3.07.2008

Do U Want 2 Meet?

The Fort Worth Court Of Appeals always releases its weekly opinions on Friday, and I'll normally take a look at some of them (for my real job). Although not legally significant, the opening of one of the opinions today got my attention:
Samantha Lezark was murdered in her bedroom on the evening of January 5 or the morning of January 6, 2003 . . . . The medical examiner determined the cause of death to have been strangulation by a coaxial cable wrapped around her neck three times and tied with a square knot. A bloody fire extinguisher lay next to Lezark'ss body, and her head had contusions consistent with being hit by the fire extinguisher. There were no signs of forced entry into the house. A palmprint on the coaxial cable was identified as that of [Defendant] Kristopher Kyle Russell, and his fingerprint and his DNA were found on the fire extinguisher. [Russell's] partial latent thumbprint was also identified on a laser pointer found on Lezark's bed. [He] testified at trial that he had met Lezark in an Internet chat room in late November 2002 and had entered into a sexual relationship with her by mid-December.
Note to self: Cancel Saturday date plan.