Ex-area pastor accused of trying to kill wife appears in court after extradition

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- Donald Lafferty on Monday made his first court appearance since being extradited from Massachusetts over the weekend.

Lafferty, a former pastor, is accused of paying a Dexter, Missouri, couple to burn his rural Bloomfield home and kill his wife.

He was arrested May 12 in North Andover, Massachusetts, and charged with attempted murder, armed criminal action, first-degree arson and financial exploitation of the elderly ($50,000 or more).

He appeared Monday for arraignment before Judge Joe Satterfield. Before an audience of only his two children, Jeff Lafferty and Karen Lafferty, he pleaded not guilty on all charges.

The case was set for a preliminary hearing at 2 p.m. June 19.

During the arraignment, Lafferty's attorney, Dan Moore, requested the court hear arguments regarding the motion to compel bond filed earlier in the day. Moore argued that he wanted Lafferty's children to testify in the hearing, since they both live out of state.

Lafferty's daughter, Karen Lafferty, of North Andover was the first to testify.

She said Lafferty had been living in her Queche, Vermont, condominium since October and has a pair of long-term health issues that could place him at risk in jail.

She said her father has Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. Until recently, the blood pressure was regulated with five medications.

In April, doctors in Boston implanted a renal stint to lower his blood pressure, and he has since been able to drop two medications.

"The understanding was that the doctors would monitor him closely and make adjustments as needed," she testified.

When asked if she would be willing to take full legal responsibility were he released, his daughter responded, "absolutely."

On cross-examination, Stoddard County Prosecutor Russell Oliver questioned her about the circumstances under which she learned of the accusations against her father.

"That was horrifying for me to read -- I imagine it was for him as well," she testified.

When he first learned of the charges and outstanding warrant, she asked him to come to her home because he was very upset, she explained.

"He was feeling sick," she said, noting that she had sent him to lie down. "I was very worried about his health."

While she had not discussed it with her father, she testified she was planning to turn him in to the local authorities in Massachusetts on May 13.

Oliver asked of her own and her father's reactions when they learned of the arrests of Christopher and Brandy Hicks, his alleged accomplices.

"We all felt relieved to learn it wasn't Mildred Lafferty who set the fire," she said of her former stepmother. (The senior Laffertys were divorced in October.) "I didn't talk to my dad much that day. I regret that."

She testified that Lafferty said he knew the two people who were arrested from his church and that his church had taken donations for them in the past.

As she shared his story of what he was doing at the time of the January 2013 fire, Judge Satterfield interrupted the proceedings, informing them both that they were not to be communicating.

Satterfield said Lafferty was shaking his head "no" while his daughter was answering the questions, as if to give her prompts.

She reiterated that the family had all along suspected his wife, Mildred Lafferty, of having set the fire, citing her "suspicious behavior" around that time. She also questioned whether children living near the home could have set the fire.

At the conclusion of her testimony, her brother, Jeffrey Lafferty, was called to the stand.

He also stated his willingness to take his father in, should the court choose to allow bond.

Lafferty's son said he has lived in Virginia his entire life, but feels his father would be better off with his sister so he could be near his doctors.

While he said he had spoken very little with his father about his relationship with the Hicks couple, he viewed them as people his father was trying to help.

"I'm sure he was trying to save their souls," he said. "I think the fire was vindictiveness over the fact that the charity had stopped."

He said his father had arrived in Virginia to visit him May 9, and at that time had learned of the questioning of the Hicks in Missouri.

Throughout the evening of May 9, Lafferty received phone calls during which no one was speaking.

Oliver asked if he would be surprised to learn that Donald Lafferty had spoken to Brandy Hicks that very night. He also asked if the son would be surprised to learn that Hicks had two vehicles with Lafferty's name on the titles.

After the testimony concluded, Moore noted Lafferty's "impeccable record" and the fact that family members are willing to guarantee that he will be available for court.

Because the motion was filed the day of the hearing, Oliver requested additional time to be able to present his own witnesses. Satterfield allowed the request and the prosecution's testimony will take place today.