On July 4, 1990, in a fit of uncontrollable anger and rage fueled by years of sexual abuse, Stacey Lannert shot and killed her father, Tom Lannert, as he lay asleep on the couch in the living room of his home in the St. Louis suburb of St. John, Mo. Afterward, Stacey took the murder weapon to a friend’s house and asked for help disposing of it. The following day, she went back to her father’s house with her friend and together they called the police in an attempt to make it look like they had just discovered the crime scene. The plan, however, was ill-conceived, and Stacey’s friend revealed the cover-up to the authorities. Shortly thereafter, Stacey confessed to killing her father.
At trial, attorneys for the defense argued that Stacey’s father had started sexually abusing her when she was 8 years old. They also showed that Stacey’s sister was a victim of her father’s violence. It was the defense’s contention that these combined traumatic events made Stacey a victim of battered spouse syndrome, since the state of Missouri had no laws covering battered children under this statute at the time. In response, the prosecution successfully argued that the law only applied in cases of self-defense where the victim felt that she was in immediate danger. The prosecution did, however, allow the defense to use post-traumatic stress disorder as part of their defense.
When the case went to the jury, they determined that Stacey knew the difference between right and wrong and found that she was not mentally ill at the time of the murder. As a result, they convicted her of first-degree murder, and she was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Stacey Lannert has remained behind bars since her arrest in 1990, and she has exhausted all of her appeals. Her only remaining option for release would be executive clemency, which must be issued by the governor of Missouri.
Currently incarcerated at the Women’s Correctional Center in Vandalia, Mo., Stacey shares a room with three female inmates in a low-security ward. Together, the women share their residence with two Labrador retrievers that they are training to become service dogs for the handicapped and physically challenged. The dogs live in kennels with the women 24 hours a day as part of the Pathways to Hope Prison Dog Project. The idea behind the program is the belief that through mutual respect and dignity, the inmates will learn to become contributing members of society.
In 2003, the Missouri Department of Corrections partnered with C.H.A.M.P. Assistance Dogs Inc. to allow a specially selected group of women offenders live with and train assistance dogs that would eventually be used to help disabled people. Missouri corrections officials have found the program to be beneficial in rehabilitating offenders by helping them develop positive interaction skills, job-related skills, social experience and a sense of giving back to the community. Rehabilitation, rather than warehousing, has been the objective and recognized outcome of the program.
