Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach's Mom takes on military sexual assault

Mother of Marine killed after rape claim leads training sessions on sexual assault cases
MARY McCARTY
Dayton Daily News
First Posted: December 03, 2011

FILE - In this undated U.S. Marine Corps photo released by the Onslow County Sheriff's office in North Carolina, Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach is seen. Mary Lauterbach remains a powerful voice for her daughter, Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, nearly four years after she was murdered by fellow Marine Cesar Laurean. On Nov. 16, Mary Lauterbach and her attorney, Merle Wilberding, attended the North Carolina Court of Appeals hearing in Raleigh, N.C., and listened as Laurean's attorneys argued that his first-degree murder conviction should be overturned because the judge did not allow jurors to consider a lesser charge of second-degree murder. AP Photo/Onslow, N.C. Sheriff via U.S. Marine Corps, File)

DAYTON, Ohio — Mary Lauterbach of Vandalia remains a powerful voice for her daughter, Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, nearly four years after she was murdered by fellow Marine Cesar Laurean.

On Nov. 16, Mary Lauterbach and her attorney, Merle Wilberding, attended the North Carolina Court of Appeals hearing in Raleigh, N.C., and listened as Laurean's attorneys argued that his first-degree murder conviction should be overturned because the judge did not allow jurors to consider a lesser charge of second-degree murder.

"We wanted to make our presence visible, and to remind them that Maria was a real person," Lauterbach said.

"We wanted to be a witness to justice," added Wilberding. "We're glad we went."

Laurean's state-appointed attorney, Ann Peterson, acknowledged that her client killed Lauterbach, but argued that the crime might not have been premeditated. Attorneys for the state countered that the fact that Laurean burned the body and buried Lauterbach in his backyard was proof of premeditation.

Lauterbach, 20, was eight months' pregnant at the time of her murder. Laurean is currently serving a life sentence without parole at the Pasquotank Correctional Institution, a high-security adult male prison in Elizabeth City, N.C.
read more here