Murder Charges Dismissed

Pierce County prosecutors have dismissed charges against a man judged too mentally ill to stand trial for the 1991 slaying of a Tacoma woman.

Deputy Prosecutor Mike Johnson said the charges of aggravated murder and assault against Larell Lane Jr. were dropped, but he intends to ask a judge to commit Lane to a state mental hospital indefinitely.

Johnson said he dropped the charges Tuesday because the court had held Lane at the mental hospital for as long as allowed without proceeding with prosecution. He will remain in custody while the civil commitment case is pending.

Lane has been held at Western State Hospital since a jury declared him mentally ill three years ago and placed him in the hospital for an indefinite stay.

Mental health professionals there say Lane still harbors delusions about what happened Sept. 28, 1991, when prosecutors contend he broke into 73-year-old Esther Zitzman’s home near Tacoma Community College.