TAVARES, Fla. (Court TV) — Florida woman Laurie Shaver appeared in a Lake County courtroom on Friday as attorneys debated motions that offered a preview of key issues in her upcoming murder trial for her husband’s death, including her daughter’s alleged confession to killing her father.
Laurie Shaver leaves court following a motions hearing on Friday, Aug. 30, 2024. (Court TV)
Shaver is accused of shooting and killing her husband, Michael Shaver, in November 2015, burying him in the backyard of their Clermont, Florida, home and then impersonating him in texts and Facebook messages to create the impression he was still alive. His body was found in March 2018 three feet below ground under a concrete slab and firepit that Laurie installed in the backyard in 2016, according to a law enforcement affidavit.
Shaver’s defense claims her daughter, who was eight years old at the time, pulled the trigger and killed her father during a violent episode to protect her mother.
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The Shavers were living together but dating other people when Michael went missing. Laurie’s defense wants to present evidence that Michael allegedly subjected Laurie to years of physical, sexual and emotional abuse. Laurie’s defense claims in court documents that their two children witnessed much of the physical abuse, including an alleged incident on the day Michael was last seen alive that led their daughter to kill her father.
Presiding Judge Cary Rada limited the circumstances under which the jury could hear about those allegations, creating the possibility that at least one of the children may testify: most likely, the daughter who allegedly pulled the trigger.
The couple’s troubled relationship and their daughter’s alleged confession were among the topics that came up at Friday’s hearing on several outstanding motions.
Adam Narvaez’s Testimony
Assistant State Attorney Rich Buxman asked the judge to prevent a witness from testifying about the Shaver daughter’s alleged confession to killing her father.
The child allegedly confessed to Adam Narvaez, who may be called to testify for the defense. Buxman said Narvaez should not be allowed to testify to anything the daughter allegedly said to him, arguing such testimony would be improper hearsay because the daughter – now a teenager – is available to testify.
“They’re trying to elicit out-of-court statements, ‘I shot my father,’” Buxman said. “By no means are we trying to prevent her from testifying. We’re trying to prevent witnesses from testifying about hearsay statements [she] made.”
Laurie’s lawyer, Jeffrey Wiggs, said he wanted to ask Narvaez about the alleged confession to illuminate the circumstances under which the daughter got involved in the case.
“We’re not offering [the statement] for the truth of the matter but for the circumstances under which [she] came forward,” Wiggs said. “It’s to show a sequence of events… not to prove the truth of the statements but to show timeline and why the minor child stepped forward.”
The judge agreed that any hearsay statements from the daughter are inadmissible and said he would rule on any proffered testimony as it comes up in the trial.
Michael Shaver’s Alleged Abuse
Assistant State Attorney Nicholas Camuccio asked the judge to prevent the defense from presenting evidence of Michael Shaver’s alleged abuse through police reports, including the report of his 2014 arrest on a battery charge involving Laurie. Police records are generally inadmissible as trial evidence because they contain hearsay statements, but business records can be fair game under certain circumstances.
Camuccio accused Laurie’s defense of trying to introduce police reports into evidence by calling them business records even though the judge already ruled that the contents of those reports were inadmissible.
Laurie’s lawyer agreed to not introduce the records without laying a foundation for their admissibility, which means he can try to present details from the records by calling as witnesses the people who observed them firsthand.
Jury selection in Shaver’s trial is scheduled for Sept. 9.
