People v. Laberge CA4/1

STATEMENT OF FACTS

The facts of the offense are exhaustively set forth in our prior opinion. We will not repeat them here given the issues presented in this appeal. We will incorporate the respondent’s summary of the facts for convenience and background. In 1994, Laberge dated Erin O’Connor, who had a fifteen-month-old daughter from a previous relationship with Kristi Anderson. Anderson and O’Connor shared custody of their daughter, and Laberge was jealous of Anderson. Laberge and O’Connor told friends that they planned to marry and move to Wyoming where they would raise O’Connor’s daughter. Laberge and O’Connor joked about killing Anderson. Around 6:00 p.m. on December 7, 1994, Anderson was shot and killed while near her parked car outside her home. Her daughter remained unhurt in the car’s child seat. A witness remembered seeing a white car parked near Anderson’s home shortly before the shooting and said there were two people sitting inside it who leaned back as if to avoid being seen. Laberge drove a white car, a Dodge Shadow, and Laberge routinely drove O’Connor to and from work or on errands because O’Connor did not have a car. O’Connor gave the police an alibi for the…