The state is seeking the death penalty for the suspect in the 1997 slaying of a Northdale dental assistant.
By TIM GRANT
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 8, 1999
TAMPA -- As many as 60 witnesses could testify starting today in the first-degree murder trial of Raymond Lamar Johnston, charged in the 1997 kidnapping, rape and strangling of Northdale dental assistant Leanne Coryell.
Attorneys in the case completed jury selection Monday and were scheduled to deliver opening statements this morning.
Assistant State Attorney Jay Pruner said the prosecution's case should wrap up by Thursday. The state will seek the death penalty if Johnston is convicted.
Johnston, 44, was arrested three days after Coryell's body was found Aug. 19, 1997. Several people identified Johnston from bank security pictures as the man using Coryell's ATM card on two occasions to withdraw $1,000 shortly after her death.
"There's nothing connecting Mr. Johnston to the crime other than the ATM," said defense attorney Joe Registrato. "The ATM is connecting him with her, but not with the crime. He told the cops he knew her casually and they had dated."
Another state witness who saw Coryell argue with a man outside of the Publix at Bearss Avenue and N Dale Mabry Highway has said the man Coryell argued with was not Johnston, Registrato said.
"We have a video of the person walking around (in Publix) watching her," Registrato said.
Johnston has a long criminal record, including rape, kidnapping and armed robbery. He has been convicted on four separate occasions in three states, buy jurors might never hear that. Circuit Judge Diana Allen has yet to rule on whether testimony of Johnston's prior convictions can be introduced. It may become an issue if Johnston decides to take the stand. Registrato said that is still undetermined.
Coryell, 30, was a divorced mother of a 6-year-old girl and active at Van Dyke United Methodist Church.
The evidence shows after Coryell left Publix about 9:30 p.m. on Aug. 19, 1997, she was abducted from the parking lot of the Landings at Cypress Meadows apartments near Northdale as she took the groceries from her car. Johnston was staying in the same complex at the time.
Her unclothed body was found in a shallow pond behind St. Timothy's Catholic Church behind Gaither High School by a man walking his dog about 11 p.m.
Coryell's friends and family say Johnston's day in court is long overdue.
"I'm facing it with mixed emotions," said Coryell's father, Tom Morris. "It will be a burden relieved. I'm looking forward to the closure -- getting this behind us."
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