Mr. Kastner Is Delaying Justice . . . Again!

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Jury selection was set to begin August 16, 2010 but John Robert Kastner is again attempting to delay his trial. Apparently, Kastner’s newest lawyer, Jill Webb of the County’s Public Defender Office, has filed a change of venue motion. Mr. Kastner seems to think he won’t receive a fair trial in Tulsa due to all the media interest in his case. Kastner also claims (if you can believe anything he says) that he never agreed to use an insanity plea or that he is suffering from schizophrenia.

Well, Duh! Guess what Mr. Kastner, had you not allegedly lied numerous times to not only your wife and children, but to your students, the principal and the district officials of the Webster High School, where you were a trusted coach and a teacher, maybe you wouldn’t have gained so much popularity in the media. And, more important, had your story that you had not shot and killed Lori Moon Kastner, an attorney who had worked for the Oklahoma Supreme Court, been found believable via evidence at the crime scene, perhaps the public interest in your alleged part in the murder would’ve waned. Perhaps if you hadn’t allegedly told law enforcement that the person who shot and killed your wife was looking for your 19-year-old adopted daughter and wanting money then this case wouldn’t have gained so much interest.

Heck, you allegedly couldn’t keep your stories straight with how the shooting happened. What we have known is factual throughout this whole ordeal is that Lori was shot twice in the head! And you allegedly told police different stories of how you woke and struggled with the assailant. From the time LE first arrived and spoke with you, and when you were at the hospital just a few hours later, the story allegedly changed. Does that not scream that the public would want to know all the facts of the alleged home invasion? Does it not scream the public would want answers to who killed Lori and shot a well-loved coach and English teacher in the hand?

I think perhaps it isn’t just the negative media attention concerning your alleged lies that bug you but the fact that you were a respected and trusted teacher and coach at the High School that is the problem. You have to know that you’ve likely lost all the accolades of that distinction and possibly now only seen as a con man (due to the alleged non existent 713 Corporation stuff), and an accused killer. I really don’t see the school rehiring you, should you be found not guilty. I do however feel the court can find 12 honest citizens to sit on the jury in your county who is willing to put aside anything they’ve seen or read of your case and impart a fair verdict. I’d even go so far as to say you likely ‘will’ find potential jurors who know nothing about all the publicity surrounding your past and who will also be willing to look at the evidence in a fair and impartial manner.

My personal thoughts, from all I’ve read and heard on this case, are that between the lawyer who allegedly gave that statement about the insanity plea and Mr. Kastner, I go with the lawyer. Considering all the other alleged lies of Mr. Kastner, and they are numerous, I believe, he could easily be lying that he never verbally told the lawyer, John Byrd, he’d agree to plead insanity. We’ll have to wait and see if Mr. Byrd confirms the verbal agreement to know for sure. But like Mr. Kastner’s alleged mountain of lies, and all the changing of attorneys, he changed his mind about that also. And just as he allegedly blamed a supposed acquaintance of his adopted daughter for the shooting of Lori Kastner and home invasion, he is blaming his ex attorney for an alleged plea he doesn’t want to use. And I think, due to all I have read and heard on this case, that he is using that as another ploy for delaying his criminal trial. I ask, why didn’t he file this motion sooner? For instance - back in Jan of this year when the judge agreed to remove Byrd as his attorney and ‘again’ agreed to the public defender’s office assigning one? Why the wait until a few days before jury selection was set to begin?

I have to admit, although I am of full awareness this ‘I didn’t agree to plea insanity’ claim is a serious matter - (it could damage a lawyer’s reputation with the bar association), that an accused liar is calling another person a liar is rather comical. If you look at it from a certain standpoint that is. The idiom - ‘the pot calling the kettle black’ comes to mind.

Yes, Mr. Kastner deserves a fair trial and one that makes sure no one violates his rights; I approve of that. However, justice for Lori is indeed slow.