Court Documents Released: Lafayette Prosecutors Outline Case Against Brandon Lavergne
LAFAYETTE, La. (KPEL) -- Documents filed Thursday in district court are providing an idea of what kind of evidence prosecutors have against Brandon Scott Lavergne, the man accused of murdering Lisa Pate and missing University of Louisiana at Lafayette student Mickey Shunick.
The Disclosure, Production, Notice to Defendant, and Request for State's Discovery, filed by Assistant District Attorney Keith Stutes, reveals police obtained a warrant in Plaquemines Parish in order to place a tracking device on Lavergne's Chevrolet Silverado. There was also an affidavit filed in Lafayette Parish for an order to install the tracking device.
Lavergne allegedly drove his truck to San Jacinto, Texas, some time after Shunick disappeared, burned it, then reported it stolen. He then bought a similar truck. The court filing indicates Lavergne tried to pay $500 to a Department of Motor Vehicles official so that he could get a driver's license without the sex offender notification. Lavergne is a Tier III sex offender stemming from a 1999 case in Evangeline Parish in which he was convicted of oral sexual battery.
Prosecutors believe Lavergne met Pate in 1999 in Lafayette Parish, persuaded or forced her to another location, then killed her. They say he then moved her body to another location with the "intent to distort the results of the criminal investigation of the first degree murder" of Pate. Prosecutors present similar information in connection with the Shunick case.
Lavergne also apparently made some type of oral confession or statement to at least 16 people, but there is no indication as to what those confessions or statements may have been.
Prosecutors are also seeking approval to display 8 X 10 photos of Pate and Shunick throughout the entire trial.
To view the complete court filing, click HERE.