Martinez woman takes seven years in prison in father’s death; DA drops murder-by-neglect charge in plea deal

A Martinez woman accepted a seven-year, four-month state prison term and a voluntary manslaughter conviction in the death of her father, whom she was charged with allowing to die by failing to adequately caring for him for months, authorities said.

In exchange, prosecutors dropped murder charges against Laura Lawrence, 52, in the death of her father, 77-year-old Lyle Lawrence. As part of the plea deal, Laura Lawrence won’t be able to inherit any money or possessions from her father.

Additionally, Lawrence’s boyfriend, 51-year-old Edmund Phillip St. John, was sentenced to a year in jail after accepting child abuse and elder abuse convictions. St. John had already served more than a year awaiting trial before he was released at the couple’s December 2019 preliminary hearing, so he won’t have to serve additional jail time.

During his preliminary hearing, St. John’s attorney, Evan Kuluk, convinced Judge John Cope to release St. John from jail so he could get substance abuse counseling. Since then, he has turned his life around and begun the process of “making amends to his son” and rebuilding their relationship, Kuluk said.

“I’m incredibly proud of Ed for the hard work and recovery he’s undertaken over these two years,” Kuluk said in a written statement to this newspaper.

Police found Lyle Lawrence dead in the Martinez home where his daughter, St. John, and their child lived. Police noted in court records that Lawrence’s body appeared to be “melting” into his bed at the home, which they said was full of dirty adult diapers, rodents, dead flies, black mold, and other nauseating convictions.

Lyle Lawrence’s body had several large bed sores, some two inches long. His hair was overgrown and his body was covered in lice of various stages of development, “encrusted” with feces and showed signs of malnutrition, police testified at the preliminary hearing. Police later learned he was living off Ensure nutrition shakes in the weeks leading to his death.

Cope allowed the murder case against Laura Lawrence to proceed, though he remarked he initially believed it wasn’t a murder. Historically, murder-by-neglect cases are difficult to prove, especially when the victim is an adult; a similar 2016 case in Concord resulted in a hung jury, for instance. Defense attorneys typically argue that the decedent rejected help and played a role in their own deaths.

Deputy district attorney Jill Henderson, who heads the Contra Costa District Attorney’s elder abuse unit, said she couldn’t discuss the reasons behind the plea deal in order to protect the confidentiality of the child victim.

Laura Lawrence’s attorney, deputy public defender K.C. Donovan, said in an email to this newspaper that the plea deal “reflects the truth that this case was not a murder.”

“Ms. Lawrence loved her father and accepted responsibility for her decisions,” Donovan said, later adding, “Ms. Lawrence never intentionally hurt her father. I am confident that upon her eventual release from prison that Ms. Lawrence will successfully reintegrate into society and live a law-abiding and meaningful life.”