoned McNabney on Sept. 10, 2001, at a Southern California horse show, and he died at his Woodbridge home Sept. 12. He was found buried in a Linden-area vineyard in February 2002.

Last week, Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa played the last two hours of an eight-hour interview conducted in March by detectives investigating McNabney's death.

On Tuesday, Clymo played earlier portions of the tape, in which an emotionally overwrought Dutra told authorities that Sims called her into the couple's bedroom the morning of Sept. 12. She said she saw McNabney lying at the foot of his bed, covered in a white comforter, his hands crossed over his chest.

"I said, 'Why is he lying on the ground?' " Dutra said, her words convulsed with gasping breaths that made it difficult to comprehend. "And she said, 'He's dead.' I said, 'What do you mean, he's dead?' ... I said, 'We have to call the police.' And she said, 'No. We can never call the police.' "

Charged with murder and special circumstances in McNabney's death, Dutra faces life in prison if convicted.

During portions of the tape, Dutra's words became indistinguishable, tumbling out in high-pitched tones punctuated with mighty gulps. In the courtroom, Dutra spent much of the morning rocking back and forth, hunched over the counsel table, her shoulders shaking with new sobs.

Immediately behind her, Dutra's parents wiped tears from their eyes, while across the aisle, McNabney's children bowed their heads and wept as the gruesome details of their father's death were revealed before the San Joaquin County jury that will decide Dutra's fate.

Dutra told detectives that Sims, 35, was exceedingly calm as she instructed the 21-year-old on what to do. "She's like, 'We have to take him out of here,' and I'm like, 'I'm not helping,' " Dutra told detectives. "And she's like, 'You will help.' "

Sims then began instructing Dutra to take a sheet and help her cover him, Dutra told detectives, who encouraged her to go on with her statement as they handed her water and tissues.

"She said, 'I'm going to put him in the refrigerator downstairs,' " Dutra sobbed. "It's not (that I did it) because I wanted to. It's because I was afraid of what would happen if I didn't."

So the two women carried the 190-pound McNabney down to the garage.

As they emptied the refrigerator of shelves and drawers, Dutra said on the tape, she told Sims she wasn't "going to get away with it."

"She's like, 'Yes I am,' " Dutra said. "And I'm like, 'This is sick ... This is so gross.' "

They then wrapped the refrigerator with duct tape to ensure it remained closed. It was there for more than three months, and during that time Sims, her daughter and -- for much of the time -- Dutra occupied the home.

Clymo apparently showed the tape in an effort to convince the jury Dutra had no part in McNabney's murder but merely helped cover it up because she was afraid. At one point during her statement to authorities, Dutra became so upset that she vomited.

Prosecutors contend the pair covered up the crime throughout the fall of 2001 until family members became concerned about McNabney's whereabouts. Sims fled California in January 2002 and was arrested in Florida on March 18. Shortly after her arrest, she admitted to authorities she killed McNabney. Her statement implicated Dutra. Days later, Sims committed suicide in jail.

* To reach reporter Linda Hughes-Kirchubel, phone 546-8297 or
e-mail lkirch@recordnet.com
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 01, 2003 7:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Video: Dutra admits help
But didn't bury body

By Linda Hughes-Kirchubel
Record Staff Writer
Published Thursday, February 27, 2003

Sarah Dutra and Laren Sims drove to Las Vegas in December 2001 with Larry McNabney's body in the trunk of a bright red sports car, revealed Wednesday in a videotape played in a San Joaquin County courtroom.

During an all-night, videotaped interview held March 19 at the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office, Dutra told authorities she refused to help Sims bury her husband's body but did help her put it in the trunk of the Jaguar that Sims drove but was registered in Dutra's name.

Dutra is accused of McNabney's special-circumstance murder and could spend the rest of her life in prison if convicted. Sims, arrested and charged last March, committed suicide in a Florida jail shortly after her first court appearance.

In the videotape played for the jury, Dutra said she didn't know that Sims had poisoned McNabney with horse tranquilizer at a Los Angeles County horse show until she flew in from Sacramento at Sims' request. In the trial's opening statements, Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa insisted circumstantial evidence will prove McNabney was poisoned by both Sims and Dutra, who then drove to Woodbridge with his body, stuffed it into a refrigerator at McNabney's home.

On Wednesday the jury saw portions of Dutra's interview in which she admitted she and Sims drove McNabney's body in the trunk of her Jaguar to Las Vegas in December 2001.

She told authorities that as the pair planned to leave for Las Vegas, Sims called Dutra into the Woodbridge garage, where Dutra saw the dead McNabney on a black tarp on the floor.

"I saw him laying there on the ground," Dutra said. "We each picked up one side of the tarp... (She said) 'Come on, just help me lift him into the trunk,' and so I did."

During the drive to Las Vegas, Dutra said, she asked Sims what would happen if the police pulled them over.

"She said, 'Just drive,' " Dutra said.

Dutra insisted she did not help Sims attempt to find a burial site and never saw her "do anything with the body in Vegas."

"When we were leaving Las Vegas I said, '...Can we open the trunk?' and she said 'No,' " Dutra told authorities.

She then realized the body would travel all the way back with them to Woodbridge, she said.

Dutra insisted she told Sims she'd not take part in disposing of McNabney's body.

"I told her I would not help bury him ... and she said, 'OK, I'll do it myself,'" Dutra said on the videotape.

Before hanging herself in a Florida jail, Sims admitted to authorities that she alone buried McNabney in a vineyard near Linden. The body was discovered Feb. 5, 2002, in a shallow grave.

* To reach reporter Linda Hughes-Kirchubel, phone 546-8297 or
e-mail lkirch@recordnet.com
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 01, 2003 7:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Unclear if defendant will testify
Dutra's lawyers open defense case

By Linda Hughes-Kirchubel
Record Staff Writer
Published Friday, February 28, 2003

More than six weeks into a trial that has brought national attention to San Joaquin County, Sarah Dutra's attorney on Thursday launched his defense case aimed at acquitting the 22-year-old of charges that could send her to prison for life.

Dutra, 22, is charged in the September 2001 special-circumstance murder of Lawrence McNabney, who was married to Dutra's best friend Laren Sims. Both women were arrested and charged in March 2002 with McNabney's murder, but Sims committed suicide in a Florida jail shortly after her first court appearance.

Whether Dutra herself will take the stand remains unclear.

Defense attorney Kevin Clymo called two witnesses Thursday, one of whom said she saw Clements rancher Greg Whalen locked in a passionate embrace with Laren Sims just weeks after authorities believe McNabney died.

On Thursday, Paula Muller testified Whalen and Sims attended an October 2001 horse show in Lancaster. At the horse show, Muller noticed a couple kissing in the tack room -- and pointed them out to a friend.

"I said, trying to be funny, 'Those people should get a motel room,' " Muller said. "(My friend) said, 'What people?' I said, 'The old man and the girl.' She said ... 'Paula, those people don't even go together. They're married to other people.' "

Clymo has attempted to convince jurors that Whalen and Sims had a romantic relationship, alleging Whalen could have helped dispose of McNabney's body. Officials at the District Attorney's Office have said they have no evidence he is guilty of any crime.

Jurors also have seen videotapes of Dutra telling investigators she kept quiet about McNabney's death because she was afraid of Sims.

Dutra lied when investigators initially asked if she knew what happened to the 53-year-old attorney who disappeared from a City of Industry horse show in September 2001.

Later Dutra admitted she knew that Sims, 35, had poisoned him.

Over the course of a 10-hour videotaped interview, Dutra slowly revealed details of McNabney's death, saying Sims poisoned McNabney with horse tranquilizers at the September horse show. Dutra admitted helping Sims transport McNabney from the horse show to the couple's Woodbridge home, and at one point said she could have saved him had she contacted police the night he died.

She also admitted she helped Sims place McNabney's body into a refrigerator after he died and, with Sims, drove McNabney's body in December 2001 to Las Vegas. She denied having anything to do with an attempted burial there.

Sims told authorities she alone buried the body in a Linden-area vineyard. His body was found Feb. 5 and a forensic anthropologist determined the remains had been underground three to six weeks.

On Thursday, Clymo questioned attorney Georgeann McKee, who represented McNabney after a December 2000 drunken-driving arrest. He pleaded no contest to the charge. McKee said McNabney discussed alcohol rehabilitation programs and "was aware he had a serious problem."

Law enforcement officials contacted McKee when McNabney's receptionist, Ginger Miller, reported him missing in November, McKee testified. She said she called Sims repeatedly to inquire about McNabney, but Sims never returned her phone calls until December, when McKee left messages that the police were looking for her.

"She called immediately the next morning ... saying, 'Why did you leave that scary message?' " McKee said.

When McKee explained that authorities suspected McNabney was dead, Sims began to cry and said he had "run off to a cult."

After court, a tearful Tavia Williams, McNabney's daughter, said she was upset by the fact that her father's struggle with alcohol was brought before the jury.

"I think it's a shame that our dad gets put on trial during his own murder trial," she said. "We're already suffering enough from the loss due the vicious planning of (Sims) and Sarah."

* To reach reporter Linda Hughes-Kirchubel, phone 546-8297 or
e-mail lkirch@recordnet.com
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PostPosted: Sat Mar 01, 2003 8:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rancher denies he had affair with Sims

By Linda Hughes-Kirchubel
Record Staff Writer
Published Saturday, March 1, 2003

An elderly Clements rancher Friday denied having an affair with Larry McNabney's wife, the woman that prosecutors say Sarah Dutra helped carry out a cold-blooded poisoning.

Greg Whalen, owner of Blue Ribbon Farms, told a San Joaquin County jury that he never had an affair with Laren Sims, who he knew as Elisa McNabney.

"Elisa and I never had anything like that," Whalen said in an interview, which defense attorney Kevin Clymo played to the jury Friday. "I know she told a lot of people that if I wasn't so old, she'd like to have sex with me. ... I never had sex with her."

And Whalen insisted a woman lied when she testified Thursday to seeing Whalen and Sims locked in a passionate embrace at a Lancaster horse show.

"She's lying," he said. "That's all I can say. What she said was really ... overexaggerated."

Dutra faces charges of murder and accessory to McNabney's murder, which investigators say happened in September 2001.

That's when McNabney disappeared from a Los Angeles County horse show.

Prosecutors insist he was poisoned by his wife, Laren Sims, and Dutra, her best friend. Dutra admitted in a videotaped interview that the poisoning took place at the horse show, but McNabney died two days later in Woodbridge.

Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa and Clymo both played hours of Dutra's videotaped interviews with San Joaquin County detectives, in which she admitted driving from the City of Industry to Woodbridge with the ailing McNabney in the car.

She said she saw him dead Sept. 12 and helped Sims stuff McNabney's body into a refrigerator at McNabney's home, where it stayed for several months.

But throughout the trial, Clymo has sought to bring forth evidence he hopes will convince the jury that Whalen, not Dutra, helped Sims with the disposal of McNabney's body.

On Friday, the jury saw Whalen lie to a San Joaquin County detective in the interview, taped Feb. 28, 2002, when asked if he had ever received a refrigerator from Sims.

In the interview, he said he had not.

Law enforcement officers recovered the refrigerator they believe housed McNabney's body between September and December 2001 from a bunk room at Whalen's ranch.

Witnesses testified that Sims gave the refrigerator to workers at Whalen's ranch in December 2001.

Whalen said Friday he lied to protect his workers, some of whom were in the country illegally.

And in the interview, he appeared exasperated with authorities for their suggestion he might have been involved in McNabney's death.

"I'm getting tired of this," he said.

"It's just like I told you. Every fricking thing is just the way it is. You guys had better leave me alone."

Shortly after giving the refrigerator away, Sims fled California.

She was arrested in March 2002, charged with McNabney's murder and then committed suicide in a Florida jail.

Whalen also said Sims never asked him to help her bury McNabney's body and said he never showed her how to use horse tranquilizers and never let her use his veterinary bag.

"She had her own," he said.

Dutra said she never planned or participated in McNabney's death.

She has insisted she did not go to police about what she knew because she was afraid of Sims.

She faces life in prison if convicted.

* To reach reporter Linda Hughes-Kirchubel, phone 546-8297 or
e-mail lkirch@recordnet.com
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2003 3:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Defense focuses on Sims' criminal past in Dutra trial

By Linda Hughes-Kirchubel
Record Staff Writer
Published Wednesday, March 5, 2003

Slain Sacramento attorney Laurence McNabney moved quickly to repay Nevada clients swindled by his then-lover Laren Sims, but after marrying the Florida ex-con, he said he could never divorce her because she knew too much about him.

Testimony Tuesday in the trial of Sarah Dutra, charged with NcNabney's murder, revealed McNabney was "shocked" when he discovered Sims had embezzled more than $74,000 from his Nevada law firm, including misappropriating money from his clients' trust accounts. Sims' actions brought reprimand upon McNabney from the Nevada State Bar and eventually drove him to California.

Documents read aloud to the San Joaquin County jury charged with deciding Dutra's fate focused on Sims' criminal past as attorney Kevin Clymo continued to present Dutra's defense. Dutra was a secretary in McNabney's Sacramento law office.

In December 1995, after learning that Sims had misappropriated clients' funds, McNabney immediately ordered an audit of his three law firms. He also secured more than $294,000 in loans to rectify the lost funds.

"None of the clients sustained losses," documents from the Nevada State Bar read.

Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa told the jury in opening statements that he believes circumstantial evidence will prove Dutra and Sims poisoned McNabney at a horse show Sept. 10, 2001, in Los Angeles County's City of Industry, then moved to hide the crime by stuffing his body in a refrigerator, where it remained through the fall.

His body was found in February 2002 in a shallow grave near Linden.

Authorities arrested Dutra and charged her with murder and special circumstances in McNabney's death. She faces life in prison if convicted.

But Dutra has insisted in videotaped interviews with San Joaquin County authorities that though she knew about McNabney's murder, she kept quiet because she feared for her own life.

A worker in McNabney's Sacramento law firm reported McNabney missing in December 2001, and an investigator for the Sacramento Sheriff's Department interviewed
McNabney's son, Joe, in January 2002.

"His dad had told him that (Sims) knew things about him and he would not be able to leave her, because she would tell things about him," Sgt. Michaela Links said. "He got the impression his dad had done something pretty bad."

Sims fled California in January 2002, and authorities began searching for her. A cross-
country hunt ended with her arrest March 18, 2002, in Florida. There she admitted having killed McNabney, implicated Dutra in her statement and, days later, hanged herself in jail.

* To reach reporter Linda Hughes-Kirchubel, phone 546-8297 or
e-mail lkirch@recordnet.com
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2003 3:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dutra defense calls psychologists

By Linda Hughes-Kirchubel
Record Staff Writer
Published Friday, March 7, 2003

Suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, an anxious and fearful Sarah Dutra suffered from sleepless nights punctuated with nightmares in the months after Laurence McNabney's death, two defense psychologists testified Thursday.

Dutra's defense team called two psychologists Thursday to testify on her behalf. Both experts painted a picture of a troubled woman trapped by circumstance whose grades and weight plummeted in the aftermath of a horrific slaying that plunged her into depression.

The former university art student is accused of helping McNabney's wife, Laren Sims, poison the 53-year-old McNabney at a horse show Sept. 10, 2001, in Industry, in Los Angeles County. McNabney was last seen at the horse show and was missing nearly four months until his body was discovered in a shallow grave east of Stockton. Sims committed suicide after her arrest last year.

Charged with being an accessory to murder, murder and special circumstances in McNabney's death, Dutra faces life in prison if convicted. Dutra's attorney, Kevin Clymo, insists his client is guilty of nothing more than being an accessory.

The psychologists met with Dutra, administered psychological tests and viewed hours of her videotaped interviews before coming up with their diagnosis: In the aftermath of McNabney's death, Dutra suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Symptoms included recurrent recollections of the event, recurrent dreams and intense physiological and psychological reactions to ordinary events that triggered memories of the trauma.

"All the symptoms are things my brother and I have been experiencing for months," Tavia Williams, McNabney's 33-year-old daughter, said Thursday after court.

Williams accused Dutra of lying to the psychologists to aid in her own defense.

"She spent months lying to the police. Why would it be any different?" Williams said. "I think her only remorse in this is (for) what she's putting her own family through and what her fate will be."

In videotaped interviews, Dutra told detectives that Sims poisoned McNabney, then forced Dutra to cover up the crime. Sims called her into the couple's Woodbridge bedroom the morning of Sept. 12, 2001, where she saw McNabney's body at the foot of his bed, Dutra said.

Sims and Dutra wrapped McNabney's body in a sheet and placed the body in a refrigerator in the garage, Dutra told detectives. It remained there for months, while Sims -- and often Dutra -- lived in the home.

That scene returned to haunt Dutra in the weeks after McNabney's death, said Roger Katz, the University of the Pacific psychologist who testified on her behalf.

"She would have the memories of the decedent: ... the eyes, the staring (corpse)," Katz said. "She would look into a refrigerator and it would ... trigger these memories."

Throughout the fall of 2001, Dutra became increasingly dependent on marijuana, clinical and forensic psychologist John Podboy said, because "it helped her make it through the day."

Podboy has testified for the defense in previous trials, including the trial of a student charged with plotting to bomb De Anza College in Santa Clara.

Dutra continued to associate with Sims, because she feared for her life and her families' lives if she broke off her friendship with the older woman, Podboy said.

"She preferred to be around (Sims) when her daughter ... was around, because she didn't think anything bad would happen. ... I don't think she was a very happy person."

Podboy testified Thursday that Dutra appeared to be an honest, upstanding person.

Though Dutra had been on the dean's honor list, Podboy said, she became "really crippled" at Sims' hands during the fall. She failed one class and got a D in another, but managed a B-plus in an ethics class, according to college records.

Dutra was "emotionally conflicted" by the information she learned in the ethics class, because she was concealing McNabney's death, Podboy said.

* To reach reporter Linda Hughes-Kirchubel, phone 546-8297 or
e-mail lkirch@recordnet.com
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 09, 2003 3:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

http://www.recordnet.com/articlelink/030803/news/articles/030803-gn-11.php

>>>Dutra doesn't testify
Closing arguments set to begin Tuesday

By Linda Hughes-Kirchubel
Record Staff Writer
Published Saturday, March 8, 2003

Testimony in Sara Dutra's murder trial ended Friday without a word from Dutra, the 22-year-old woman accused of helping Laren Sims murder her husband, Laurence McNabney.

Dutra faces the possibility of life in prison if she is convicted in McNabney's killing. The jury charged with deciding her fate has seen hours of Dutra's videotaped statements, heard riveting testimony from Sims' 18-year-old daughter and watched McNabney's grown children weep at the gruesome pictures of their father's body as it was unearthed from a Linden-area vineyard.

As expectation hung in the air, attorney Kevin Clymo calmly announced he had no more witnesses to present on Dutra's behalf, surprising McNabney's family.

"I'm stunned," Tavia Williams, McNabney's 33-year-old daughter, mouthed to her brother, Joe McNabney.

On Friday, the defense called its final witnesses, and the prosecution offered a brief rebuttal, which concluded shortly before 11 a.m. The jury was dismissed until Tuesday, when closing arguments are scheduled to begin.

McNabney's body was found Feb. 5, 2001, buried in a Linden vineyard nearly five months after he disappeared from a City of Industry horse show he was attending with Sims. It's there, according to Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa, that Dutra and Sims poisoned McNabney.

Dutra told detectives during videotaped interviews that McNabney died at his Woodbridge home Sept. 12, 2001, after she and Sims drove him back from Southern California. She admitted she helped wrap McNabney in a sheet and stuff him in a refrigerator, where his body remained for months.

During the interviews, Dutra denied planning the murder but does admit she and Sims "could have" had a conversation about poisoning McNabney at his Sacramento law office in the months before he died.

Dutra insisted to detectives that Sims alone poisoned McNabney on Sept. 10, 2001, and then told her about it later that night.

"She told me that she put it in his mouth," Dutra says in the video. "I was asking her what's going on, and she said, 'I can't handle him anymore,' and I told her, 'What are you doing?' and she said, 'I'm giving him poison.'"

Dutra is accused of helping Sims covered up McNabney's death during the fall and winter of 2001 while spending thousands of dollars on cars, clothes and trips. During that time, a worker at McNabney's law firm became suspicious and, unbeknownst to Sims and Dutra, reported McNabney missing.

Sims fled California in January 2002. She was arrested in March in Florida, implicated herself and Dutra in McNabney's murder and then committed suicide in a Florida jail.

Williams said she was relieved the testimony had ended.

"My father was a defense attorney," she said. "Dad always said if you're guilty, you never take the stand, and I think that stands true today."

* To reach reporter Linda Hughes-Kirchubel, phone 546-8297 or
e-mail lkirch@recordnet.com<<<

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PostPosted: Mon Mar 10, 2003 9:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

>>>Tracy student drawn to career
Teen going to courtroom-sketch contest

By Linda Hughes-Kirchubel
Record Staff Writer
Published Tuesday, March 4, 2003

TRACY -- Two months ago, Alecia Stevens had no idea what the job of a courtroom artist demanded.

Now the 16-year-old West High student from Tracy will represent San Joaquin County in a statewide mock-trial competition using her watercolor and sketching skills to recreate courtroom scenes just as any professional courtroom artist would.

Stevens hopes to parlay her love of drawing into a courtroom-artist career, giving the public a view of important court proceedings from which cameras are excluded.

She's been perfecting her art skills since fifth grade, she said.

"I always wanted to work for Disney, but now it's really all computers and Pixar, and I'm not into that," she said. "I used to do animation, but I'm better at drawing people instead of just making up a character."

So it seemed an odd twist of fate when her art teacher told the class about a mock-trial competition that would include a courtroom-artist position. Just two weeks earlier, her parents had suggested she might consider a career as a courtroom artist.

"This is the first time our county offered the courtroom-artist competition," said West High history teacher Tom O'Hara, who coached the school's mock-trial team. "Alecia wants to be a courtroom artist, so she jumped at the opportunity. She came on down, ... and she did a great job."

Though West High School's team didn't win first place, Stevens -- as the only student in the county who participated in the courtroom-artist competition -- was a shoo-in for the next level.

She will accompany Tracy High School's winning mock-trial team to the state finals in Riverside later this month.

"I thought it was interesting because you get to listen to all the cases while you're drawing them," Stevens said. "I got to listen to what was going on, listen to the judge and hear what (the participants) had to say."

Professional courtroom artist Vicki Behringer has covered hundreds of trials in her 13-year career. A series of coincidences led Behringer into the courtroom with her pencils, pens and watercolors.

"An older neighbor lady said to me one day, 'I know what you should do -- be a courtroom artist,' " Behringer said last week as she sketched a courtroom scene from the ongoing trial of Sarah Dutra, accused of killing attorney Larry McNabney in 2001.

She began mulling over the possibility and spoke to a friend at a local broadcasting station about it. Then the artist that the station used died, and she was asked to step in.

She has since sketched such defendants as Ellie Nesler, accused of murdering her son's molester in Jamestown, Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski and Richard Allen Davis, convicted of murdering 12-year-old Polly Klaas.

For The Record, Behringer has sketched Dutra as well as convicted murderers Wesley Shermantine and Loren Herzog.

Behringer has to be flexible enough to be ready to drive hours away from her Sacramento art studio at a moment's notice.

"There's so little work, since cameras are allowed in (the courtroom)," she said. "You have to travel, and you have to be available at a moment's notice. A good artist can work under pressure. Sometimes I'm only given an hour to have something done."

Stevens said she expects professional courtroom artists such as Behringer will be present at the Riverside competition to talk to students about the career.

"I'd like to find out what would be required, ... what I have to do to get a job like that," she said. "When I go to competition, there's some famous courtroom artists that will teach us and practice with us, so I'll probably learn stuff there."

West High teacher Kimiko Azama instructs the advanced placement art class in which Stevens is enrolled. It was Azama who alerted her art students to the competition and found Stevens already considering the career.

"She's kind of approached this on her own and expressed her desire to get into this kind of career," Azama said. "When Tom O'Hara told me about the opportunity, she expressed interest."

Azama added her student loves -- and excels at -- drawing portraits.

"Most of her art has people in it somewhere," Azama said. "I think she's got some natural talent so that part's great. She's loves people, and ... it's a natural career path for her."

It's an uncertain career fraught with competition, but one Stevens is looking forward to learn more about, and one Behringer said she loves.

"I never know how long it's going to last, but I just keep going for as long as I can," Behringer said.

* To reach reporter Linda Hughes-Kirchubel, phone 546-8297 or
e-mail lkirch@recordnet.com<<<
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2003 1:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

http://www.recordnet.com/articlelink/031203/news/articles/031203-gn-3.php

McNabney murder trial nears end
Prosecution begins closing arguments

By Linda Hughes-Kirchubel
Record Staff Writer
Published Wednesday, March 12, 2003

Painstaking and sometimes painfully detailed closing arguments began Tuesday in the murder trial of Sarah Dutra, the 22-year-old college student accused of helping kill a Sacramento attorney.

Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa wove detailed, occasionally repetitive examples of testimony into a lengthy closing argument in which he hammered home his theory that Dutra is guilty of Laurence McNabney's first-degree murder, committed in concert with her best friend, Laren Sims.

Testa insisted Dutra repeatedly lied to cover up her criminal actions, and urged the jury to look to the testimony for an accurate picture of the former art student. And he denounced defense expert witnesses as flawed because their information came from an unreliable source -- Dutra.

On Sept. 11, 2001, McNabney disappeared from a Los Angeles County horse show. Five months later, his body was discovered in a Linden-area vineyard.

Forensic pathologists testified he had been poisoned with horse tranquilizer and refrigerated.

During the time he was missing, witnesses testified, Dutra and McNabney's wife, Sims, partied and shopped together, attended horse shows together and covered for McNabney's absence by offering varying explanations.

In January 2002, Sims fled California. She was arrested in Florida in March, and signed statements admitting she poisoned McNabney. She implicated Dutra in her statements, then committed suicide.

Videotaped interviews with investigators shown to Dutra's jury revealed a hysterical Dutra who said she was afraid for her life, so kept silent about Sims' actions.

"You just heard me spend the last five hours going over evidence she's lying because ... she's responsible and she wants to avoid responsibility," Testa said, raising his voice. "It's the oldest reason (for lying) in the book. ... It takes some guts to look an officer in the face and lie."

The prosecution theorizes the women killed McNabney for financial gain, forged McNabney's name on checks and misappropriated client funds in a wild spending spree witnessed by Sims' daughter. Haylei Jordan, 18, testified the pair purchased new clothes, jewelry and shoes and a new car after McNabney's death.

The defense insisted that Dutra feared for her life as Sims poisoned McNabney, so did nothing to prevent it. Two psychologists testified she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. And, they said, Dutra continued to associate with Sims, because she feared for her family's lives if she broke off her friendship with Sims.

But on Tuesday, Testa told the jury that Dutra's actions before, during and after McNabney's death indicated a close relationship with Sims, a high degree of trust between the two, and enough circumstantial evidence to convict the college student of first-degree murder.

Testa reread testimony of witnesses who said they knew Sims and McNabney's marriage was troubled during the summer of 2001. Several of Sims' female friends distanced themselves from Sims, Testa said, after she told them she wished McNabney was dead.

"Everyone else pulls back (from her)," Testa said. "Sarah Dutra gets closer as (Sims) is talking about wanted Larry dead."

Taped interviews of Dutra revealed she was aware as early as 24 hours before McNabney's Sept. 12, 2001, death that Sims was poisoning McNabney.

Testa sought to derail defense claims that Dutra feared for her life by reminding the jury of some of Dutra's statements to investigators. And, Testa said, Dutra had many opportunities to leave but took advantage of none of them.

On the tapes, Dutra told authorities she drove Sims and the dying McNabney from City of Industry to Woodbridge, stopping on the way in Yosemite, where she said Sims ordered her to dig a hole. The ground was too rocky, so they continued back to McNabney's Sacramento law office, where, Dutra said, she "went for a walk."

They then drove south to Woodbridge, where McNabney died.

During the drive north, Dutra told detectives, the three stopped multiple times, sometimes for food, other times for gas or cigarette breaks.

"Why doesn't she take off?" Testa said. "She has the ability to leave. But she doesn't. ... She didn't avail herself of any of them because she wasn't just a passive (witness) ... she was an active participant."

* To reach reporter Linda Hughes-Kirchubel, phone 546-8297 or
e-mail lkirch@recordnet.com
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2003 1:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dutra's own 'nightmare'
Defense makes case to jurors in murder trial's closing arguments

By Jeff Hood
Lodi Bureau Chief
Published Thursday, March 13, 2003

Murder suspect Sarah Dutra had no motive to kill Larry McNabney, stumbling into a "nightmare" at an Industry horse show as the Sacramento attorney was being poisoned, her attorney said during the trial's closing arguments Wednesday.

Kevin Clymo described his 22-year-old client as a California State University, Sacramento, honor-roll student who was unprepared for what she would face the night of Sept. 10, 2001, after flying to meet McNabney and his wife in Southern California.

Unknown to McNabney, his wife of six years, Elisa, was actually a fugitive from Florida named Laren Sims. Sims fled the couple's Woodbridge home in January 2002, and McNabney's body was found buried in a Linden vineyard in February. Sims confessed and implicated Dutra in his killing after being arrested the next month in Florida, then hanged herself in her jail cell.

Clymo said prosecutor Thomas Testa failed to produce any evidence that proves Dutra poisoned McNabney, focusing solely on her conduct after Sept. 11, 2001.

"The only thing the prosecutor keeps turning back to is, ladies and gentlemen: 'Come on, connect the dots. Look at everything that happened after Sept. 11,' " he said. "The law doesn't let you speculate something that's not there. All of this stuff before 9-11 relates to Elisa."

Testa took an hour Wednesday morning to complete his closing argument, focusing on Dutra's repeated lies to investigators before and after McNabney's body was found.

Even when she offered new information to Detective Debbie Scheffel in a tearful February 2002 interview, she failed to mention a detour to Yosemite National Park in an apparent attempt to bury the still-breathing McNabney. The attorney's body was stored in a refrigerator at his Woodbridge home for nearly three months before he was buried.

"The lesson that can be learned from this interview is tears do not equal truth," Testa told jurors.

Clymo said Dutra may have lied to investigators, but Sims was the one making ominous statements throughout 2001 about her husband. For much of that time, Dutra was in Italy studying art before returning to work for McNabney's Sacramento law office that summer.

Had Sims poisoned McNabney six months earlier, a previous employee might be on trial for murder, Clymo said.

Sims was "like a hurricane that whirls around and destroys things in its path," he told jurors.

Clymo said Dutra isn't the only person to lie to investigators.

He said Clements horse trainer Greg Whalen misled detectives about his contact with Sims after her husband's death, and a big-screen television, couches and clothing that belonged to McNabney were found in Whalen's home.

Clymo is scheduled to finish his closing argument today in San Joaquin County Superior Court in Stockton, followed by Testa's rebuttal before Judge Bernard J. Garber reads instructions to the jury.

* To reach Lodi Bureau Chief Jeff Hood, phone 367-7427 or e-mail jhood@recordnet.com
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 14, 2003 11:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dutra's fate turned over to jury

BY Linda Hughes-Kirchubel
Record Staff Writer
Published Friday, March 14, 2003

Jury deliberations began Thursday in a trial that brought national attention to San Joaquin County for its tales of poison and intrigue surrounding the death of a wealthy attorney.

At 3:30 p.m. Thursday, a seven-man, five-woman jury retired to the deliberation room outside the San Joaquin County courtroom of Superior Court Judge Bernard Garber.

The jurors hold Sarah Dutra's future in their hands.

Dutra, 22, could be convicted of first-degree murder and spend the rest of her life in jail if the jury believes she had a part in the death of Sacramento attorney Laurence McNabney, who was rising quickly in the world of equestrian competition.

McNabney was attending a Southern California horse show when his success in the ring was cut short Sept. 10, 2001. Forensic pathologists testified he had been poisoned with horse tranquilizer.

Dutra, who worked for McNabney and his wife, Laren Sims, is charged in connection with his death. Detectives insist that in the months following his death, the pair covered up his absence with various excuses and recklessly spent the proceeds -- and client funds -- from his personal-injury law practice.

Defense attorney Kevin Clymo wrapped up his closing arguments Thursday morning, saying Dutra, caught in Sims' web of deceit, was an innocent woman who feared for her life in the days and months following McNabney's death. And he blamed Sims solely for the killing.

"The evidence in this case compels a not-guilty verdict across the board," he said.

But Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa argued fiercely it did not, saying her actions during and after the killing supported a conviction of premeditated murder.

And Testa, in his two-hour rebuttal argument, tossed on an overhead projector two contrasting pictures: a smiling, healthy McNabney juxtaposed against the grim picture of his corpse in a Linden grave.

"You go from this to this," said Testa, pointing to the photos. "On that day, her actions were as evil as (Sims'). Find her guilty, ladies and gentlemen. Don't let her get away with murder."

Dutra's mother, Karen, wept as she sat behind her daughter, who two years ago was a full-time student studying art abroad and appreciating firsthand the works of the Italian masters. Across the row, members of the McNabney family appeared exhausted by the 10-week trial.

"We're all feeling the evidence is there (for a conviction)," said Ed Cotton, McNabney's former brother-in-law. "It's been tough; real tough."

But on Sept. 11, 2001, while the nation reeled from the shock of terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., Dutra by her own admission drove a barely conscious McNabney from the City of Industry -- where investigators say he was poisoned -- to Woodbridge, where she said he later died. At her side was McNabney's wife, Elisa -- whose real name was Laren Sims.

Jurors saw videotapes of Dutra admitting to investigators that she helped Sims hide McNabney's body in a refrigerator on Sept. 12, where it stayed until late December or early January. The body was discovered in a shallow grave in February 2002.

The jury will have to decide whether Dutra was the unwitting pawn of a masterful murderess who used death threats against Dutra and her family, or if Dutra fully participated in McNabney's slaying.

They could acquit her of all charges or convict her of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter. She also could be convicted of being an accessory to murder.

Sims fled California in January 2002 but was apprehended by Florida law enforcement officials two months later. Shortly after her arrest, Sims wrote a letter saying both she and Dutra poisoned McNabney but didn't want to leave him in the hotel room in the Southern California city for hotel workers to find. She said she alone buried McNabney in the Linden-area vineyard. Then she hanged herself.

The jury will continue its deliberations today.

* To reach reporter Linda Hughes-Kirchubel, phone 546-8297 or
e-mail lkirch@recordnet.com
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2003 12:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

http://www.recordnet.com/articlelink/032003/news/
articles/032003-gn-12.php

Guilty of manslaughter
Dutra dodges murder rap for lesser charges

By Joe Tone
Record Staff Writer
Published Thursday, March 20, 2003

The ready-for-Hollywood tale of Sarah Dutra -- the college student who helped poison her boss, stash his body and conceal his death -- neared its end Wednesday, when a San Joaquin County jury found Dutra not guilty of murder, convicting her instead of two lesser crimes that will keep her in prison for no more than 11 years.

Dutra, 22, now must await an April 21 hearing, at which a Superior Court judge will impose the final sentence for her role in the slaying of attorney Larry McNabney, which could be as little as a stint on probation.

After hearing more than two months of painstaking details -- a day-by-day, even hour-by-hour recap of a story line that garnered national media attention and has been unfolding since 2001 -- the seven-man, five-woman jury took 21Ž2 days to convict Dutra on two charges: voluntary manslaughter and accessory to murder.

Though prosecutors hailed the verdict as a victory, the sentences it could carry are dwarfed by those originally sought by the District Attorney's Office, which initially charged Dutra with murder with special circumstances -- charges that could have left her facing the death penalty.

Though special-circumstances allegations were dropped before the trial started in January, the jury still could have convicted Dutra of first- or second-degree murder, both of which could carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

"It's tough to convict a young defendant, let alone a woman ... let alone first in her class in high school," said Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa, who added that he was "delighted" and "very pleased" with the verdict.

The reading of the verdict, just after 2:45 p.m., seemed to let the air out a courtroom soaked with tension and teeming with onlookers, almost 100 family members, friends, reporters, attorneys and others who have watched with intrigue as the plot unfolded.

They peered at Sarah Dutra when she entered the courtroom, smiling quickly at her family before taking her seat at the defense table. Once sitting, she turned and exchanged an almost goofy smile with a loved one and later mouthed "I love you" to her parents in their regular, front-row stations.

It was Dutra, a Sacramento State art student from a middle-class home in the East Bay, who was apparently drawn into the shady and criminal lifestyle of Laren Renee Sims, the Florida ex-convict who, with Dutra's help, murdered her husband of six years by poisoning him with horse tranquilizer.

Dutra's fall began when she took a job at the law firm of Sims' husband, McNabney. Sims, the office manager at the Sacramento firm, found a fast friend in the vibrant young woman, lavishing her with BMWs and Jaguars, rent money and shopping sprees, and toting her to dozens of West Coast horse shows, where
McNabney and Sims competed regularly.

But the friendship morphed into a partnership, and eventually a deadly one. As the twin towers disintegrated on Sept. 11, 2001, Dutra and Sims slowly and intentionally poisoned McNabney with horse tranquilizer at a Southern California horse show. They then stashed his body in a refrigerator for several months.

On Feb. 5, 2002, farm workers stumbled upon McNabney's body, buried in a Linden vineyard. But Sims was long gone, having darted to Arizona, then to Florida, leading investigators on a cross-country chase, trying to elude them by cutting and coloring her hair, dropping 30 pounds, changing her voice and reportedly looking into plastic surgery.

But authorities caught up with Sims, who signed a statement admitting to the murder and implicating Dutra, who had continued classes at Sac State. Sims then committed suicide in a Florida jail, leaving Dutra to face murder charges, to endure a two-month trial that started in January and ended Wednesday.

But when it finally ended, the routine was the same for Dutra: in simple, dark street clothes, she walked aside a bailiff, out of the courtroom and into a holding room. Reporters and cameras pounded alongside her Wednesday, but she remained silent, as did her attorney and family.

In the halls of the courtroom, most of the 12 jurors fled quickly, some escorted by security officers. But the jury forewoman, Manteca schoolteacher Pat Thayer, provided a swarm of reporters with an inside look at the jury deliberations.

"This is the most difficult thing I've ever done in my life," she said.

Thayer, fighting tears, said the jury was nearly at a deadlock. Most jurors felt the evidence pointed to at least manslaughter, she said, but one wanted to acquit Dutra altogether. He eventually relented.

As McNabney's family emerged from a holding room, Thayer embraced them. "We didn't want your dad's death to go unpunished," she told Tavia Williams, McNabney's daughter, as the two hugged tightly. Both were weeping.

Williams and her brother, Joe McNabney, expressed a rainbow of emotions. There was hope: that the judge will impose the maximum 11 years. There was relief: that they can finally move on with their lives. And, as there has been throughout much of the trial, which has seen Williams dart from the courtroom in tears and shake uncontrollably, there was frustration and despair.
http://www.recordnet.com/articlelink/032003/news/articles/032003-gn-12.php

"It's a lose-lose situation for everyone," Williams said. "We don't ever get our dad back."

* To reach reporter Joe Tone,
phone 546-8272 or e-mail jtone@recordnet.com
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2003 1:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/
6307693p-7261257c.html

Dutra guilty of manslaughter
Jurors call the verdict in the McNabney slaying a compromise.
By Mareva Brown -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 a.m. PST Thursday, March 20, 2003
STOCKTON -- Sarah Dutra was found guilty Wednesday of voluntary manslaughter and being an accessory to murder for helping poison Sacramento attorney Larry McNabney, a verdict that jurors said was a compromise to avoid a hung jury.

Dutra looked poised and calm as she was escorted through a phalanx of television cameras and shouting reporters after the verdict was read in the San Joaquin County courtroom.

UCDavis Health
The 22-year-old faces a maximum of 11 3/4 years in prison when sentenced next month. Had she been convicted of first-degree murder, she could have faced a life term.

Her attorney, Kevin Clymo, had portrayed Dutra as an impressionable young art student who was duped by McNabney's wife into helping kill the lawyer and cover up his death.

During four days of deliberations, 11 jurors had agreed upon a second-degree murder conviction, which would have meant a 15-years-to-life term.

They were thwarted, the jury forewoman said, by a lone holdout who insisted it had not been proved that Dutra intended to murder McNabney.

As a compromise, the jurors agreed on voluntary manslaughter, mostly because they feared prosecutors would not retry the case, and all believed Dutra deserved to serve time for her involvement, the forewoman said.

"None of us wanted to see Sarah go unpunished and walk away from this," said forewoman Patricia Thayer, a third-grade teacher from Manteca. "At one point, we thought we were going to be hung, and this was a reasonable middle ground."

McNabney's murder drew national attention after police revealed that the attorney had been poisoned, his body stored in a refrigerator for months and then buried in a vineyard by his wife, Elisa.

McNabney had let his law practice suffer and begun drinking heavily in the months before his murder, according to documents and statements by witnesses.

He was last seen Sept. 10, 2001, at a Southern California horse show with his wife and Dutra.

Dutra, a student at California State University, Sacramento, who worked as a receptionist at McNabney's law firm, told detectives that she had left the horse show but returned after McNabney's wife said the lawyer was ill.

The two women rented a wheelchair to get McNabney from his hotel room to his truck and then carted him -- nearly dead from the horse tranquilizer -- back to his Lodi-area home. He apparently died during the night.

The next day, Dutra told detectives, McNabney's wife threatened to kill her, too, if she didn't help put the body in a refrigerator in the garage, so she did.

Prosecutors said Elisa McNabney -- whose real name was Laren Sims Jordan -- and Dutra forged the lawyer's name on checks and sold his valuables, such as his truck and a diamond ring.

Sims Jordan's daughter, 18-year-old Haylei Jordan, testified that Dutra never seemed afraid of her mother and was always willing to let her mother use her name to buy cars and make other purchases that typically require identification.

Sims Jordan couldn't use her own identification because of outstanding warrants for parole violations in Florida.

Dutra admitted traveling with Sims Jordan after the murder, including one trip to Las Vegas with McNabney's body in the trunk of Sims Jordan's car.

Dutra told detectives she refused to help Sims Jordan bury McNabney, so a planned burial in the Nevada desert was aborted. Later, Sims Jordan buried the body in a San Joaquin County vineyard, where it was found by farm workers in February 2002.

Soon after McNabney's body was discovered, she fled California in a newly purchased red Jaguar, prompting a nationwide hunt.

Eventually, she was caught in Florida and confessed to murdering McNabney before hanging herself in her jail cell last March.

Her confession, in which she implicated Dutra, was ruled inadmissible as evidence in Dutra's trial.

Dutra's cellmate during the trial, Sophia Winchell, said she had helped Dutra pray while the jury was mulling a verdict but that Dutra "knew it was coming."

"She's a sweet person," said Winchell, who was released from jail Monday and came to court Wednesday to offer support. "She just got mixed up with the wrong crowd."

After the verdict, McNabney's daughter wrapped her arms around the jury forewoman in a tearful embrace, thanking her for the conviction.

Tavia Williams, a second-grade teacher from the Reno area, sobbed as she said she believed Dutra deserved more time in prison but that she was grateful to have the trial behind her.

"It was a lose-lose situation for everyone," she said, standing close to her brother, Joe McNabney, after the verdict was read. "It wouldn't matter what the verdict was, we won't ever get our dad back."

About the Writer
---------------------------

The Bee's Mareva Brown can be reached at (916) 321-1088 or mbrown@sacbee.com.
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 22, 2003 8:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A miscarriage of Justice? Sarah Dutra has been sentenced, but some of the jurors speaking on News10.net this morning seemed to feel that they would have voted for first degree murder, if they had seen evidence that the jury was not allowed to see. That evidence seemed to be Sims' written confession. Here is the Sac Bee's account. I will try to find more news stories. The Stockton Record did not have a story ready this morning.

benn

http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/6497912p-7448999c.html

Dutra gets 11 years for killing
She is sentenced for her role in the poisoning of a Sacramento lawyer.
By M.S. Enkoji -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Tuesday, April 22, 2003
STOCKTON -- Sarah Dutra, the college student and accomplice to a lifelong con woman, was sentenced Monday to 11 years in prison for her role in the murder of Sacramento lawyer Larry McNabney.

With credit for time already served and good behavior, the 22-year-old could be free before her 30th birthday.

Dutra sat nearly immobile as she listened to her sentence for voluntary manslaughter and being an accessory to murder in the poisoning death of her 52-year-old employer. She could have been convicted of first-degree murder with the special circumstances of killing for financial gain, which would have meant life in prison without the possibility of parole.

A jury in March opted for the lesser charge.

"The jury has given you a second chance," said San Joaquin Superior Court Judge Bernard Garber, who recounted his own horror at details that unfolded in the three-month trial.

A videotape of police interviews with Dutra showed the art student describing how she and the lawyer's wife dragged McNabney's body down from a second-floor bedroom, then concealed it in a refrigerator.

"It's just chilling listening to that," Garber said.

McNabney, who was married to a 36-year-old felon known as Elisa McNabney, was poisoned with horse anesthetic and began slowly dying while at a horse show in Los Angeles County in September 2001. He was never seen after the show.

His body was found in February 2002, buried in a vineyard in San Joaquin County, near the couple's Lodi-area home. His family, friends and clients had become suspicious about his wife's explanations that he was missing by choice.

About a month before her husband's body was found, Elisa McNabney, whose real name was Laren Sims Jordan, went on the run as authorities began asking about the missing lawyer. She was arrested in Florida, but she hanged herself in a jail cell there in April 2002, while California authorities were attempting to extradite her.

In a written statement, the wife detailed how McNabney began to succumb to the horse anesthetic on the drive back to Northern California from the horse show. Dutra, an employee in the firm and a close friend of the wife, was driving. She claimed Dutra helped her bundle his body in a sheet in the couple's home and store it in the refrigerator. The wife said she had later buried the body herself.

The statement from the dead woman was not submitted to jurors during the trial, and most of the evidence they heard was circumstantial, with virtually no physical evidence connecting Dutra to the crime.

"Is there any crueler way to die than to know you're dying, but you're too lethargic to do anything about it?" asked San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa, who asked the judge to deny the defense's request for probation.

"The jury did what they did, and you have to respect that," Testa said about what was a compromise verdict by a divided jury. "She got away with murder; throw the book at her."

Noting Dutra's clean record and academic achievements -- she was an honor student at California State University, Sacramento -- Garber rejected the defense that she was a pliable ingenue dominated and threatened by a hardened felon with a record of fraud and theft.

The way the two women hid the body, then continued to inhabit the house, even inviting the attorney's son to "come party," showed brazen callousness, he said.

"If that's not callousness, I don't know what is," said Garber, noting that a probation officer's report described her as giggling and laughing during their interview.

Dutra participated in the crisscross of lies and deception set up to extort money from the lawyer's practice, Garber said.

Garber agreed with psychologists who had testified that she is not likely to kill again, but he said he believed that she is capable of other crimes.

The lawyer's daughter, Tavia Williams, got a chance to speak before Dutra was sentenced. She spoke directly to Dutra, who never turned to look at her.

"You had the choice and the opportunity to do something, and you chose to do nothing," said Williams, a Reno elementary school teacher.

Williams said the lawyer's family no longer has the company of the gregarious man who was a father and grandfather.

"Sarah, you have stolen these simple pleasures from us," she said, sobbing.

Garber said a ruling would come later on whether the eight-month sentence for being an accessory could be added to Dutra's 11-year sentence.

Dutra's parents, who have attended the trial, declined to comment after the sentencing.

Several jurors attended the sentencing and exchanged hugs with McNabney's family.

Gary Zimmer, a retired air traffic controller and a juror, said he believed that Dutra was "very guilty," but the evidence didn't support the harshest sentence of life imprisonment.

But he was pleased with Garber's ruling Monday.

"I'm very happy," he said, "the judge gave her the max."

About the Writer
---------------------------

The Bee's M.S. Enkoji can be reached at (916) 321-1106 or menkoji@sacbee.com.
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