Scott Clabourne was sentenced to death by the State of Arizona for the murder of Laura Webster
According to court documents Scott Clabourne and Larry Langston would meet Laura Webster at the bar. The trio would go back to Langston’s apartment where she would be sexually assaulted and murdered.
Larry Langston would be sentenced to life
Scott Clabourne would be sentenced to death
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Where Is Scott Clabourne Now
Scott Clabourne is incarcerated at ASPC Eyman, Browning Unit
Scott Clabourne Case
The facts follow. On the evening of 18 September 1980, Laura Webster, a student at the University of Arizona, entered the Green Dolphin Bar with a friend. Shortly after arriving there, defendant, Scott Clabourne, and Larry Langston approached her. They talked with her for approximately twenty minutes after which all three left the bar. The next day, Ms. Webster’s body was found near the Santa Cruz River. She was naked and wrapped in a bloody sheet. A blue and white bandanna was tied tightly around her neck. An autopsy revealed that the victim had been strangled and then stabbed twice in the chest. There was also evidence of oral, anal and vaginal intercourse just prior to death.
No arrests were made for over a year. In August of 1981, defendant’s girlfriend, Shirley Martin, contacted Detective Luis Bustamonte. She informed the detective that defendant had told her that he had killed a woman he had met in a bar. He told her that he had gone there with two friends who had ordered him to kill her. Clabourne told Martin that his friends had *341 forced him to ingest some drugs which caused him to lose control so that he was unable to resist their command.
On 12 October 1981 the Detective interviewed defendant at the Pima County Jail, where defendant was incarcerated on another charge. After receiving his Miranda warnings, defendant agreed to discuss the murder. He told the Detective that on the evening of 18 September 1980, he was asleep at the Salvation Army halfway house where he had been staying. Larry Langston and a man that Clabourne knew as Bob, later identified as Ed Carrico, woke him up and the three of them drove to the Green Dolphin Bar. There they met Laura Webster and convinced her to go to a cocaine party with them. They all left and began to drive around. Langston stopped the car, pulled the victim out and beat her. He threw her back into the car and they drove to where Langston had been staying. During this time Miss Webster began pleading with Clabourne to protect her.
Once inside the house, the men forced the victim to remove her clothes and serve them drinks. Langston continued to beat her and all three men raped her. Clabourne claimed that she consented to relations with him. A prison guard testified at the trial that he overheard the defendant state “Yeah. I raped her. She didn’t want it but I know she liked it.” They were inside the house for approximately six hours.
At the end of the evening, Langston told defendant to kill the woman. Clabourne maintained that he was in fear of his own life and wanted to let her escape but was scared Langston would kill him. He strangled her with a bandanna that he carried in his pocket. He then stated that Langston handed him a knife, he stabbed her twice and the three men wrapped her in a sheet and threw her in the Santa Cruz riverbed. It appeared from the autopsy, however, that she had been stabbed after she was wrapped in the sheet.
An information was filed on 15 October 1981. Defendant was found competent to stand trial by court-appointed psychiatrists Drs. John S. LaWall and Edward S. Gelardin. Because a defense of insanity was interposed, the two doctors also examined defendant concerning Clabourne’s mental state at the time of the incident. Both men testified that defendant was legally sane at the time of the offense. Dr. Sanford Berlin, who had treated defendant during his adolescence for a number of mental problems, also testified. From his convictions and sentences, defendant appeals.
https://law.justia.com/cases/arizona/supreme-court/1984/5807-2.html
