In Dec. 2013, Raymond Lazerine called his son Nathan, urging him to come to his house.
He told him he had a dream that he shot and killed his wife of 35 years. It apparently wasn’t a dream.
According to his defense team, on the afternoon of Dec. 18, 2013 Raymond said he was sleepwalking when he shot his 63-year-old wife Deborah a half dozen times, including two shots to her head and one in her back. They claim because of his sleep-like state, his actions were involuntary.
Raymond is now on trial, charged with Deborah’s murder.
Tuesday, prosecutors called 46-year-old Krysta Johns to the stand.
Johns is one of Deborah’s daughters and Raymond’s stepdaughter.
First, Johns was shown a picture of her and her mother smiling together. Johns said it was from a trip to a beach house in Galveston.
After being shown a picture of her mother from the autopsy report, Johns broke down in tears.
Johns answered questions from the state that described Raymond as abusive and a heavy drinker.
She also said Raymond was controlling of her mother, his caretaker. She said he had threatened to kill her mother so many times that she was no longer afraid of him when he said it.
Johns described one particular incident when she was in high school and she walked into her parents’ room. She said her mother was hungover and had asked Raymond for a water. She said when she asked him for a different cup he got on top of her, pinning her down and held a gun under her chin.
Johns told reporters that her family is ready for this all to be over. They have waited six years for this trial.
