The jury found John Robert Kastner GUILTY of First-degree murder
in the death of Lori Moon Kastner on June 25, 2008. The jury imposed
a LIFE in prison WITHOUT POSSIBILITY OF PAROLE sentence.
Judge Gillert set formal sentencing for Sept. 27, 2010.
Lori (Moon)Kastner, a highly regarded and intelligent Attorney to the Oklahoma
Supreme Court, didn't accept anything at face value in the legal world she inhabited.
She probed thoroughly and questioned to get at the truth of a matter.
In the vernacular, she was one helluva smart cookie.
Lori been on the National Honor Society in school. She had graduated with honors in
the top 10 % of her law class and had the top grade in three of her classes. Lori was
present of the TU Women's Law Caucus and received the Order of the Curule Chair,
the highest honor given to a TU law student. With aspirations to be a judge, she'd
applied for an opening at the Court of Civil Appeals and began working there in
November of 1995. In 2005 she obtained a position at the Oklahoma Supreme
Court.
Former state Supreme Court Justice Daniel Boudreau "She was compared to the
MVP of the TU Law School. I am not overstating this to say she had one of the
finest, analytical legal minds I have ever known."
Lori was also the soft spoken mother to go to when someone needed anything.
She rescued hurt animals and cared for them until they were healed. Her home
was called"Noah's Ark" by some due to the number at any given time of cats, dogs
and other animals in residence.
Lori loved, and was devoted to her children. Shewas active in both her church and in her community fundraising and related activites.
She'd converted to Judaism in recent years and was raising her children in the faith
and was active in the school her children attended. (B'nai Emunah Preschool and
Heritage Academy). John had been active with her in the B'nai Emunah congregation
with Lori, but although many assumed that he had converted when Lori did, he had
not.
For those who knew her well, it's a puzzle to them why Lori didn't investigate what
she was being told by her husband. Authorities think Lori believed Kastner's tales
along with everyone else.
On the face of things, it appears she felt she had no reason to question the man she
loved and trusted. Perhaps she wanted to believe him. Or perhaps John Kastner
created the perfect con, tailored to meet her expectations and questions. Those who
were the closest to her say that Lori wouldn't have quit a job she loved on a whim.
They say she was the type who would have insisted on checking out the non-profit
company John had lined up for her to work for. So did John Kastner create paper
work to ally her suspicions? Or did he convince her that everything he told her was
"secret" in nature due to the Israeli connections and couldn't be checked into by
normal means?
In May, a month before her death, Lori quit her job and asked a friend at a bank
about opening an international account where millions could be transferred into it
from Israel. She told family John had arranged for her to be co-owner for "713
Corporation," a charitable non-profit organization, have access to millions because
of it, and in fact, were moving to Israel.
Fraser Kastner's testimony "Mom was busy packing and getting everyone ready
for the move" the day before she was killed. Months before, his father told the family
"the charitable corporation "713" was going to be co-owned by their mother and it was
named for his father's unit in the Israeli Defense Force, seven being his father's favorite
number." His father was in charge of most of the planning for the trip. "It was mainly
him because he knew most about it."
Sally Kastner's testimony "Their father told their mother to expect having an
income of between $5 million and $6 million per year. "He said he'd saved someone
very important and we were pretty much going to have a good life with shopping,
and having a private plane that was the company's and having bodyguards."
Fraser Kastner's testimony " His father told him about one or two days after the
shooting that he did not commit the crime and that the trip to Israel had been canceled.
"He said he found out a few months before we weren't going to Israel but were
going somewhere else."
The day before the Kastner family was to fly to Israel to begin their new life, Lori Kastner
was murdered in her bed, asleep, and John Kaster claimed an intruder had done the deed.
John Kastner has been described as "intelligent and intellectual," However, once the
veneer of his lies are stripped away, the con game he's pulled on everyone doesn't
seem all that intelligent. Like Ira Einhorn, Mark Hacking and other men who've lied
and conned friends, family, neighbors and communities, John Kastner must have
enjoyed spinning lies. Secretly smirking, gratified that he'd pulled another con and
hadn't gotten caught. He must have liked lying, otherwise, why keep doing it?
Perhaps he started small with one or two lies and when he wasn't caught out went
on to bigger lies. Perhaps Kastner liked the rush he got from lying in such a grandiose
manner. Or perhaps he's always been a con man from day one. Unfortunately from
Kastner's point of view, he was caught. Just like Einhorn, Hacking and others before
them. Until a thorough investigation into his background is brought into court, (you
can bet one has been done) the public can only guess at how much of his life and
expertise has been based on lies.
Family, students, co-workers, and others feel duped, betrayed and disgusted. Some
have posted on the web saying they'd figured out his game long ago, while supporters
blindly lash out at those who dare question his integrity. They just "know" he wouldn't
go to such lengths to dupe them, or anyone. They can't believe he would stoop to murder.
But John Kastner lied to everyone. And in particular he lied Lori, their children and his
and Lori's families. John Kastner is alleged to have committed the murder, and if he did,
he didn't care about his own children and how they'd feel losing their mother to murder.
If he did, then it's clear he really didn't care about his students or anyone else.
And his lies didn't start just recently.
To read more about Lori's death and Kastner's lies: CMM FORUM - CATEGORY LORI KASTNER - JOHN KASTNER The Murder of Lori Kastner
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