Waldorf, MD: Defense says PCP abuse led to killing

Little girl called police in strangling death of mother

Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2010

By BETHANY RODGERS
Staff writer
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A jury trial began Monday for a Waldorf man charged with the 2008 strangling of his girlfriend, later discovered dead, neck wrapped in a belt, by her 7-year-old daughter.

Before the killing, Louis Stanley Leysath III had been arguing with Jasmine Nicole Clark in the bedroom of her Waldorf apartment and was demanding that she let him drive her car, a prosecutor said. In a nearby room were Clark's two young daughters, and the older girl heard Leysath threaten to choke her mother if she didn't hand over her keys, police reported.

"And that's what he did," Anthony B. Covington, a Charles County deputy state's attorney, told the jury during his opening argument Monday. "The defendant … put a belt around the neck of Jasmine Clark and he choked her, and he choked her and he choked her to death."

The attorney defending Leysath, now 30, didn't dispute that his client killed Clark. But because Leysath suffers from a mental disorder brought on by years of PCP use and was in the throes of the psychosis when he attacked Clark on May 14, 2008, he shouldn't be convicted of first-degree murder, Barry M. Johnson argued.

"This is not a first-degree murder case. This isn't even a second-degree murder case. This is an insanity case. This is a defendant who needs help," Johnson said to jurors at the outset of the Charles County Circuit Court trial.

After the strangling, Leysath took Clark's car keys, poured her daughter a cup of juice and left the two girls, 7 and 3 at the time, in the Gallery Place apartment, attorneys said.

The older girl, looking for her mother, went into the bedroom and found Clark's body covered up in a blanket. She called 911 at about 10:30 p.m.

Rescue workers tried to revive Clark, 23, but were unsuccessful and pronounced her dead at Civista Medical Center.

Meanwhile, Leysath had driven to his parent's Westdale Court home, where he attacked his mother and father, Johnson said. Police were called to the scene at about 10:18 p.m. and took Leysath to the hospital.

"This case is a very sad story. … Not just because Jasmine Clark lost her life unnecessarily," Johnson said. "What makes the case particularly heinous is not the actions of Mr. Leysath but the events that led up to those actions occurring."

The day before the murder, Leysath had told Clark that he was going to start "lunching," meaning that he could feel the onset of his psychosis, Johnson said.

Clark, a teacher in a Prince George's County school who had been dating Leysath for three or four months, took him to the hospital, where they gave him an injection to stabilize him and sent him on his way, Johnson said.

The attorney faulted the hospital for not admitting Leysath or placing him in a treatment program.

While Leysath wasn't under the influence of PCP when he killed Clark, his 14 years of using the drug had given rise to the mental disorder that prevented him from understanding the criminality of his actions, Johnson argued. Johnson didn't name a specific mental disorder that Leysath suffers from.

In addition to first-degree murder, Leysath is charged with robbery and theft of more than $500 for allegedly stealing Clark's car. His trial is expected to conclude sometime this week.