With bite-mark evidence tossed out in murder case, judge considers man’s release

A murder defendant who had his 1991 conviction tossed out because of discredited bite-mark evidence should be released on bond because no remaining evidence links him to the death of a Eugene woman, a defense attorney said Wednesday, July 15.

Lane County Circuit Judge Jay McAlpin said he expects to decide Thursday on the release of Robert Wallace Lyons, convicted in the 1989 murder of 24-year-old Lori Stabenow at a downtown Eugene motel. 

McAlpin heard opposing views on remaining evidence in the case during arguments that lasted less than 45 minutes.

Deputy District Attorney Matthew Wojcik accused defense attorneys of “mischaracterizing” the importance of the bite-mark analysis, also known as odontology, in the case against Lyons.

“The defense is characterizing the odontology as the main evidence in this case, which is absolutely not true,” Wojcik said.

But defense attorney Caitlin Plummer said evidence cited by Wojcik, including two hairs from a person with the same “gene type” as Lyons that were found on Stabenow’s body, could be explained by “consensual physical contact between Mr. Lyons and Ms. Stabenow” during a night of drinking.

Plummer said Wednesday that in the 1990 trial, prosecutors did not contest evidence that Stabenow “was sitting on his lap, that she kissed him” that night. Exhibits presented to McAlpin by Lyons’ defense attorneys included excerpts of witness testimony from the 1990 trial.

“Mr. Lyons from the very beginning has maintained his innocence,” Plummer said. “He has done so for 37 years. He has been very consistent.”

In arguing for release, Plummer said Lyons would accept conditions such as a $100,000 security bond and electronic monitoring. Plummer said Lyons has “no incentive other than to stay and attend court and clear his name.”

While not considered evidence, Wojcik told McAlpin he had a statement from Stabenow’s daughter, who was 5 at the time of her mother’s death, and that he had spoken with other family members.

“The family collectively strongly opposes release in this case,” Wojcik said.

Murder details

After the night of drinking, Stabenow was discovered the next day lifeless in her room at the Stage Stop Inn on West Sixth Avenue, with investigators finding evidence she had been fatally strangled and sexually assaulted, according to court documents. Police also found Lyons’ wallet beneath her bed.

Lyons was a Pendleton resident who, at the time of the murder, had been staying at the same motel as Stabenow while going to truck driving school in Eugene, according to court documents.

Plummer said Lyons and Stabenow met that day, and that Stabenow and her family lived at the motel. The drinking took place in the room of Stabenow’s brother, who was present, along with the brother’s fiancée, Plummer said.

Lyons, 61, wearing a green Lane County Jail uniform, sat near defense attorneys Paul Rudof and Plummer. Lyons has spent 35 years in prison, winning a major legal victory June 16, when he became the first person in the state to have a conviction vacated based on a law that took effect in April.

The new law lists bite-mark analysis, hair microscopy and comparative bullet lead analysis as “discredited forensic science disciplines.” It clears away hurdles related to the amount of time passed since conviction if there was a  “reasonable probability” of a different outcome at trial without such evidence, or if such evidence was a “material factor” in a guilty or no-contest plea.

Attorneys with Portland-based Forensic Justice Project supported Lyons’ petition for what is known as post-conviction relief, but the order vacating his conviction did not free him or dismiss the charges against him.

Lane County District Attorney Christopher Parosa has said the order sent the case back to his office, and on June 29 he said his office was examining “remaining evidence to determine whether the case is still prosecutable.”

No new trial date has been set for Lyons.

Release considerations

State law says that when a person has been charged with murder “release shall be denied when the proof is evident or the presumption strong that the person is guilty.”

Wojcik brought up the testing of crime scene saliva samples, which he said showed a blood type match with Lyons.

But Plummer referred to a deposition after Lyons’ conviction in which a dentist described placing a bite mold made from Lyons on the body of Stabenow. Plummer argued that this “hopelessly contaminated” the scene, meaning that the saliva testing referred to by Wojcik cannot be relied upon.

Plummer also referred to testimony at Lyons’ trial about a man who witnesses said claimed to have been involved in Stabenow’s death. Plummer said that the same discredited bite-mark analysis used to link Lyons to the murder was used as evidence that the man did not kill Stabenow.

He is “now very much back in the picture as a plausible alternative suspect,” Plummer said.

Both Wojcik and Plummer brought up the grand jury indictment of Lyons from before his murder trial.

Wojick said that while at the trial jurors heard testimony about bite-mark analysis, or, odontology, “the grand jury did not rely on any forensic odontology evidence.”

Plummer, however, pointed to a letter she said was sent to the court in 1990 by a member of the grand jury stating that Lyons would not have been indicted if information about bite marks “being an opinion and not a fact” had been presented.

Plummer argued that the letter “puts us in a unique posture as to whether that indictment remains valid.”

McAlpin quickly responded, stating, “I am not going to be negating an indictment in this process based on that. It could be challenged but that would be another process we would do.”

Plummer said that the court must also consider any risk presented to the public.

“There’s no evidence that has been presented by the state that he has done anything in the last 37 years that would suggest he is a danger to anyone,” Plummer said, adding that Lyons has “community support.”

As part of evidence presented to McAlpin, defense attorneys provided letters of support and have said that there is a “reentry” plan for Lyons should he be released, as well as support from the nonprofit Oregon Justice Network.

About 10 such supporters attended the hearing, including Philip Scott Cannon, exonerated in 2009 after being wrongly convicted of murder. Cannon, who said he traveled from Salem to attend the hearing, described himself as a friend of Lyons.

He said he came to know Lyons when both were in prison in the 2000s, and among those he knew from prison, “near as I can tell, he’s the only guy I have confidence in who is innocent,” Cannon told Lookout Eugene-Springfield.

After the hearing, Lyons turned to face supporters with a uniformed deputy nearby. He entered the courtroom in handcuffs and leg chains, but a deputy had taken off the handcuffs at the request of Lyons’ defense attorneys.

Shaking hands with a supporter, soon he began to wipe tears from his eyes as he voiced appreciation for those who came to the hearing.