In pursuit of justice, summer 2010, v.3 no.3

              INSIDE:
Prosecutor
Profile
2
Major Case
Convictions
3
Special Dog Unit 4
Justice After
Twenty Years
5
Plea in
Drunken Crash
7
Message from
DA Tim Harris
8
S U M M E R 2 0 1 0

"The real
significance of crime
is in its being
a breach of faith
with the community
of mankind.”
~ Joseph Conrad
T I M H A R R I S
T U L S A C O U N T Y
D I S T R I C T
A T T O R N E Y
Husband Convicted in Murder of Lori Moon Kastner
P rosecutors called it a
Trial about Truth.
Lori Moon Kastner was a
devoted wife, mother and held a
prestigious job as attorney for the
Oklahoma Supreme Court. She and
husband John Kastner, a teacher and
coach at Webster High School,
regularly entertained faculty at their
home after events at the school.
To outsiders, it seemed that the
couple, who met at the University
of Tulsa and married 24 years ear-lier,
were happy with their modest
lifestyle and enjoyed the small-town
atmosphere of their West Tulsa
neighborhood. In fact, Coach “K”
later told police, he was something
of a “folk hero” at Webster.
In the spring of 2008, friends, co-workers
and relatives were told by
Kastner that the family’s lives were
all about to change drastically. That
much was true, but almost nothing
else he said was.
In fact, Assistant District Attorney
Steve Kunzweiler called Kastner a
“bald-faced liar” who lied to his
wife, his father and friends for 20
years. Assistant DA Doug Drum-mond
told jurors “Kastner was a
ticking time bomb” whose world
was unraveling.
Kastner had told everyone he was
coming into money – millions inher-ited
from his father, he told some,
even though the man was not dead.
He told others the money was a
reward for his heroic efforts in the
Israeli Defense Forces, claiming he
saved a government official in a bus
bombing.
After a five-week family trip to Is-rael,
he said Lori would be paid
millions to run an Israeli company –
the 713 Corporation which he had
founded. It would be easy work she
could do from home and the family
would never need to worry about
finances again, according to Kastner.
that problems will cure them-selves.
Unfortunately, time has
not slowed, stopped or gone
backward. There is no next
week.”
June 22 or 23: Kastner test-fires
gun outside house at 3 am.
June 23: Meeting to sign
“contracts” with coaches to
purchase equipment for Web-ster
cancelled; Coach “K” ill.
June 24: Meeting with coaches
cancelled again, rescheduled
for morning of June 25.
June 24: Lori and children pack
for next day’s trip on private
jet to Israel.
June 25: Kastner calls police at
4 am. Lori shot twice in the
head – while in bed. Tells
police an intruder came into
the house and shot her - with
the gun he bought eight days
earlier, and left with $5,000
cash he had left on a dining
room table. Kastner was shot
in the hand. He said he was
injured while struggling with
the intruder over the gun.
The truth, Assistant DAs Drum-mond
and Kunzweiler told jurors:
 There never was an Israel trip
 He was never in the military
 713 Corporation did not exist
 Kastner was $150,000 in debt
 There was no “intruder.”
The “Legend” of Webster was
about to be exposed as a fraud.
With his all-important reputation
ruined and his world collapsing,
he executed the woman who had
sacrificed everything for him, as
she lay sleeping in bed.
In one sense, Kastner’s
prognostication had come true:
the whole family’s lives would
never be the same again.
A jury convicted KASTNER of
FIRST-DEGREE MURDER in Sep-tember
and sentenced him to
LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE.
In May, Lori quit her $87,000-a-year
job, which “bewildered” her
boss, Supreme Court Justice Tho-mas
Colbert. The justice de-scribed
Lori as “brilliant” and said
he tried to discourage her from
quitting. He told jurors he was
certain that Lori sincerely be-lieved
her husband and all his
fantastic tales.
In mid-May, Kastner gave a
“farewell speech” at Webster’s
athletic banquet, announcing he
would share his wealth, promising
to donate millions to the school,
principal and coaches as incen-tives
to improve. But his rambling
speech publicly lambasted school
administrators and announced
that his friend and fellow coach
Jim Harper would resign if he
didn’t win a certain amount of
games the next year. “I went
numb, when I heard that,” Harper
testified.
May 15: Principal admonishes him
for speech.
June 17: Kastner buys gun.
June 20: Job in jeopardy.
June 22: Kastner writes: “Wow.
Intense pressure. She was
right. I do put things off hoping
In Pursuit of Justice
V O L U M E 3 , I S S U E 3
Lori Moon Kastner, 44, was
shot to death June 25, 2008