He’s expected to go on trial in October for the 1996 murder of Stacy Hoffmanster.
Frederick, Md (KM). Attorneys for the prosecution and the defense in the case of Lloyd Arbard Harris, 53, whose charged with the murder of Stacy Lynn Hoffmaster, 15, of Frederick, were in Circuit Court on Wednesday. State’s Attorney Charlie Smith says both sides argued their respective motions prior to Harris’ trial which is scheduled to begin on October 25th, and last for a week and a half.
In one instance, Smith says the defense made a motion to prevent a doctor for the prosecution from testifying regarding a statement in the police report on the contents found in the victim’s stomach. “The judge ruled that without a proper foundation, he could not testify to the statement. So we’ll have to obviously provide a foundation for that doctor’s opinion,” he says.
But the judge did rule in the State’s favor. “One of the other motions that we fought at the State was to present certain convictions from coming in from witness. We thought that they were just not relevant. There was no need for them to come into evidence at trial. And Judge {William} Nicklas did rule the convictions would not come into evidence. So we prevailed on that motion,” says Smith.
Smith says there will probably be other criminal motions in this case before Harris’ trial begins. “It’s obviously a very complicated prosecution which took many years to put together,” he says.
Even though the homicide occurred moire than 20 years ago, Smith says he’s confident the State will secure a conviction. “The fact that there was a period of time that elapsed does make it a little more difficult. But obviously it left an impression on all the witnesses and this is something they will never forget,” he says.
Harris was indicted last year for 1st-degree murder, 1st-degree rape and 3rd-degree sex offense for Stacy’s murder. . He was returned to Maryland from Kansas City, Missouri in 2016.
By Kevin McManus