By Stephen Dawkins

The Clanton Advertiser

 

CLANTON — A man charged with the rape and murder of a Clanton Walmart employee is expected to enter a plea Monday.

Clifford Wynn, 50, of Selma is scheduled to go before Circuit Court Judge Sibley Reynolds at the Autauga County Courthouse, said Jenny Hamilton, spokeswoman for Distict Attorney Randall Houston’s office.

Each of the charges carries a range of punishment of 10-99 years, or life in prison.

Wynn was arrested in December 2008 for the crimes but was released in August 2009 when a grand jury found evidence insufficient to warrant a formal charge.

Houston told The Clanton Advertiser in February that he asked the Autauga County Sheriff’s Office and the Alabama Bureau of Investigation to continue their investigation after Wynn was released.

New evidence emerged, Houston said, and Wynn was indicted by an Autauga County grand jury in February.

The victim, Patricia Gayle Lasserre, 53 at the time of her death, was last seen leaving Clanton Walmart at 8:21 p.m. on Dec. 18, 2005. She was traveling Autauga County Road 1 and was seven miles from her home at the time of her murder.

Wynn is being held in the Autauga Metro Jail on unrelated charges.