A Shawnee couple made a court appearance Monday and pleaded not guilty in the murder case of William Van Note, who was shot and stabbed in his home at the Lake of the Ozarks in October 2010.
Desre Lechele Dory, 42, and Stacey Nicole Dory, 43, of the 7100 block of Quivira Road, are charged with second degree murder and forgery.
The indictments, which had been under seal, charge each of them with helping Van Note’s daughter, Susan Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Van Note forge a power of attorney document purporting to give Liz Van Note authority over medical decisions regarding her father.
William Van Note died in a hospital in Columbia four days after he was attacked. Prosecutors allege Liz Van Note, who is charged with first degree murder and forgery, ordered the denial of life-sustaining medical treatment for her father.
The Dorys were arrested in Kansas and extradited to Missouri, where they waived formal arraignments in Boone County Circuit Court.
William Van Note’s longtime companion, Sharon L. Dickson, was also shot and killed in the home that night. Charges in her death have not yet been filed.
Attribution:
Shawnee couple pleads not guilty in Van Note murder case
September 17, 2012
KansasCity.com
http://www.kansascity.com/2012/09/17/3820233/shawnee-couple-pleads-not-guilty.html
Additional coverage:
Kansas couple pleads not guilty in Camden County murder
Brennan David
September 18, 2012
Columbia Daily Tribune
http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2012/sep/17/couple-arraigned-camden-county-murder/
A Shawnee, Kan., couple extradited to Boone County pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges of forgery and second-degree murder in connection with their alleged roles as accomplices in the 2010 death of a Camden County man.
Stacey N. Dory, 43, and Desre’ L. Dory, 42, are charged in a Boone County indictment. Both were being held in the Boone County Jail after their arraignment, with bonds set at $250,000 each.
Court documents do not indicate the nature of the Dorys’ relationship to Susan Elizabeth “Liz” Van Note, who was indicted on charges of first-degree murder and forgery in Boone County. Court documents allege she shot her father, William Van Note, 67, in October 2010 at his home in Sunrise Beach and also forged his signature for power-of-attorney rights to deny him life-sustaining medical treatment at a Columbia hospital after he was shot.
Camden County Prosecuting Attorney Brian Keedy claimed life support for William Van Note was withdrawn as a result of the alleged forgery.
The charge of forgery against Liz Van Note, a Lee’s Summit attorney, coincides with an alternative charge of second-degree murder, which means Keedy could instead pursue a second-degree murder charge by alleging William Van Note’s death was the result of the act of a felony — in this case, felony forgery.
In the charges against Stacey and Desre’ Dory, Keedy claims the couple assisted Liz Van Note in creating a “durable power of attorney for health care” for William Van Note and “witnessing” the incident. Missouri secretary of state online records indicate Liz Van Note is a registered public notary, but the Dorys are not. Officials in Kansas say neither Liz Van Note nor the Dorys are certified public notaries.
Keedy indicated such a legal document would require an attorney such as Liz Van Note to create the legal document, a public notary and two witnesses. Keedy would not confirm whether Liz Van Note created the document, acted as the public notary or both.
William Van Note’s longtime companion, Sharon L. Dickson, 59, also was shot and died as a result of her injuries. Charges concerning her death will be filed in Camden County, not Boone, Keedy said.
Liz Van Note last week pleaded not guilty in Boone County Circuit Court. She is being held in the Camden County Jail so she is separated from her co-defendants, Keedy said.
Attorneys representing the Dorys declined comment.
Van Note pleads not guilty to father’s murder
September 10, 2012
LakeNewsOnline.com
http://www.lakenewsonline.com/news/x1298141126/Van-Note-pleads-not-guilty-to-father-s-murder
William B. Van Note, 67 and Sharon L. Dickson, 59 died after suffering from gunshot wounds they received inside of a Sunrise Beach residence in October 2010. Dickson was pronounced dead at the scene. Van Note was transported to a hospital and underwent treatment for his injuries.
Despite multiple gunshot wounds that would claim his life three days later, when William B. Van Note struggled to make a 911 call to report he and his companion has just been shot at his Sunrise Beach home, he was described as calm by investigators who have listened to the tapes trying to piece together the events of Oct. 2 that left two people dead and no witnesses.
The 911 call led Camden County deputies to Van Note’s home on the lake’s westside shortly after 11 p.m. on Saturday night. When deputies arrived, they secured the area in case the shooter might still be in the house or nearby. Investigators have declined to say what Van Note may have said on the phone or what evidence deputies found to lead them to that conclusion.
The body of Sharon L. Dickson was found in the home’s upstairs master suite. Van Note was found nearby, and it was evident he had been trying to offer aid to Dickson, according to CCSD Capt. Gary Bowling, who is also the public information officer for the Lake Area Major Case Squad, which has been called in to help with the investigation.
The couple had been seen returning home around 5 p.m. earlier that evening. No one in the neighborhood reported hearing anything that evening prior to be awakened by sirens and dogs barking.
There was evidence that the couple had planned to leave for Florida on Sunday. Neighbors described them as snow birds who generally left the lake area during the winter months, Bowling said.
During the days after the incident, 20 investigators tracked down as many as 100 leads, interviewing people who knew Van Note and Dickson, canvassing the neighborhood and processing the home and its contents. Earlier that week, divers had been asked to search the area in front of the home near the 9-mile mark. Bowlings said that is standard procedure.
By Thursday, Bowling said, investigators had completed their work at the home and had released it. The home in the Sunrise Beach area is one of three Van Note is believed to have owned. Van Note was an accountant from the Kansas City area. Dickson had owned a flower shop before retiring. Van Note and Dickson had apparently been companions for several decades.
According to court documents, Susan Van Note is being charged with allegedly committing forgery. The court is claiming that on or about October 4, 2010, in Boone County, Van Note “with purpose to defraud, transferred with knowledge or belief that it would be used as genuine a writing, namely a Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care of Williams B. Van Note, knowing that it had been authenticated so that it purported to have been made by authority of one who did not give such authority.”
Documents also allege that Van Note either acted alone or with others to commit murder in the first degree by “shooting him and by transferring a forged Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care of Williams B. Van Note purported to have been signed and executed by William B. Van Note to deny him life sustaining medical treatment.”
Susan Van Note is an attorney in the Kansas City area. Two accomplices, Desre and Stacey Dory, of Johnson County, were also arrested and charged with second degree murder and forgery. The Dorys were referred to as friends of Susan Van Note. Charges have not been made in connection with Dickson’s murder at this time.
Estate of Denial® provides news, analysis and commentary on abusive practices occurring in probate courts and via probate instruments (wills, trusts, guardianships, powers of attorney). We provide original perspective to educate the public regarding this growing threat to both individual freedoms and property rights.