Man Charged With Murdering Missing Student May Face Death Penalty

Brandon S. Lavergne, 35, is charged with murder in the May 19 disappearance of Mickey Shunick and the 1999 death of Lisa Ann Pate.

Prosecutors say they're seeking the death penalty for a registered sex offender accused of murdering two women in Louisiana.

Brandon S. Lavergne, 33, is charged with murder in the May disappearance of 22-year-old Michaela "Mickey" Shunick, as well as in the 1999 death of Lisa Ann Pate. Lavergne is also suspected of moving both bodies, according to the Associated Press.

Shunick, a 22-year-old anthropology major at the University of Lousiana, was last seen around 2 am on May 19, bicycling home after visiting a friend. Authorities believe that Shunick was murdered, though her body has not yet been found.

In July, Lavergne was arrested and charged with aggravated kidnapping and murder after police identified him as the driver of a pick-up truck that had tailed Shunick.

In surprising development, prosecutors also charged him with murdering 35-year-old Pate, who was reported missing 13 years ago and later found buried beneath boards in a field.

Now, state prosecutors say they are planning to seek the death penalty against Lavergne, according to documents submitted on Thursday. Prosecuting attorney Keith Stutes also intends to establish that the defendant has a pattern of criminal behavior, KLFY reports.

After being convicted of oral sex battery in 1999, Lavergne allegedly attempted to conceal his sex offender status on multiple occasions.

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Miami Man Convicted Of Murdering Briton Paul Winter

A man has been convicted of shooting his ex-wife's British husband in front of her children.

Jurors in the US were told by Cristobal Palacio's 10-year-old daughter that he had "smiled" as he shot 42-year-old Paul Winter, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, in October 2008, according to the Miami Herald.

Mr Winter died in front of his wife, Jennifer, and her twins, who were six years old at the time, after being shot six times, including twice in the back, at Palacio's home in Kendall, Miami, Florida, the paper said.

Palacio denied murder, claiming he had shot Mr Winter in self- defence, and told the jury sitting at Miami's Gerstein Justice Building that the graphic designer had threatened him with a gun on two occasions.

But the court hear that Mr Winter had been unarmed at the time and had driven with Mrs Winter to Palacio's home to deliver the children for a court-arranged access visit. Mr Winter's wife said her husband did not own a gun, the Herald said.

A ballistics expert told the court that, based on Mr Winter's wounds, the gun Palacio used could have only been fired from 3ft away, the report added.

The jury also heard that the bullets which entered Mr Winter's back were contact wounds, meaning he had to have been against a hard surface when he was shot, according to the paper.

Palacio was charged with the more serious count of first degree murder but jurors convicted him of second degree murder which carries a minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life without parole under Florida law, BBC Kent said.

Palacio, who worked as a fraud investigator for Citibank for more than 25 years, was also convicted of two counts of child abuse, as a result of his children having witnessed the shooting from a van parked near their father's home, according to the Herald.

The court was told that Mr Winter had moved to Miami and married his killer's ex-wife a year earlier. At the time of the shooting, a divorce settlement agreement was being finalised, the paper said.

Mr Winter, who has a child in the UK from a previous relationship, was in the process of applying for US residency and the family had planned to set up a bed and breakfast business, jurors heard.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Leon M Firtel will sentence Palacio next week.

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