Wednesday, August 18, 1999
Murder suspect accuses victim of break-in
BY SHEILA McLAUGHLIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
James Lee Lawson's story that he killed and dismembered Cheryl Ann Durkin after she broke into his house is outrageous, the victim's sister said Tuesday.
“My sister was not a thief. She sure wasn't no burglar,” Karla Edwards of Madison Township said. “I know my sister. She'd give you the last thing she had on her back.”
Ms. Edwards lambasted Mr. Lawson as “evil” and a “coward” who keeps changing his account of the death to suit his purposes.
“The guy said he didn't do it, now said he did do it. He changes his story every time we go to court,” Ms. Edwards said. “For him to say she was breaking into his house, he's crazy. But he's not insane.”
Mr. Lawson, 29, of Middletown is accused of killing Ms. Durkin, of Madison Township, in February 1998, cutting her up with a power saw and coaxing his family members to hide the body parts. Two months later, her torso was found in the Great Miami River in Hamilton.
A sanity evaluation by a court-appointed psychologist in June indicates Mr. Lawson claimed the killing was in self-defense. According to the report, Mr. Lawson said Ms. Durkin, 34, was killed when he came home early one morning and found his house ransacked.
He said Ms. Durkin was hiding in a closet upstairs. He said he hit her in the head with a hammer because he thought she was going to shoot him with a gun he kept in the closet. During a struggle, Mr. Lawson said, the victim stabbed him with a screwdriver. Later he cut up her body and, with the help of his mother, disposed of it.
Charged with murder, gross abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence, Mr. Lawson has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He was found competent Monday to stand trial.
Defense lawyer John Rion said Tuesday that he plans to drop the insanity defense because the evaluation indicates Mr. Lawson is sane.
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Police and prosecutors wouldn't talk about evidence or Mr. Lawson's earlier statements, saying it was inappropriate before trial.
According to the sanity report, a person who called police anonymously on June 4, 1998, said Mr. Lawson “had killed (the victim) over an argument about crack cocaine,” an addiction Ms. Durkin's family said she struggled with for years.
Blood was found in Mr. Lawson's home, but DNA showed that it matched Mr. Lawson, Mr. Rion said. He also said that Mr. Lawson has a scar consistent with the alleged jab from a screwdriver.
Mr. Rion said that the prosecutor's case was built on speculation and that there were questions about the cause of Ms. Durkin's death.
Forensic tests indicated Ms. Durkin had cocaine in her body when she died and had four skull fractures. According to Mr. Lawson's account, he hit her with a hammer once.
“Even (Maj. Anthony) Dwyer said he fractured the skull when he dug it up. It's really difficult to determine what was done by police in removing it and what was done by the only witness that was there,” Mr. Rion said.
Judge Patricia Oney of Butler County Common Pleas Court is expected to set a trial date today..
That will be bittersweet for Ms. Durkin's family, who will have to bury her for a second time.
Authorities kept most of Ms. Durkin's dismembered body parts for evidence, so the family will have to exhume the rest of the body to complete the burial after the trial, Ms. Edwards said.
“It's bad enough we have to bury her once. This is destroying the family,” she said.
Further upsetting is their mother's diagnosis with cancer. In April, Dorothy Bond was told she wouldn't live past three weeks.
“The only reason she's still here is she is holding on to make sure justice is done,” Ms. Edwards said.
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