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By
D.C. Witness Staff
- March 12, 2019
Court
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Daily Stories
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Homicides
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Suspects
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Victims
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The father of a victim who was allegedly shot to death by his wife took the stand March 11 to inform the jury about his son’s character. However, a judge struck part of the father’s response from the record.
Dianna Lalchan
Christopher Lalchan
Dianna Lalchan is charged with first-degree murder while armed for allegedly shooting her 36-year-old husband, Christopher Lalchan, in the Carrollsburg Condominiums located on the 1200 block of 4th Street, SW in 2013. Dianna, 33, is claiming self defense. D.C. Witness reported earlier that she said she endured an abusive marriage.
DC Superior Court Judge Ronna Beck struck the father’s statement about how his son dealt with conflict. The statement was removed from the record after the defense objected to the father’s characterization of Christopher as a man who solves problems by walking away from a situation and returning when things calmed down.
There were areas of the father’s testimony that did not coincide with evidence in the case. For example, the father told the jury that he didn’t encourage the use of guns, proclaiming that he didn’t like guns and didn’t allow his children to play with toy guns. The father said he only knew of one gun, a keepsake, that his son owned.
However, photographs of the Lalchan’s front door show two gun stickers and the victim’s father said that both Christopher and Dianna were in a gun club.
According to a supervisor with the Department of Forensics Sciences, there were multiple guns and more than a thousand rounds of ammunition in the apartment along with a tactical vest. Apparently, Christopher aspired to be a police officer.
Christopher was fatally shot in the back of the head. Several photos of the crime scene show him laying face down in the hallway in a puddle of blood.
“My husband was getting violent,”Dianna told the 911 dispatcher. “I should’ve filed a restraining order before.” Dianna told the dispatcher that she shot her husband and asked for the police.
Even though Dianna told the dispatcher that her husband was getting violent, a neighbor said he didn’t hear a fight or argument between Dianna and Christopher before hearing the three gunshots.
“I think I recall gunshots pretty well,” the neighbor said. “I recall the pause. There was a break there.”
According to the supervisor, three shell casings were recovered — one on the bed, one next to the victim’s body and another one in the hallway of the apartment next to the couple’s office.
Dianna is released on personal recognizance. The trial is scheduled to continue with the supervisor’s testimony on March 12.
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