Luyster Jr. found not guilty for murder

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The son of a convicted triple-murderer was found not guilty in his own murder trial after he killed his stepfather in apparent self defense.

On Aug. 9, a jury convened in Clark County Superior Court unanimously ruled Brent Luyster, Jr. not guilty on a charge of second-degree murder. Luyster had been charged after his stepfather, Luther Moore, was found dead at Moore’s apartment in Amboy on  May 25, 2021.

According to a probable cause affidavit for Luyster’s arrest, he had stabbed Moore after Moore had beat him with a broom. According to The Columbian, Luyster’s defense attorney Michele Michalek told the jury Luyster was a “scared little boy dealing with a brute man in a drunken rage attacking him with a stick.”



When he took the stand, Luyster claimed self defense in the encounter, The Columbian reported. After about two-and-a-half hours, jurors released their unanimous verdict.

When the verdict was issued, Luyster was released from custody. He had been jailed since his arrest.

Luyster is the son of the man with the same name who was convicted in December 2017 of three counts of first-degree aggravated murder, attempted first-degree murder and first and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm. Those charges stemmed from the shooting of Joseph LaMar, Janell Renee Knight and Zachary David Thompson following a July 15, 2016, incident in Woodland.