PRATTVILLE, AL (WSFA) -
The man arrested and charged with the murder of Prattville resident Patricia Lasserre in 2005 was found guilty Tuesday in an Autauga County courtroom.
Clifford Wynn was convicted just one day after arguments began in his murder case.
District Attorney Randall Houston said the prosecution had video of Wynn denying he ever knew Lasserre, but other evidence including DNA and fingerprints proved otherwise.
"We decided to narrow down the evidence we had," Houston explained, "but the case was going very well, and we finished early and the defense didn't put on any defense."
It took four years from the time of Lasserre's murder to the time when prosecutors got a DNA hit that identified Wynn, the prime suspect who had been arrested once for the crime but was later released because evidence wasn't strong enough to indict.
"It took a long time, but without the technology we would have never known," Houston admitted.
Patricia Lasserre was last seen leaving her job at the Clanton Walmart on December 19, 2005. She never made it to her Prattville home. Her SUV was found on Autauga County Road 1 and her body was discovered nearby.
Wynn's conviction comes within a week and a day of the seventh anniversary of Lasserre's murder.
Wynn, convicted of murder and rape in the first degree, will have a sentencing hearing on February 25, 2013. Houston's office says it will ask for the maximum life sentence.
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File Photo: Patricia Lasserre
Clifford Wynn
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