Afterword

When the trial was over, those closest to the case began to think more philosophically about what happened in Epping. Could the murders have been prevented?

If Kenneth Countie had been a savagely beaten woman in her twenties, and Sheila LaBarre a man in his forties, would Sergeant Sean Gallagher have reacted differently when he encountered the pair at the local Wal-Mart? Many believe he would have—that gender prejudice allowed Kenneth to be murdered. As Jeffrey Denner put it, “If this was a man doing this to a woman, police would have been there in a second.”

Sergeant Gallagher was asked about this and said he didn’t feel comfortable answering the question while an appeal was under way.

Another question: was Sheila’s trial constitutional? In America, where we are presumed innocent until proven guilty, can the burden of proof ever be on the defense, even during a sanity trial?

An appeal filed by the defense on July 10, 2008, called for a new trial for Sheila on the grounds that pretrial publicity should have necessitated a change of venue, that a defense expert witness (former FBI criminal profiler Mark E. Safarik) was not allowed to testify, that evidence gathered at Sheila’s farm before a search warrant was issued was allowed in, and that no juror who was paying attention could have rationally determined that Sheila was sane.

In addition to the appeal, state police sources said that the case was technically still open because one set of remains found at the farm remained unidentified.

Separate lawsuits filed against Sheila by Kenneth Countie’s parents and the children of Wilfred LaBarre are still pending.

During March 2009, Countie’s family filed suit against the Epping Police claiming breach of duty caused Kenneth harm and contributed to his death. Named in the suit were Chief Dodge, Detective Cote, Lieutenant Wallace, and Sergeant Gallagher. The suit stated that Cote and Gallagher knew of Sheila’s penchant for hurting people on March 17, 2006, when they encountered her at Wal-Mart pushing a sickly and wheelchair-bound Countie. Given those circumstances, the suit said, the police “had a duty to provide protection” to Countie “from the domestic violence of Sheila LaBarre when the signs of her abusing him were apparent.”