Murder of Laurie Show

The murder of Laurie Show occurred on December 21, 1991. Show was a 16-year-old sophomore student at Conestoga Valley High School. Show's body was discovered in her Lancaster, Pennsylvania home on December 21, 1991 by her mother Hazel Show, with Show's throat cut.^[1]

Classmates Lisa Michelle Lambert, Tabitha Buck, and Lawrence "Butch" Yunkin were charged with her murder.

Stalking and murder

Lambert initially began harassing Show in 1991 after learning that Show briefly dated Yunkin over the summer. Lambert and Yunkin had had a previous relationship with each other, but had reportedly not been dating during the time Yunkin was dating Show. Show and Yunkin had gone on a few dates, with Show reporting to her mother that Yunkin had date raped her.^[2] Shortly after his final date with Show, Yunkin resumed dating Lambert, who was pregnant with his child. Reported to be "obsessively jealous" of Show, Lambert proceeded to harass Show in various ways such as appearing at Show's job and verbally assaulting her.^[3] Witnesses reported that Lambert had expressed an intent to "scare Laurie, then hurt her, then slit her throat".^[4]

On December 21, 1991 Show's body was discovered in her home by her mother, with the body showing several wounds. The police later recorded that Show had received " a five-inch gash to the throat; a stab wound that punctured a lung and another that grazed her spine; several wounds to the head; and a number of defensive wounds".^[5] Hazel Show was not at home, as she had driven to attend a meeting with a school counselor.^[6] Show's mother reported to the police that her daughter had named Lambert as her killer, saying "Michelle did it".^[7]

Police arrested Lambert, Yunkin, and Lambert's friend Tabitha Buck at a local bowling alley later that day for the murder of Show.^[8] Initially testimonies from the three showed that Yunkin had dropped Lambert and Buck off at Show's house, where the two girls murdered Show. Yunkin stated that he had not participated in the murder. Yunkin also stated that while he was under the impression that Lambert and Buck were going to cut Show's hair with the knife as a prank, he did help provide an alibi and helped to dispose of evidence.^[9] This testimony would later change as Lambert and Buck both recanted their initial testimonies, with Lambert stating that an abusive Yunkin had encouraged her to harass and assault Show.^[5]

1992 trials

Lambert, Buck, and Yunkin were each tried for the murder of Laurie Show. Yunkin agreed to testify against Lambert, stating that she and Buck had slit Show's throat after the two had punctured one of Show's lungs.^[10] A pair of sweatpants Lambert had worn during the crime were presented, with lawyers stating that some of Show's blood was present on them.^[11] A letter from Lambert to Yunkin was also shown during this time, in which Lambert states, "I know I'm not an angel, but Lawrence, I never got mad enough to kill."^[10]

Verdicts

Lambert was convicted on July 20, 1992 for the charges of first-degree murder and criminal conspiracy in the death of Show.^[12] Buck was also convicted for similar charges, with both Lambert and Buck receiving the sentence of life in prison without parole.^[13] Lambert was initially sentenced to the Cambridge Springs State Correctional Institution and Buck was sentenced to the Muncy State Correctional Institution.^[14]

Yunkin received a lesser sentence for his testimony and was granted parole in 2003.^[15]

1997 re-trial

Lambert appealed the 1992 conviction and in 1997, appeared in court for a federal habeas corpus hearing.^[11] U.S. District Judge Stewart Dalzell presided over the trial. Lambert's lawyers claimed that there were several inconsistencies with the evidence and testimony given in the earlier trial and that Lambert was innocent. Lambert also alleged that she had been framed by Lancaster police officers in order to keep her from coming forward with charges that they had gang-raped her.^[16] Evidence provided in the re-trial included the sweatpants shown in the 1992 hearing as well as correspondence between Yunkin and Lambert. Dalzell overturned the murder conviction on April 15, 1997, citing that "prosecutorial misconduct" had resulted in an incorrect ruling.^[5] Dalzell also barred the state of Pennsylvania from re-trying Lambert.^[11] Dalzell's ruling was later overturned in January 1998 by a federal appeals panel that stated that Lambert had "not yet exhausted her appeals in state court" and Lambert was taken back to prison.^[17]

1998 appeal

After the Dalzell's ruling was overturned, the federal court system debated over whether or not to keep Lambert in jail or to uphold Dalzell's verdict.^[18] Lambert filed an appeal for a hearing over the second overturning of the verdict, but was denied.^[19] In February 1998 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court returned the case to the Lancaster County Court system, stating that Lambert "must first take up her claims [there]".^[20] The third trial took place in May 1998, with a federal appeal court temporarily freeing Lambert under the belief that she would win her case.^[21] Judge Lawrence F. Stengel oversaw the trial. Various witnesses were called to testify against Lambert, including the detective that had overseen the 1991 murder case as well as Lambert's accomplices Buck and Yunkin. The detective testified against allegations that evidence had been tampered with.^[22]

Lambert now testified that Yunkin had participated in the murders, choking Show. She also stated that she had attempted to help defend Show against the other two assailants and that she had tried to pull the victim out of the apartment.^[23] Evidence from the 1997 re-trial was presented again. The defense argued that Lambert had not participated in the act, that she had been sent out of the room by Yunkin, and that Lambert had obeyed everything Yunkin had ordered of her due to battered woman syndrome.^[23] A previous boyfriend of Lambert's confirmed that he had witnessed Yunkin "yank [Lambert] into a room", upon which point Yunkin began yelling at her.^[24] He also testified that he had seen a police officer matching one of the descriptions Lambert gave of her alleged rapists give her a "threatening glare" at a local festival.^[24] Lambert's lawyers also provided correspondence between Lambert and Yunkin that they claimed proved that Lambert had not been involved in the murder and that Yunkin had asked her to lie for him.^[25] They also questioned whether or not Show would have been able to speak to her mother before her death, as her throat had been cut, and alleged that Show had actually written out the initials of her murderers, Buck and Yunkin.^[25]

Buck denied these claims, testifying that Lambert had actively participated in the murder and that she had told Buck to "wear her hair up and not to wear make-up or fingernail polish".^[5][26] Yunkin was later brought to the stand and the sweatpants that had been re-introduced in the 1997 trial as belonging to him were produced. Yunkin was ordered to hold the sweatpants up against his body, which were shown to be too short for him and of a different fabric than the pair shown in the 1992 trial.^[27] Further evidence and testimony was brought against Lambert such a relative of Yunkin providing a poem that Lambert had written in jail that described the murder. Crime scene experts also testified that no evidence of Show writing out any initials in her blood was found and that other evidence discovered at the crime scene did not corroborate with Lambert's story.^[5]

In August 1998 Judge Stengel announced his verdict, stating that he would uphold the original guilty verdict against Lambert and that "even if he believed [her] story ... she would still be guilty of first-degree murder as an accomplice".^[28] Federal Judge Anita Brody later upheld this verdict. Lambert attempted to appeal the 1998 decision in 2003 and to bring the case to the Supreme Court of the United States, but was rejected both times.^[5][29] She exhausted her appeals in 2005.

Aftermath

Anti-stalking activism

After her daughter's death in 1991, Hazel Show started campaigning for stronger anti-stalking laws in Pennsylvania. Show's murder helped push forward anti-stalking legislation,^[30] with new laws signed into effect in June 1993.^[31]

1996 rape charges

In 2007 Lambert appeared in court to sue the correctional institution over claims that she was raped and assaulted by state prison staff in 1996. Lambert's lawyer argued that the institution had done nothing to stop the assaults and that Lambert's conviction would impede her from having a fair trial.^[32] Lambert received a $35,000 settlement, with the guard accused of assaulting her serving a 1 1/2 to 3 year sentence.^[32]

Media

An hour-long special episode of 20/20 was aired in February 1999 which featured interviews with several classmates that said that Lambert had voiced death threats against Show as well as evidence that one of the officers that allegedly raped Lambert was on a honeymoon during the time the rape occurred.^[33] The murder was also featured on a season 8 episode of American Justice, titled "A Teenage Murder Mystery".^[34]

In 2000 the Show murder was adapted into a made for TV film entitled The Stalking of Laurie Show. The film was directed by Norma Bailey and starred Jennifer Finnigan as Laurie Show. Critical reception for the film was poor, with one journalist commenting that the film's distortion of Show and Lambert took away from the crime.^[35]

In 2001 writer and journalist Lyn Riddle wrote Overkill, which covered Show's murder and the resulting trials for Lambert and her accomplices.

References