Post updated at 12:29 p.m. Monday, March 2:
Douglas County prosecutors have dropped the case against a man charged with fatally stabbing his friend at the former North Lawrence camp for people experiencing homelessness.
Julius Robert Beasley, 42, was set to face a jury trial for a first-degree murder charge in connection with the Feb. 22, 2024 death of Crystal Marie White. White was found dead in her tent near 100 Maple St. on her 51st birthday.
“A thorough review of the transcripts of the preliminary hearings, witness statements collected at the time of the murder, the forensic evidence available, and the potential unavailability of certain witnesses led the State to conclude that the admissible evidence is ethically insufficient to proceed to trial,” the Douglas County district attorney’s office announced in a news release Monday.
“This decision is not a reflection on the quality of the diligent and thorough work done by the Lawrence Police Department or the cooperation of witnesses and family,” the release continued.
Don’t miss a beat … Click here to sign up for our email newsletters
Click here to learn more about our newsletters first
In a motion to dismiss the case, Senior Assistant District Attorney Eve Kemple asked the judge to dismiss the case “at the State’s costs without prejudice as there is currently insufficient evidence for the State to comply with its ethical considerations to prosecute cases only when admissible evidence is sufficient to support a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Support local news
Please subscribe to support The Lawrence Times so we can keep doing this work.
Beasley’s defense team of Angela Keck and Branden Smith had filed multiple motions to dismiss the case based on issues with witness statements, evidence collected or not collected from the scene, evidence of a potential alternative perpetrator and more.
During Beasley’s preliminary hearing, multiple witnesses testified to seeing White and Beasley interact playfully prior to White’s death. The two had reportedly been friends for years.
Paramedics who were called to White’s tent testified that they didn’t see as much blood as they normally do in stabbing cases. It wasn’t until they were taking her clothes off to attempt lifesaving measures that they realized she had puncture wounds.
A medical technician had pulled a latex glove from White’s throat, and a KBI report said DNA tests on the glove found a partial DNA haplotype that could have come from Beasley or a close male relative.
“It’s very weak evidence,” Smith said during the October 2024 hearing. “You really just have a glove. The state’s not met its burden.”
Brent Turvey, a forensic criminologist hired by the defense, produced a crime scene analysis and a supplemental report detailing follow-up interviews that Lawrence police detectives conducted with people who had lived at the camp with White and others.
Medics did not observe evidence of anything obstructing White’s airway when they arrived at the scene, and “there is no evident source of Black Nitrile Gloves at the scene, other than those brought and worn by Forensic Medical personnel,” according to Turvey’s report.
Turvey’s report states that detectives told a potential alternate suspect the name of a witness who had told police the alternate suspect had confessed to murdering White. It also states that there was DNA evidence from an unknown man found on White’s clothing, and that the DNA had not been submitted for comparison to alternative suspects or the CODIS database.
In addition, “Numerous witnesses identified during the defense investigation reported the existence of multiple surveillance cameras aimed at the unofficial unhoused encampment, aka ‘Tent City’, where the victim’s body was ultimately found,” the report states. “None of the recordings for these reported surveillance cameras have been provided to the Defense.”
Turvey’s report also says White’s body was not located at the primary crime scene but had been dragged there. There was no blood evidence to indicate that White had been killed in the tent, according to the report.
The DA’s news release asked people who have information about the case to call 785-843-8477.
Beasley, who had been in custody of the Douglas County jail since his arrest a few days after the murder, was expected to be released Monday.
Read more background in the articles linked below.
If local news matters to you, please help us keep doing this work.
Don’t miss a beat — get the latest news from the Times delivered to your inbox:
Click here to learn more about our newsletters first
Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
Related coverage:
Andrea Albright/Lawrence Times
Andrea Albright/Lawrence Times
Latest Lawrence news:
Logan Pierson / Lawrence Times
Maya Smith/Lawrence Times
