Charges could be upgraded against the son of former state Senator Sondra Lucht, who died after being thrown against a wall in her home and severely injured.
Lucht, a former Senate Education Committee chairwoman, died the day before Thanksgiving, according to Chief Erin Gibbons of the Martinsburg City Police Department.
Her son, Carl Lucht, was arrested two weeks prior to that, Nov. 15, and charged with malicious wounding and several other counts. He is being held in the Eastern Regional Jail as a pre-trial felon.
Sondra Lucht’s severe injuries resulted in her treatment in the intensive care unit at Johns Hopkins Bayview Hospital in Baltimore, Md.
Investigators are anticipating a medical examiner’s report from authorities in Maryland. That could conclude if her death was a direct result of her injuries.
“We are waiting for the medical examiner’s report back from Maryland,” Chief Gibbons said in an email to MetroNews reporters, adding that the result could be the addition of a homicide charge.
Besides the current malicious wounding charge, Carl Lucht also faces counts of robbery, resisting arrest, assault on an officer, battery on an officer and obstructing an officer.
A criminal complaint filed in Berkeley County indicates the incident that caused Sondra Lucht’s serious injuries occurred at her home several weeks ago.
That day, according to a narrative by responding officers, police were dispatched about 4:15 p.m. to a report of a domestic incident at the Martinsburg home where Carl Lucht lived with his mother. The responding officer, Patrolman T.S. Wright, wrote that he arrived and spoke with a pest control company employee who had been there to provide service and heard a voice yelling for help.
The pest control company worker conveyed that he “entered the home and found a woman lying on the floor, twisted up around a stand, crying in pain.”
The woman, Lucht, asked the worker to help her up and into a chair. “She stated that her son beat her up and stole her checkbook and left,” according to the criminal complaint.
Wright, the responding officer, then asked Sondra Lucht what had occurred, an interview that was recorded on the officer’s bodycam. Lucht said that “her son had thrown her across the room.
“She stated that she was on the bed and that he had thrown her from the bed into the wall in the living room,” the officer wrote. “I did observe a hole in the wall where she stated that she was thrown into. She stated that her son Carl wanted more money and she was going to give him some but he got angry and took her checkbook.
“Mrs. Lucht stated that on the floor at least three hours that she could remember. She also stated that she was unconscious at one point, but was not sure how long.”
The officer observed that Lucht had visible bruises on her arm and hand.
Sondra Lucht was transported to Berkeley Medical Center for further evaluation. Wright wrote that when he attempted to follow up, he was informed that she had been flown to The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md., to be treated in the intensive care unit.
Police actually had an encounter with Carl Lucht earlier that day that led to his arrest.
About 1:15 p.m. Oct. 15, the same patrolman was dispatched to the Rescue Mission in Martinsburg in response to a reported disturbance. The officer, Wright, along with a partner encountered Carl Lucht standing at the front doors.
The other officer, identified as Patrolman Everhart, asked Lucht to walk over to talk but said the man did not turn around. Another attempt to talk was rebuffed until finally, according to the criminal complaint, Carl Lucht responded with a crude insult. Everhart then went to detain him and “Mr. Lucht began to resist arrest by not placing his hands behind his back when told to.”
The officers then subdued Lucht and placed him in handcuffs.
While he was being processed at the Eastern Regional Jail, Lucht was uncuffed “and he picked up his wallet and threw it towards me and Patrolman Everhart. A card out of his wallet hit me in the shoulder and his wallet and went past Patrolman Everhart’s face.”
Sondra Lucht served in the state Senate from 1983 to 1994. She was a Democrat and stood out for being a female legislator chairing a Senate committee. The year she was elected, there were just three female senators. By 1990, there were seven women serving in the Senate.
“I cannot just be a senator. I am always a female senator. At first I resented that, but I think it is indicative of my era to be seen that way. I hope the next era will see men and women as senators regardless of their sex,” she said in a 1984 article about politics from a feminist viewpoint.
Lucht was a a teacher and school psychologist. She was a former state president of the National Organization for Women. Lucht was instrumental in establishing the women’s domestic violence shelter that has since been rebranded EPEC (Eastern Panhandle Empowerment Center).
She also was a prominent representative of the Eastern Panhandle at a time when the region had less political sway than it does now.
The current Senate president, Craig Blair of Martinsburg, said he was shocked to hear about what happened to Lucht. He praised her service to the region.
“She was a tireless advocate for education, children, and families, and served the Eastern Panhandle proudly. Her legacy of service will be remembered fondly. Our prayers are with her family and friends as they remember her life in the days ahead,” Blair said in a statement released by the state Senate.