Shane Foster, 21, son of the Raymond “Chuck” Foster, who is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of 43-year-old Cynthia Lynch from Tulsa, Okla., entered the not guilty plea alongside two other defendants.
Frank Stafford, 21, also indicted for obstruction of justice, and Danielle Jones, 23, charged with accessory after the fact, both pleaded not guilty Thursday in front of state District Court Judge Reginald “Reggie” Badeaux III.
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The four, including Chuck Foster, are charged with crimes related to the murder of Lynch, who was shot to death when she tried to leave a KKK initiation ceremony on remote banks of the Pearl River in Sun.
Although “rare, but not uncommon,” the insanity plea suggests Shane Foster’s attorney John Lindner will try and prove his client was insane only at the time to the offense, Gascon said.
Lindner did not file a motion that his client was and is insane, which would require sanity commissions to determine whether Shane Foster is fit to stand trial, Gascon said.
The Fosters were just two of eight alleged KKK members eventually arrested in the swamps surrounding the Pearl River. The four others, Timothy Michael Watkins, 31, Alicia Watkins, 23, Andrew Yates and Random Hines, were not indicted, said court spokesman Rick Wood. Timothy Watkins and Hines were free on bail at the time of the indictments.
All suspects are from Washington Parish. The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office investigated the crime because it occurred in Sun, just inside its jurisdiction.
Chuck Foster is no stranger to law enforcement. Strain said he has a lengthy rap sheet dating back to the 1980s that includes a conviction for manslaughter, among other crimes.
If convicted, he faces life in prison. He’s scheduled to be arraigned March 3, Gascon said.
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