PORT ANGELES — The murder trial of 16-year-old Lauryn L. Last, who will be tried as an adult, may be postponed for a second time.
In a brief status hearing on Friday, prosecuting attorney William Payne and defense attorney Suzanne Hayden agreed that an April 20 trial is unlikely because both sides are waiting for an investigation to conclude.
“We pretty much decided that the 20th is not going to be a likely trial date, but we’re not ready to strike it,” Payne said.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge Ken Williams set a continued status hearing for April 3 at 1:30 p.m.
Last, 16, will be tried on a charge of first-degree murder with a second-degree murder option in the Dec. 30 death of her infant son.
The trial was originally scheduled for March 2. It was postponed on Feb. 27 because of the ongoing investigation.
Last is accused of drowning her newborn son, named Thomas Loy Last posthumously by Last’s mother, in a toilet bowl.
Defense attorneys have argued that Last didn’t know she was in labor, and that she went into shock after giving birth on a toilet.
The body of the infant was found in a 30-ton trash container near Tacoma Jan. 5. The trash had been taken there from Port Angeles. The infant’s body had been placed in a trash bin outside Last’s father’s home, where she was staying.
Lauryn Last was arrested at her father’s Port Angeles home on Jan. 2. She is being held on $500,000 bail in the Clallam County Juvenile Services Detention Facility in Port Angeles.
The teen’s father, Ronald Last, was charged with felony possession of a firearm and possession of methamphetamine, as well as the gross misdemeanor of concealing birth. He posted $10,000 bail on Jan. 7.
Police have said that the girl was impregnated by a man in his 30s in Colorado.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladaily news.com.
