Killer's mother faces accessory charges
Paul Cherry , CanWest News Service; Montreal Gazette
Published: Tuesday, August 01, 2006VALLEYFIELD, Que. - The mother of murderer Kurt Lauder appears willing to challenge a charge she tried to help him cover up death of 16-year-old Shanna Poissant.
While Lauder, 23, pleaded guilty last week to second-degree murder for beating the Hemmingford, Que., teenager to death, his mother Suzanne Grosser-Lauder, 53, began the preliminary inquiry in her case Monday.
The accused, who is out on bail, did not appear to make eye contact with any of Poissant's relatives who took up most of the seats in the small courtroom.
Suzanne Grosser-Lauder leaves Valleyfield court Monday July 31, 2006 during her trial for accessory after the fact in her son, Kurt Lauder's murder of Shanna Poissant.
The Gazette/Marcos Townsend
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The inquiry will continue today and evidence heard has been placed under a publication ban.
Two witnesses, a Surete du Quebec investigator and a crime scene technician, testified Monday. A woman who lived near the accused took the stand Monday afternoon.
Quebec Court Judge Odette Perron was also given a list of 58 admissions agreed upon as evidence between the defence and the Crown.
Defence lawyer Pierre Morneau said it will be up to Perron to decide if the charge of being an accessory after the fact to murder was too harsh. A person convicted of the Criminal Code offence can face a life sentence.
''It is up to the judge, with the admissions she was given and the witnesses she has heard, if there should be a trial under the charge that was brought (against Grosser-Lauder) or other possibilities,'' Morneau said.
Kurt Lauder killed Poissant on July 11, 2005, inside his parents' home. He and his parents were arrested two weeks later and Lauder told investigators where they could find the victim's body.
His 62-year-old father, Ian, died in February while charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder.
Morneau said his client is going through a difficult time.
''Her husband died after a long illness and her son has pleaded guilty to murder. She is alone and it seems that the village (of Hemmingford) does not support her. She is a broken woman,'' he said.
''She had a normal life and now finds it is not normal.''
Sentencing arguments in Kurt Lauder's case begin in September.
Montreal Gazette
