Children of Man Who Claimed to Have Been Sleepwalking When He Killed His Wife Say She was Abused

The children of the Texas man convicted of shooting his wife six times and killing her while claiming he was sleepwalking are speaking out. 

Raymond Lazarine, 67, pulled the trigger six times on his wife of 35 years, Deborah, then called his son Nathan in 2013. A Houston jury recently found him guilty and sentenced him to 75 years in prison and ordered him to pay a $75,000 fine.

His son, Nathan, recalls the night of the shooting, telling Inside Edition, “What he made me find when he called me and I had to go to their house was something that changed my outlook on life. It changed who I am inside."

His kids thought their father's sleepwalking defense was “ridiculous.” They said they “never believed it for a moment. Never once saw him sleep walk. Ever!”

Deborah's daughter, Krysta Johns, says her mother suffered silently through decades of domestic abuse.

"If she was on the phone with anyone, he'd get angry and she'd have to get off the phone, " she said.

According to Nathan, "She was a different person when she was away from him, totally!" Added Krysta, "She was bubbly and happy and vivacious and that's why nobody thought that she was suffering like she was at home."

The shooting occurred in the middle of the day, which promoted many to question the sleepwalking defense. Lazarine's attorney, Feroz Merchant, told Inside Edition, “people sleep at various times of the day and one can go to sleep during the day so I don't think that's really an issue."

Lazerine shot his wife in 2013, but it took six years to reach a trial. The delay was caused by the defense conducted two extensive sleep study tests to try to prove he walked in his sleep. Attorneys also called on four inmates who served time with Lazarine to testify that he was a sleepwalker. 

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