(no subject)
PBC jury convicts Jeffrey Lamb of first-degree murder
By Larry Keller
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 11, 2006
A blood-stained sock and two bloody dogs helped convict Jeffrey Lamb on Monday of first-degree murder in the June 2004 bludgeoning death of his wife, Cathy Lamb, at their Lake Park home.
Now the jury of seven men and five women that convicted Lamb, 33, will reconvene on Wednesday for the penalty phase of the trial, and will recommend whether Lamb should be put to death or spend the rest of his life in prison.
Lamb showed no emotion when the verdict was read. Defense attorney Richard Lubin slumped in his chair.
"I've never been so profoundly disappointed in a verdict in 32 years of doing this work," Lubin said afterward. "I thought there was a lot of reasonable doubt in this case." Prosecutor Craig Williams saw it differently, of course. "We had so much evidence," he said. "Justice was served." Cathy Lamb, 30, was bashed repeatedly in the head with a heavy tire iron Lamb took from his job at a Jupiter towing company, prosecutors said. They contended that her husband left his job to commit the crime, then returned to work. Defense attorneys argued that the time line of events that day proved there wasn't time for Lamb to do this.
Prosecutors countered that Lamb's cell phone records showed that he wasn't in Jupiter the entire time that he claimed. He then changed his story to say he visited a friend elsewhere part of that time.
"When he started changing the time line, that buried him," Williams said.
The three dogs in the house with Cathy Lamb the day she was murdered were silent but central figures in the case.
Two of the dogs were wounded by the assailant. But Lamb's favorite dog was spared. Lamb told police the dogs would have been protective of Cathy Lamb when she was attacked. A burglar would simply have moved on to another house rather than fend off the dogs, prosecutors suggested. They also pointed out that nothing was stolen from the house.
Lamb told police that he had trouble coaxing the dogs to come to him when he arrived home and found his wife dead. Police said the dogs were frightened and trembling.
"They watched him beat Cathy Lamb to death," Williams told jurors. "That's the only reason those dogs wouldn't come." Jurors also learned that Jeffrey Lamb later had the two bloodied dogs euthanized even though their injuries were not life-threatening. "He knew he couldn't trust those dogs any more because they saw him" beat his wife to death, co-prosecutor Patrick McKamey told jurors.
He and Williams suggested that Lamb wanted his wife dead because he was in debt and could collect on a modest life insurance policy. And he had recently signed a lease with a girlfriend on an apartment and wanted to be free from his wife, they said.
Jurors deliberated part of Thursday and Friday and reached a verdict about 11:30 a.m. on Monday. Before they did, they asked to see a blood-stained sock Lamb was wearing the day his wife was slain. Prosecutors said the sock was further proof of Jeffrey Lamb's guilt.
But defense attorney Lubin said it pointed to his innocence. He questioned why initial analyses of Lamb's socks turned up no trace of blood, which he said didn't mysteriously materialize until two years later.
"The crime scene people should have found it and they didn't," Williams said after the verdict.
That verdict was a long time coming. After three days spent picking a jury last month, it was learned that one member of the panel withheld vital personal information during jury selection. The entire jury was dismissed and the current panel was chosen. Tropical Storm Ernesto and other events further delayed the trial, which took more than three weeks.
Lubin spent more than 2 1/2 hours in closing arguments questioning the quality of the prosecution's evidence and the way it was handled. He repeatedly called the state's case a "tale," and repeatedly said that tale was rife with speculation and innuendo.
Among other things, Lubin criticized police for not analyzing more of the blood in the Lambs' house and on their dogs for DNA he said might have been that of an intruder. Lubin also argued that no DNA was extracted from the tire iron, and that nothing linked the tool to his client. And two defense experts testified that Cathy Lamb's wounds were not consistent with those that would have been inflicted by the tire iron.
Prosecutors maintained that Lamb's tearful call to 911 was staged. When police arrived, Lamb was composed, and his eyes were neither red nor puffy, McKamey said. "He was faking it." The attack on Cathy Lamb was so ferocious that her brains literally were beaten out. "That's an expression of disgust and hatred for your wife that's beyond comprehension," McKamey told jurors.
By Larry Keller
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 11, 2006
A blood-stained sock and two bloody dogs helped convict Jeffrey Lamb on Monday of first-degree murder in the June 2004 bludgeoning death of his wife, Cathy Lamb, at their Lake Park home.
Now the jury of seven men and five women that convicted Lamb, 33, will reconvene on Wednesday for the penalty phase of the trial, and will recommend whether Lamb should be put to death or spend the rest of his life in prison.
Lamb showed no emotion when the verdict was read. Defense attorney Richard Lubin slumped in his chair.
"I've never been so profoundly disappointed in a verdict in 32 years of doing this work," Lubin said afterward. "I thought there was a lot of reasonable doubt in this case." Prosecutor Craig Williams saw it differently, of course. "We had so much evidence," he said. "Justice was served." Cathy Lamb, 30, was bashed repeatedly in the head with a heavy tire iron Lamb took from his job at a Jupiter towing company, prosecutors said. They contended that her husband left his job to commit the crime, then returned to work. Defense attorneys argued that the time line of events that day proved there wasn't time for Lamb to do this.
Prosecutors countered that Lamb's cell phone records showed that he wasn't in Jupiter the entire time that he claimed. He then changed his story to say he visited a friend elsewhere part of that time.
"When he started changing the time line, that buried him," Williams said.
The three dogs in the house with Cathy Lamb the day she was murdered were silent but central figures in the case.
Two of the dogs were wounded by the assailant. But Lamb's favorite dog was spared. Lamb told police the dogs would have been protective of Cathy Lamb when she was attacked. A burglar would simply have moved on to another house rather than fend off the dogs, prosecutors suggested. They also pointed out that nothing was stolen from the house.
Lamb told police that he had trouble coaxing the dogs to come to him when he arrived home and found his wife dead. Police said the dogs were frightened and trembling.
"They watched him beat Cathy Lamb to death," Williams told jurors. "That's the only reason those dogs wouldn't come." Jurors also learned that Jeffrey Lamb later had the two bloodied dogs euthanized even though their injuries were not life-threatening. "He knew he couldn't trust those dogs any more because they saw him" beat his wife to death, co-prosecutor Patrick McKamey told jurors.
He and Williams suggested that Lamb wanted his wife dead because he was in debt and could collect on a modest life insurance policy. And he had recently signed a lease with a girlfriend on an apartment and wanted to be free from his wife, they said.
Jurors deliberated part of Thursday and Friday and reached a verdict about 11:30 a.m. on Monday. Before they did, they asked to see a blood-stained sock Lamb was wearing the day his wife was slain. Prosecutors said the sock was further proof of Jeffrey Lamb's guilt.
But defense attorney Lubin said it pointed to his innocence. He questioned why initial analyses of Lamb's socks turned up no trace of blood, which he said didn't mysteriously materialize until two years later.
"The crime scene people should have found it and they didn't," Williams said after the verdict.
That verdict was a long time coming. After three days spent picking a jury last month, it was learned that one member of the panel withheld vital personal information during jury selection. The entire jury was dismissed and the current panel was chosen. Tropical Storm Ernesto and other events further delayed the trial, which took more than three weeks.
Lubin spent more than 2 1/2 hours in closing arguments questioning the quality of the prosecution's evidence and the way it was handled. He repeatedly called the state's case a "tale," and repeatedly said that tale was rife with speculation and innuendo.
Among other things, Lubin criticized police for not analyzing more of the blood in the Lambs' house and on their dogs for DNA he said might have been that of an intruder. Lubin also argued that no DNA was extracted from the tire iron, and that nothing linked the tool to his client. And two defense experts testified that Cathy Lamb's wounds were not consistent with those that would have been inflicted by the tire iron.
Prosecutors maintained that Lamb's tearful call to 911 was staged. When police arrived, Lamb was composed, and his eyes were neither red nor puffy, McKamey said. "He was faking it." The attack on Cathy Lamb was so ferocious that her brains literally were beaten out. "That's an expression of disgust and hatred for your wife that's beyond comprehension," McKamey told jurors.