BRENTWOOD - Sheila LaBarre, accused of murder, said she went on a "Cherokee burning rage" when she destroyed the body of a mentally disabled man living at her home, according to newly released court documents.

LaBarre, 49, waived her right not to speak to police before making the comment during an interview at the Epping police station last year.

In a separate interview with Epping police Chief Gregory Dodge, LaBarre "was allowed to take one of her rabbits in a cage with her to the interview," according to the documents. "As they were walking out of the house, (LaBarre) removed a loaded firearm from her jacket pocket and handed it to Dodge."

The odd interactions with police occurred while authorities were trying to find out what happened to Kenneth Countie, 24, who was living with LaBarre at her 115-acre horse farm in Epping before he was allegedly beaten, killed and apparently cremated by LaBarre in front of the house.

Countie's family described him as mentally disabled and pleaded with police to check on his well-being after they lost touch with him in late February 2006.

Defense lawyers are trying to get these statements and other evidence tossed out as they mount an insanity defense for LaBarre, which has never been successful at trial in New Hampshire. LaBarre faces a charge of first-degree murder in Rockingham County Superior Court.

During one of several visits to her home, police said they found an ash-laden LaBarre sifting through burn piles in front of her house, court documents say. LaBarre later told Dodge and Epping police Lt. Michael Wallace that Countie's remains could be found inside a plastic Wal-Mart shopping bag near one of the burn piles, according to the documents.

"She told Wallace that it will take a DNA specialist to determine if Countie was in the Wal-Mart bag and indicated that she had been sifting through the burnt material and found human teeth," the documents say.

LaBarre first told police she was burning a "rabbit," then "a pedophile" when they questioned her about what was being burned with a bed mattress. Police later found in the mattress a piece of what they said they believe was Countie's arm.

In a court affidavit, LaBarre said police had no right to search her home and she was frightened by one officer who pointed a rifle at her.

"I was scared by their presence, the manner they asked me questions, and the fact that they had broken into my home and were pointing a rifle at me," LaBarre wrote.

Prosecutors deny such an incident ever happened.

Defense lawyers said they also would like to question witnesses who saw a sickly looking Countie being pushed around a local Wal-Mart by LaBarre while she shopped for diesel fuel tanks, which she stacked on his lap, court documents say. The store visit happened days before Countie's remains were found.

One witness told police, "Countie looked like he should have been in a hospital. His face was green and had multiple scrapes and bruises all in different stages of healing. He was humped over in the wheelchair and she kept asking him if he was going to faint," according to the documents. Those witnesses have not been named.

Judge Tina Nadeau, who has recently taken over the case, will decide what kind of evidence LaBarre will be able to test or challenge at two hearings, Oct. 11 and Nov. 13. The defense would like to contest some of the DNA and scientific tests prosecutors are relying on for the trial.

Before those questions are answered, Nadeau will first have to decide whether LaBarre can keep her high-profile legal team. The defendant is asking Nadeau to allow Jeffrey Denner and his associates to become her court-appointed lawyers.

LaBarre said she needs to be declared indigent by the court because of the $10 million civil attachment from a wrongful death lawsuit by Countie's family. LaBarre recently lost a bid to recover $85,000 in cash and checks that police seized from her when she was arrested April 2.

Denner could not be reached for comment. If Nadeau denies LaBarre's request, then a team of public defenders would be brought in to defend her. But such a request would likely mean the trial would not go forward in March 2008.