Patricia Currie of Mandeville was 75 when she turned up at the office of Keith Couture in October 2016, wearing latex gloves, plastic grocery bags on her feet and a shotgun hidden beneath a towel.
After a disagreement had almost led to the termination of their attorney, client relationship, Currie was accused of trying to murder her lawyer.
Attorney Keith couture had tried unsuccessfully a few weeks earlier to withdraw as the defendant’s counsel in a bankruptcy case.
Couture testified that he walked into the office alone to find Currie sat in the lobby with a towel placed across her lap..
‘When I approached her in my waiting room, I asked her what she was doing,’ he said, to which she allegedly responded, “I’m here to kill you”’.
‘She lifted up the gun, and the barrel came out from under the towel.’
Couture managed to wrestle the weapon away from Currie and called the Sheriff’s Office.
‘I grabbed the end of the rifle and pushed it away, and wrestled the gun away from her.’
Deputies found the gun was loaded and that she had four additional shells in her undergarments, as well as a box of ammunition in her car.

In a powerful victim impact statement on Friday, Couture said he could only think of his wife and children as he fought for his life, with his wife also saying the crime continues to haunt the family still, even three-years-on.

Judge Zaunbrecher settled on a 22-year sentence, citing the violent nature of the crime. However the evidence of a loaded firearm and the defendant’s lack of truthfulness, candor or remorse were mitigated by the fact that she had no prior convictions.
Letters written by Currie were also revealed in court, in which she wrote she understands why people ‘like blowing up buildings and opening fire on anybody & everybody,’ adding, ‘That’s the way I feel.’
If she serves the whole term, she’ll be 100 at its end.