Albany man accused of shooting mother, being a felon with a weapon, unauthorized vehicle use

BY CATHY INGALLS and CARRIE PETERSEN
For the Gazette-Times

ALBANY — In his opening statements Monday morning, Linn County prosecutor Jonathan Crow set out the state's case against Lance Robert Farson, alleging that he used a .357 Magnum to shoot his mother in the head while she worked at her computer at the family home in Halsey.

The defense has waived its right to a jury trial, so Linn County Circuit Judge Glen Baisinger is hearing the case.

Farson is charged with murder, being a felon in possession of a weapon and unauthorized use of a vehicle.

Farson's court-appointed attorney, Michael Barker of Corvallis, told the court he would present his opening arguments after the prosecutor finished his case.

Crow told the court Farson, then 31, shot his mother, Kathe Lynne Farson, 49, on Oct. 24, 2003, because he was angry, frustrated and scared.

Crow said Farson had been chafing at the rules he had to follow while living with his parents.

Earlier that month, Farson had been fired from his job at a dairy in Springfield, and he was afraid he was going to be sentenced to prison because of a relationship he'd had with a 15-year-old girl in Klamath Falls.

Farson had no intention of going to prison, Crow said, so he shot his mother, who planned to drive her son to Klamath Falls for his sentencing.

After shooting his mother, Crow said, Farson attempted to clean up his mother's blood and then dragged her body away from her computer, down some steps and into the garage.

Crow said Farson attempted to put his mother's body into her Dodge Durango, but she weighed too much for him to do that. He left her there to be found by her husband, Daniel Farson, a truck driver, when he got home three days later.

"We will prove that by Mr. Farson's actions, motives and physical evidence that he intentionally killed his mother, tried to clean up the crime scene and then how he fled his home and his state and then intended to flee the country," Crow said.

Dr. Larry Lewman, a forensic pathologist with the Oregon State Medical Examiner's Office who examined Kathe Farson's body, testified that the cause of her death was "a gunshot wound to the brain."

Because there was no powder residue from a gunshot on the body, Lewman said, the gun was probably fired from "beyond a couple feet," but he said he couldn't be any more specific than that.

Lewman also said that, aside from the bullet wound, there were no signs of struggle.

According to the testimony of two San Diego police officers, Farson was arrested Oct. 27 at a Western Union station at a Circle K in the California city about three or four miles from the Mexican border.

The trial continued Tuesday.