Hillsborough: Trial awaits accused killer

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Trial awaits accused killer

Prosecutors seek the death penalty in the murder of a Northdale dental assistant.

By TIM GRANT

NORTHDALE -- Almost two years after his arrest, smooth-talking charmer Ray Lamar Johnston is set to go on trial Monday in the murder of Leanne Coryell, a popular dental assistant found dead in a church pond behind Gaither High School in 1997.

Johnston, who has a lengthy record of convictions for violent crimes, was arrested three days after Coryell's body was found. Several people identified him from bank security pictures as the man using Coryell's ATM card to withdraw $1,000 shortly after her death.

Authorities charged him with first-degree murder and third-degree grand theft.

But Johnston has proclaimed his innocence from day one, and mounted a vigorous defense that now appears to include the suggestion that another man was arguing with Coryell in a parking lot shortly before her death.

According to court records, a witness said he saw Coryell arguing with someone outside the Northdale Publix less than two hours before she was killed. A Publix security video shows a man standing near Coryell in the checkout line.

Defense attorneys say a man they believe to have been dating Coryell, Tampa lawyer Charles Harris Jr., resembles the man in the security video, and that the witness to the argument, when shown a picture of Harris, said he was "about 75 percent sure" that Harris is who he saw arguing with Coryell.

Whether that's enough reasonable doubt to free Johnston remains to be determined.

Harris said he knew Coryell, but was not at Publix with her that night. He said he was questioned by defense attorneys, but not by any law enforcement officers and has not been subpoenaed to testify.

"I have absolutely no idea what this is all about," Harris said last week.

In addition to first-degree murder, Johnston is charged with kidnapping, robbing and raping Coryell as well as with burglarizing her car.

Jury selection is set to begin Monday before Circuit Judge Diana Allen, and the trial is expected to last up to two weeks. Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty for Johnston if he is convicted.

While Johnston's attorneys would not discuss their defense strategy, they feel they have a strong case.

"Our position is the state doesn't have sufficient evidence to prove Mr. Johnston is guilty," said assistant public defender John Skye.

Coryell's friends and family hope the trial will start to bring end to the tragedy.

"Our hearts are still bleeding," said Dr. Gregory Dyer, her former employer. "The main thing we think about is her family. We'd like justice to be served and see closure.

"She was a hardworking person who loved life and a super mother to her child. She sought everything possible to improve the quality of life for her child."

/ / / / / Coryell was a 30-year-old dental assistant who lived in Northdale and was active at Van Dyke United Methodist Church. She had a daughter, then aged 6, from an earlier marriage. Her co-workers established a fund for the child after Coryell's death. Friends declined to talk about where the child is now.

Coryell's unclothed body was found by a man walking his dog on Aug. 19, 1997, in a shallow pond behind St. Timothy's Catholic church on Ragg Road. She had been strangled and raped. Her car, a 1993 Infiniti, was found in the church parking lot. Groceries she had bought the night before at Publix were still in the car.

Coryell's purse was missing.

Cameras at a Carrollwood NationsBank recorded someone using Coryell's debit card to withdraw $500 soon after Coryell was likely killed. Photos from an ATM at a McDonald's in Northdale showed the same person withdrawing another $500 with Coryell's card the next morning.

The photos appeared in the local news media. Several people identified the man as Johnston, and police arrested him three days after the murder.

Johnston has said in several interviews that he did not kill Coryell and that they were friends. The cash withdrawals were done with her permission, he said, because he had loaned Coryell $1,000. He claims that he and Coryell had dated several times, but Coryell's friends told investigators she never mentioned him.

On the night she died, court records show, Coryell left work at Dr. Dyer's dental office in Carrollwood at about 8:40 p.m. On her way home, she stopped at Publix on Bearss Avenue and N Dale Mabry Highway. At 9:23 p.m., record show, she wrote a check. About 11 p.m. she was found dead.

Prosecutors have substantial evidence against Johnston.

There are photos of his arms, red from scratches at the time of his arrest. Police confiscated wet tennis shoes from Johnston's apartment. The soles matched a footprint at the pond where Coryell was found. There are fingerprints from her car that match Johnston.

The trial was delayed by the state's appeal of a ruling that prosecutors could not introduce so-called "victim impact" evidence about Coryell's life from friends and family. Victim impact evidence allows friends and family members to express how the death of a person has impacted their lives. Defense attorneys usually oppose such evidence because its highly emotional nature.

The 2nd District Court of Appeals upheld the ruling.

"We feel that victim impact evidence is extremely prejudicial," Skye said. "It could result in people being sentenced to death that don't deserve to be, based on other legal criteria."

Under a cloak of respectability, Johnston often charmed his way into his victims' lives. He made good money in sales, was a sharp dresser and wore fancy jewelry, acquaintances said.

Several other women who had dated or known Johnston said last year that he seemed a perfect gentleman and "the kind of guy every woman wants."

Unbeknownst to Johnston's Hillsborough acquaintances, however, was that he had a long criminal history, with felony convictions in three states for rape, armed robbery, assault and burglary.

His attorneys have also asked Judge Allen to bar any testimony about Johnston's prior convictions. Allen had not ruled on that motion as of Friday.

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