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February 17, 2006
Laybon pleads guilty to first-degree murderMAN WHO KILLED 19-MONTH OLD STEPSON REFUSES TO EXPRESS REMORSE IN COURT
By DOUG McMURDO
Laybon couldn't have fared worse had he risked conviction at a jury trial and faces a prison term of 20 years to life with or without the possibility of parole. Judge John Davis will make that decision at Laybon's April 11 sentencing hearing. District Attorney Bob Beckett refused to plea bargain the case when Laybon's defense attorney, Public Defender Jason Earnest, said his client was prepared to plead to a reduced charge of murder in the second degree. The defendant decided to plead guilty to the higher offense to "spare his family." "No remorse or regret was expressed," Beckett said, canceling any thought Laybon's decision was based on a guilty conscience. How young Luke came to die illustrates a classic case of child abuse, extreme and unmitigated, Beckett said. Not to mention frighteningly brutal and quick. Laybon and his wife Evette's courtship was a whirlwind romance. The couple met in Hawaii in Nov. 2004. They married at the drive-through wedding chapel in Las Vegas in March of 2005 and soon moved to Pahrump where Lance Laybon took a job at an automotive repair shop and Evette Laybon found employment at a local restaurant. On June 8 the relationship came to an end - as did the life of Luke Galu, the youngest of Evette Laybon's children. According to court records Evette Laybon left for work at about 3:30 p.m. that day, leaving her 14-year-old daughter Melissa in charge of Luke and a middle child. Lance Laybon arrived home from work at 5:15 and the stepfather and children sat down to a meal prepared by Melissa. The Laybons had been arguing about the children refusing to eat their vegetables. The stepfather was adamant they ate them; the mother was more forgiving. "That night (Luke) wouldn't eat his salad," Beckett explained. "He took the boy into the bathroom in the master bedroom and closed the door. Luke's sister turned down the television and listened. She told police and prosecutors she heard her stepfather hit the boy "more than six times but less than 12." After the beating, Luke lay down in his crib on the floor next to the master bedroom and went to sleep. When Evette Laybon returned home later that evening she checked on Luke and he seemed fine, Beckett said. But her husband was acting strange, either scared or angry, she couldn't tell. The following morning Evette Laybon drove Melissa to school and when she returned home a short time later Lance Laybon was holding the boy, who was unresponsive. "What did you do to him?" she asked her husband. What Lance Laybon did the night before was what he often did. "He'd hit the boy until he stopped crying. He'd rap him on the head and hit him. He'd tell him he would keep hitting him until he stopped crying. He'd tell Luke he had to laugh when he was hit. Then he'd hit him and Luke would laugh and he'd hit him until the boy cried," Beckett said. "Mr. Laybon is a classic abuser. That poor kid never had a chance." Evette Laybon said her husband explained the motive behind his abuse thusly: "He said he wanted to toughen him up or else Luke would grow up to be a faggot." The Clark County coroner reported the presence of multiple bruising, old and new, covering young Galu, and a "disturbing" abrasion around his genitalia, as if the boy had been kicked in the testicles. Because of the abuse Evette Laybon told her husband she was leaving him a couple of days before the boy was killed. Lance Laybon apologized and promised to stop and she took him at his word. In early December Evette Laybon pleaded guilty to felony child abuse, which carries a term of two to 20 years in prison. "She was the only one who could have stopped this," Beckett said. Evette Laybon was to be sentenced on Valentine's Day - the day her husband entered his guilty plea - but the matter was postponed until a psychiatric evaluation could be conducted. A new sentencing date was not set. When Evette Laybon saw the condition of her son she wanted to call 911, but Lance Laybon insisted the couple drive the boy to the local medical clinic, but it was closed so Evette Laybon called for paramedics. Lance Laybon told his wife they had to "make up a story." Initially she refused, but lied to detectives when she told them her son died from a fall from a kitchen countertop while reaching for a bottle of syrup. Luke Galu was taken to a Las Vegas hospital by Mercy Air and underwent immediate surgery on his swollen, bleeding, pressure-packed brain. Doctors were able to control the bleeding but the toddler succumbed to cardiac arrest on the operating table. Upon observing Galu's tiny body authorities contacted Nye County police and reported their opinion the boy was the victim of prolonged and severe child abuse. While her husband, when given the chance, refused to express remorse for the murder, Evette Laybon is said to be "distraught" and "very remorseful," said Beckett. Her surviving children now live with relatives back in Hawaii. |
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