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Base airman charged with murder in child's death
Richard R. Laubach, 20, of Mountain Home, faces charges of first-degree murder charges in connection with the death of a child last Wednesday.
The airman who serves at Mountain Home Air Force Base was arrested March 12 at a Boise hospital on an arrest warrant issued in Elmore County.
During his arraignment at the Elmore County Courthouse on Thursday, Magistrate Judge George Hicks read an amended complaint issued by the county prosecutor, which elevated an initial child endangerment felony charge to first-degree murder.
The complaint alleges that Laubach assaulted Joseph "Joey" Graham with the intention of inflicting violence or great bodily harm.
Mountain Home police officers responded to a medical emergency in an apartment on North 18th East Street around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday regarding the 22-month-old child, who was reportedly injured and unresponsive.
According to initial reports received by the Elmore County dispatch department, the caller reported that Graham had fallen off a coffee table. However, within a matter of minutes, emergency responders on scene had requested an air ambulance from Boise with a separate call for available emergency medical technicians to respond to the apartment.
During the arraignment, the judge noted that the extent of injuries inflicted on the toddler included a broken left leg, fractured skull, swelling of the brain and extensive bruising.
Members of the child's family indicated that Graham was Laubach's stepson but had considered the boy as his actual son.
Ada County Coroner Erwin Sonnenberg said the child died Wednesday at 10:26 a.m. at St. Luke's Regional Medical Center and that the death "appears to be trauma related." Originally, he listed the cause and manner of death as "pending" but by Thursday had amended the death certificate to indicate that Graham's death was a homicide as the result of "abusive head injury."
The Mountain Home Police Department is the lead investigating law enforcement agency in the case.
Originally, Laubach was charged with a felony count of injury to a child during his appearance at the Ada County Courthouse on March 13 as a result of a warrant issued from Elmore County. Laubach was later transported to the Elmore County jail.
On Friday, the airman waived his right to a speedy preliminary hearing. Currently, he's scheduled to return to court the morning of May 1 when evidence introduced at that hearing will determine if sufficient evidence exists to bind him over to Fourth District Court to face the felony charge.
In addition, County Prosecutor Tina Schindele will decide over the next four weeks whether the state will file a notice of intent to pursue the death penalty on the first-degree murder charge. The prosecutor has the option to withdraw that notice at a later date.
Originally, Laubach was held on a $500,000 bond from the original felony arrest warrant. However, that bond was revoked with Hicks issuing a no-bond warrant once the airman was charged with murder.
During Friday's hearing, Terry Ratliff from the public defender's office requested a bail hearing, noting that the state hadn't filed the notice seeking the death penalty. The date of the bond hearing was not immediately known.
According to 1st Lt. Bryant Davis, a base spokesman, the airman was assigned to the 366th Security Forces Squadron. It wasn't immediately known whether he served in a law enforcement or direct security role.
Additional details regarding Laubach, including how long he has been stationed here, were not disclosed by base officials due to privacy concerns and because of the ongoing investigation by Mountain Home police.
Laubach's arrest comes less than six months after he was charged in a separate citation misdemeanor case involving child abuse and "domestic battery without traumatic injury against a family member." In December, both charges were dropped by city prosecutor Phil Miller after defense attorney Brian Peterson provided proof to the court that Laubach had completed an anger management program, a parenting course, a family safety seminar and a parenting support class in addition to two sessions of marital counseling.
According to information included in the case file, the charges were dismissed with the alleged victim's full agreement and consent. The victim at that time was not identified.
"This is a prosecutor's worst nightmare," Schindele said regarding the dismissal of the previous child abuse and domestic battery charges, which was not in her jurisdiction at that time. "You go with what the evidence shows and what the families are telling you." According to the county prosecutor, the mother of the child apparently didn't want to press charges against Laubach following that earlier arrest. "Everybody is going to be second guessing. The reality is that this wasn't an expected consequence" after all the behavioral control classes he'd apparently completed, Schindele said. "Now we have to deal with the tragic consequences of an unexpected event."
Members of the victim's family declined to speak to the media. However, they requested the public to respect their privacy -- in person, by telephone or through social media -- to allow them a chance to grieve.