Sheriff: Mexico to Extradite Cesar Laurean
N.C. sheriff expects to have Marine charged with murder in custody in a week.
JACKSONVILLE, N.C. <br/> Sept. 11, 2008— -- A North Carolina sheriff says a Mexican court has approved returning a Marine Corps corporal charged with the brutal murder of pregnant colleague to the United States.
Onslow County Sheriff Ed Brown said Thursday he expects to have Cpl. Cesar Laurean in his custody in about a week.
Prosecutors have charged Laurean with first-degree murder in the slaying of Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach. The 20-year-old from Vandalia, Ohio, was eight months pregnant when she was killed late last year.
Laurean fled to Mexico as the search was under way for Lauterbach. He was found and arrested there in April. As part of an agreement with Mexican authorities, he will not face the death penalty at trial in North Carolina.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
