Bio

Aua Lauti was born on June 18, 1954. Texas Department of Criminal Justice records list his state as American Samoa and identify him as Samoan. He later lived in Texas and worked in landscaping before entering the Texas prison system. His prison record listed him as 31 years old at the time of the offense and 32 years old when he was received by Texas prison authorities in September 1986. Before the murder of Tara Lauti, Aua Lauti already had a violent criminal record. During the punishment phase of his Texas capital murder trial, jurors heard that he had been convicted in Hawaii in 1975 for first-degree rape. Evidence in that prior case showed that the victim had also been beaten while Lauti was under the influence of inhalants. Jurors also heard that in 1981, he threatened motorists and a Honolulu police officer with a machete while reportedly under the influence of paint.

By December 1985, Lauti was in Harris County, Texas. Court records state that he went to the home of his uncle, who lived with his wife and four young children. The children were Lauti’s cousins. When Lauti arrived that evening, witnesses said it was obvious that he had been drinking. After visiting with his uncle, he said he was going home, but he later drank more alcohol. The court record states that by the end of the evening, he had consumed at least two twelve-packs of beer and four quarts of malt liquor.

Lauti later returned to his uncle’s home and either fell asleep or pretended to sleep in one of the bedrooms. His uncle found him there and drove with two of his older daughters to Lauti’s parents’ home, hoping that Lauti’s relatives would come and remove him from the house. When the family returned, Lauti was gone. Tara Lauti, his 9-year-old cousin, was also missing.

Murder Story

On the night of December 18–19, 1985, Aua Lauti went to the home of his uncle in Harris County, Texas. His uncle lived there with his wife and their four young children. Lauti was related to the children as their cousin. According to the court record, Lauti appeared intoxicated when he arrived. After spending time at the house, he said he was leaving, but he later returned and either slept or pretended to sleep in one of the bedrooms.

After finding Lauti in the bedroom, his uncle left the home with two of his older daughters and drove about four miles to Lauti’s parents’ house. He wanted Lauti’s family to come and get him. When the relatives returned to the house, Lauti was no longer there. Tara Lauti, the uncle’s 9-year-old daughter, was also missing.

Lauti’s parents and brother began searching for him. They eventually found him several miles away. After they questioned him, Lauti led them to the place where Tara had been left. Tara was found covered in mud, bruised and bleeding on her face, and partly unclothed. She was taken back to her father’s house, where it was determined that she was dead.

The medical evidence showed that Tara died from severe injuries. The court record states that she suffered a skull fracture, asphyxiation caused by strangulation, and a crushed chest. Any one of those injuries could have caused her death.

After his arrest, Lauti was advised of his legal rights and gave a written statement to authorities. That statement was later presented to the jury. In it, Lauti admitted that he abducted Tara from her home after knocking her unconscious by hitting her in the head with his fist. He said he placed her in his car. When she regained consciousness while he was driving, he knocked her unconscious again by striking her with an empty quart malt liquor bottle.

Lauti then took Tara to a field. According to the court record, he carried her into the field, struck her in the chest, removed part of her clothing, sexually assaulted her, attempted to rape her, struck her again, and strangled her with his hands for about five minutes. He then left her in the field.

In September 1986, Aua Lauti was convicted of capital murder committed during the course of aggravated sexual assault and kidnapping. After the jury convicted him, the case moved to the punishment phase. Prosecutors presented evidence of his earlier violent criminal history, including the 1975 Hawaii rape conviction and the 1981 machete incident involving motorists and a Honolulu police officer.

The jury answered Texas’s capital sentencing special issues in a way that allowed the death penalty. The trial court sentenced Lauti to death. His conviction and sentence were later reviewed on direct appeal, and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and death sentence.

Lauti later filed state and federal habeas appeals. One major issue involved whether the jury instruction about intoxication improperly limited the jury’s ability to consider his intoxication as mitigating evidence. A federal district court initially granted relief, but the Fifth Circuit reversed that decision in December 1996. The Fifth Circuit held that the intoxication instruction did not violate Lauti’s constitutional rights and denied habeas relief.

Aua Lauti was executed by lethal injection in Texas on November 4, 1997. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice lists him as executed offender number 140, death row number 843, age 43, from Harris County.