Daughter freed of charge in death of Vilonia man, 82
Posted on Saturday, August 30, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/235768/
CONWAY — A Vilonia woman who was accused of manslaughter in her aging father’s death said Friday that she hopes she can begin piecing her life back together now that the prosecution has dropped the charge against her.
“I just hope this will at least get us started on the road toward peace,” said Lisa Roofener.
Judge Charles E. Clawson on Thursday signed an order dropping the case against Roofener in Faulkner County Circuit Court.
Roofener, now 47, was charged Jan. 4 in the Dec. 29, 2007, death of Clayton William Paul, 82, of Vilonia after, authorities said, the two struggled over his walking cane and he collapsed.
According to the order, deputy prosecuting attorney Charles Finkenbinder asked that the charge not be pursued because the state medical examiner’s autopsy “determined cause of death to be natural.” Finkenbinder’s motion also said there was “insufficient evidence to proceed.”
The report from the state Crime Laboratory identifies the cause of death as “hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease with cardiomegaly.” In lay terms, the cause was a heart attack, according to a physician at the laboratory. Cardiomegaly refers to an enlarged heart.
Roofener’s attorney, Frank Shaw of Conway, had contended Paul had a heart attack.
Neither Finkenbinder nor Prosecuting Attorney Marcus Vaden returned telephone calls Friday.
According to the autopsy report, investigators had been to Paul’s home “for numerous domestic disputes between” Paul and other family members.
In 2004, Roofener was convicted of misdemeanor thirddegree domestic battery for assaulting her father. She was put on probation for 12 months, according to the circuit clerk’s office.
On the day Paul died, the autopsy report states, the two “were reportedly in a domestic dispute over a television remote control” and he “came at her with his cane, which was taken away from him and thrown outside.”
“At that point, the decedent turned to lean on a dining room table and collapsed onto the floor,” the report adds. “Hospital records reported that he clutched his chest prior to the collapse.”
The report further states that Paul’s medical history included a pacemaker, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, high blood pressure, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
“Requested additional investigative information regarding details of the altercation were not forthcoming,” the report states.
Sheriff’s Lt. Matt Rice said Friday that he does not recall getting such a request.
The medical examiner’s office wrote that it needs “detailed investigative information” when determining cause and manner of death when an dispute has occurred.
“It was felt that, in the absence of evidence of foul play, that manner of death was natural,” the report adds.