The presiding judge in Letecia Stauch‘s ongoing murder trial chastised her on Monday — even threatening to have her handcuffed during the proceedings — after she appeared to flip the bird in court. As Judge Gregory Warner described it on Monday, Stauch’s previous posture could be construed as flipping people off, “including a witness, perhaps family.” He had the defense table moved so that she was more in his line of sight. Warner cautioned Stauch against certain actions, like stretching out her fingers and leaving one more prominent than the others.
“Those acts would be, in my opinion, disrespectful to the proceeding,” he said. “It’s disrespectful to the court and the legal process.” And he added that in his view, it was a form of witness intimidation and an attempt to influence the presentation of evidence.
Stauch stands trial for allegedly stabbing and shooting her stepson, Gannon Stauch, 11, at their home on Jan. 27, 2020, while the boy’s father was out of town for National Guard work. Her defense does not dispute the killing happened, but argued she suffered from dissociative identity disorder.
“You aren’t the first defendant to act out,” Warner said. “Probably not going to be the last. I cannot imagine the pressure a defendant feels during any trial. It’s not uncommon for a defendant to disagree with certain testimony or dislike a witness or victim. Nevertheless, you cannot act disrespectfully in words or actions.”
He told her that her actions could distract her attorneys from their work in court. He could hold her for contempt for each act, facing a maximum six-month sentence, though he said this did not appear to be much of a deterrent in a case with such a dire, potential sentence.
If it happens again, it violates decorum in the case, he said. Warner suggested that he could have a bolt installed under the table and have Stauch handcuffed there to hide her hands from the jurors. It would be uncomfortable, he warned. He also suggested kicking her out of court, keeping her in a courthouse holding cell during the proceedings, and returning her to court at every break to see if she would change her mind about her behavior.
Prosecutors said that Stauch brought Gannon’s body in a suitcase all the way from El Paso County, Colorado, to Pensacola, Florida, where she pushed it over a bridge railing. Bridge workers found the suitcase — and the remains — on March 17, 2020, after investigators spent more than a month searching for the missing boy. Authorities said Stauch told shifting stories about how her stepson disappeared. In attacking the insanity defense, prosecutors said that she knew what she was doing when she cleaned the crime scene, hid evidence, and lied to everyone, including the boy’s father, her husband Al Stauch.
Testimony included Letecia impersonating her biological daughter, Harley Hunt, then 17, in a call to deputies during the missing person case. She wanted items from a car impounded in the investigation. Testifying last Monday, El Paso County evidence technician Christina Cervantez said she found it odd that “Hunt” — not even an adult at the time — claimed during the call to be a flight attendant.
The real Hunt testified on Monday about her texts and communication with her mother amid Gannon’s death and disappearance. She noted that her mother had previously told her that a robber killed her biological father. In truth, Hunt’s father died of an overdose. She learned that the previous week, she testified on Monday.
In court Monday, #LeteciaStauch‘s daughter revealed she originally never knew how her father died. The daughter, #HarleyHunt, said Stauch told her somebody robbed and killed him ten years ago, but that wasn’t really the case. pic.twitter.com/dUSY2gUnQm
— Law&Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) April 17, 2023
#LeteciaStauch‘s daughter #HarleyHunt told the jury it was unusual for her stepbrother, #GannonStauch, not to come home after being told to. “He’s very specific with like time,” Hunt said about her stepbrother. Letecia is accused of killing her Gannon in 2020. pic.twitter.com/yPL00tVHRO
— Law&Crime Network (@LawCrimeNetwork) April 17, 2023
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