Court Documents Filed Show Details About the Murders of Lisa Pate and Mickey Shunick

Documents have been filed in court today in the case of the State of Louisiana versus Brandon Scott Lavergne.  Within the documents is information that will likely be divulged during Lavergne’s trial in connection with the murders of Lisa Pate and Mickey Shunick.

Assistant District Attorney Keith Stutes filed a “Disclosure, Production, Notice to Defendant, and Request for State’s Discovery”.  In the document, Stutes outlines what information is available to Lavergne’s attorneys.  It also details investigation details of the two murders.

Perhaps the most telling piece of the document is the section which declares that prosecutors plan on seeking the death penalty for both murders.  Claims are made in the filings that the murders were committed “in an especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel manner”, and that Lavergne is guilty of “knowingly killing two or more persons” in separate incidents.

It is also stated that the prosecution plans on displaying photographs of the victims at the trial.  The images will not be larger than eight by 10 inches, but they will be introduced into evidence and displayed for the length of the trial.  The thought behind this is that the victims are entitled to be present at the trial.

The District Attorney’s Office also outlined what they think happened during the murders of Pate and Shunick.  The court filed this piece of information, and claims it is factual: On the estimated date of July 3,1999 Lavergne met Lisa Pate in Lafayette Parish.  Allegedly Pate was persuaded or forced to another location by Lavergne.  At this location she was forced to “engage in non-consensual acts, and/ or inflicted physical injury, and/or sexual abuse upon Lisa Pate.”  It is said that Lavergne then killed pate and moved all evidence, including the body, “with the intent to distort the results of the criminal investigation.”

In the case of the murder of Mickey Shunick, details are far less concrete.  Though the District Attorney’s Office does claim the following as fact: Some time near the date of May 19, 2012, Lavergne seized Mickey Shunick and carried her to another location and refused to release her.  It is alleged that Lavergne then “forced her to engage in non-consensual acts, and inflicted physical injury and/or sexual abuse”.  Much like Pate’s case it is said that Shunick was murdered, and all evidence including her body and belongings were moved to distort the results of a criminal investigation.

The state also claims in the documents that after Lavergne murdered Shunick, he brought his truck to another state, and intentionally destroyed it.  This was to further the distortion of the criminal investigation.  The truck was found on May 31, 2012, the same date which Lavergne is accused of providing a false vehicle theft report and a fraudulent insurance claim.  Lavergne purchased an identical truck on June 4, 2012 in Lafayette.  He then altered his identification to hide the “sex offender” label, even going so far as to bribe a Department of Motor Vehicles worker $500 to print a license without the label.