With $10 million of her assets already frozen, murder suspect Sheila LaBarre says she needs the $80,000 she was carrying when she was arrested so she can pay her lawyers.
LaBarre, 48, of Epping, also is asking a judge to suspend a $10-million attachment on her properties that a civil judge granted the family of her alleged victim, Kenneth Countie.
Countie's family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in Rockingham County Superior Court seven days after LaBarre's arrest on April 2, 2006. The judge granted an attachment that froze LaBarre's control over her properties, including a 115-acre horse farm in Epping. It was on that farm that Countie, 24, of Wilmington, Mass., lived with LaBarre for a short time before, as charged in her indictment, she killed him, dismembered his body and burned it just outside her home.
LaBarre, who was indicted on a charge of first-degree murder, is being held at the Strafford County Jail in Dover as she fights to maintain possession of the Epping farm. The farm was formerly owned by chiropractor Wilfred LaBarre, with whom LaBarre lived for several years until his death in 2000 at age 74.
Wilfred LaBarre left everything he owned to Sheila LaBarre in his will, a document that is being contested by his children.
Superior Court Judge Patricia Coffey has agreed to hear LaBarre's argument for freeing her assets in a hearing scheduled for April 26.
LaBarre's lawyer, Jeffrey Denner, said yesterday he believes his client has a right to access her own money, despite the pending criminal case. "They're needed to mount an effective defense," Denner said. "And we're pleased we're having a hearing on it."
He refused to say whether LaBarre's financial troubles could jeopardize his representation of her.
"We've filed our appearance in the case and it's our intention to bring this to trial," he said.
It's the second time LaBarre's legal team has asked for the funds to be released. Denner said the initial request may have been lost in the shuffle as LaBarre's case straddled state jurisdictions, district and superior courts.
On March 25, 2006, Epping police found a soot-covered LaBarre in front of her home, armed with a .38-caliber handgun. When police asked her where Countie was, she directed them to a Wal-Mart bag containing bone fragments. She was tending to what police described as a "burn pile" near her home, where officers spotted a 3<1/2>-inch long bone with soft tissue attached.
LaBarre was arrested April 2, 2006, on murder charges. She had a cashier's check for $50,000 and more than $33,000 in cash in her possession when she was arrested, a sign she was on the run, according to prosecutors.
But LaBarre said she had the money in order to hire a lawyer, according to a handwritten affidavit.
If her assets are unfrozen, LaBarre said she plans to pay for more than her lawyers.
"I also need the money to finance care of my animals and to maintain my mortgage," she added.
The cash and cashier's check are being held in the State Police Crime Lab in Concord, according to court records. Denner, LaBarre's lawyer, is arguing that police should be able to use photos of the money for purposes of the murder trial.
Prosecutors and the civil lawyer representing Countie's parents have not filed any objections to LaBarre's request.
In his request to the judge, Denner suggested that keeping the money from LaBarre could affect the outcome of her murder trial, now scheduled for March 2008.
"Without payments of the funds, she will be severely inhibited in marshaling her defense," Denner wrote in a court motion.
