Jury begins deliberations in Biddeford murder trial
Lorenze Labonte, 27, is charged with murder in the killing Ahmed Sharif on Nov. 24, 2023. Sharif, then 27, was staying with Labonte's sister at their mother's apartment in Biddeford when prosecutors say Labonte, wearing gloves and a mask, shot Sharif and then fled to New Bedford, Massachusetts for the evening.
Labonte's attorneys called no witnesses. Labonte declined to testify and chose not to let the jury consider a manslaughter charge, which could have entailed a lesser sentence. If convicted by the jury, Labonte faces 25 years to life in prison.
A prosecutor suggested Wednesday that Labonte believed Sharif had given a friend's sister drugs, leading to her overdosing, and that Labonte was upset Sharif was spending time with Labonte's 18-year-old sister, Ariana Tito.
"He took Ahmed Sharif's life — for what?" Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Ackerman said in closing arguments. "For street cred for his best friend? To show his sister that what he said means business? To protect her from this man ... who he claims somehow hurt his best friend's sister? He doesn't get to decide who lives and dies. He doesn't get to decide who is worthy of this life, because he cannot control the people in his life."
Labonte's attorney Verne Paradie reminded the jury his client can only be found guilty if it's "almost certainly true" from the evidence that Labonte shot Sharif.
But that evidence is purely circumstantial, Paradie said. The prosecution's videos and testimony only place Labonte at the scene, and the jury never heard anyone testify that they saw Labonte shoot Sharif.
"It's not that he 'possibly' did it, or 'perhaps' he did it. ... It's not even 'probably' he did it," Paradie said. "That's not enough."
In closing arguments, Ackerman shared Snapchat messages with the jury that she said showed Labonte and Tito were fighting about Sharif an hour before the shooting.
Using his then-fiancée's Snapchat account, Ackerman said Labonte confronted Tito about a picture she uploaded that showed Sharif in her bedroom.
"He shouldn't have even been allowed in there," Labonte appeared to write in the message.
"I can have who I want in my room," Tito replied.
Ackerman also played recorded jail calls in which she said it appears Labonte is referencing Sharif and his belief about the overdose.
"He wants to control what his sister is doing. She's not having it," Ackerman argued. "And what does he do? He puts a mask on his face, a hoodie on his body, he puts gloves on his hands, and he arms himself with a .45 caliber firearm."
Labonte then called a few friends and asked them to drive him to Biddeford, Ackerman said, citing testimony from two men last week. Ackerman replayed surveillance camera videos from other homes near the Biddeford apartment, which showed a gray Chevy Equinox pull into the apartment's driveway. A man with his face covered gets out of the car and approaches the house.
The videos don't clearly identify who the man was, nor do they capture the shooting, but Ackerman said the man approaches the home "like he owns the place" — suggesting this was not a stranger, as one friend testified that Labonte instructed him to tell police.
Tito also told police the shooter was a short, unnamed man. Ackerman suggested she was protecting Labonte from detectives. Tito, who is serving an eight-year sentence for shooting Labonte's ex-fiancée, did not testify in her brother's trial.
Paradie scrutinized Ackerman's theory and questioned why police didn't fully investigate Tito as a suspect or other potential leads. Paradie said the police zeroed in on Labonte, suffering from "tunnel vision," and that investigators failed to explore all of the forensic evidence, including testing various items for Labonte's DNA.
The case's lead detective testified Tuesday such DNA evidence wouldn't be reliable in this case, because Labonte had previously lived at the Biddeford apartment and they would have found his DNA there regardless.
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