Murder suspect to also face torture charge

A man who admitted to police he fatally stabbed his mother will face a

special allegation of torture, a Sonoma County judge has ruled.

Christopher Lavis, 42, faces first-degree murder charges in the September

stabbing of his mother Connie LaSalle, 63, inside a Santa Rosa condo they

co-owned.

The torture allegation carries a life-without-parole or death sentence upon

conviction. Prosecutors haven?t said yet whether they will pursue capital

punishment.

Lavis told a police detective that he stabbed his mother several times with

kitchen shears during an argument before grabbing a large Roman gladius to

kill her with because he didn?t want her to suffer.

According to the autopsy, LaSalle had 45 stabbing and slicing wounds, 15 to

20 of which were potentially fatal. Seven of 13 wounds to her upper back

penetrated into her heart and lungs and were potentially lethal.

Prosecutor Traci Carrillo argued that Lavis? ?controlled use of force? to

inflict a large number of wounds less than an inch deep showed he intended

to cause his mother to suffer.

Lavis? attorney, Amy Chapman, argued that a torture charge requires the

?intentional infliction of extreme pain for the calculated purpose of

revenge, persuasion or other sadistic reason.?

Not being very good at killing isn?t the same as purposely inflicting pain,

she said.

In the fourth hearing on the issue, Judge Lawrence Antolini ruled Friday

that a jury should decide whether Lavis intended to torture his mother.

After his mother?s death, Lavis left her body on the living room floor,

under a blanket, for the next 10 days. He told police he had pizza

delivered three times while he stayed there.

Lavis is due back in court July 10 to set trial dates. He is being held

without bail.

LaSalle?s body was found on Sept. 27, about two weeks after friends last

saw her. She was a retired operations specialist at Exchange Bank.