A Swanton man pleaded not guilty Monday to first-degree murder after allegedly shooting and killing a man in downtown Swanton following a dispute over petting a dog.
James Mulholland, 22, is accused of shooting and killing Kyle Labelle, 32, who was unarmed, on Friday after an argument between the two men.
Mulholland told police he had been walking along Second Street with a few friends, when a dog ran toward them. He said Labelle followed the dog out toward the street and asked Mulholland not to touch his dog, thus sparking an argument, according to an affidavit written by Officer Kyle Gagne.
The affidavit notes that a video of the incident, recorded by a bystander, shows the pair arguing outside for a few minutes, at times getting in one another’s faces. At one point in the video, Mulholland said to Labelle “I’ll let you know right now, if you threaten to kill me again, I’ll put you six feet under.”
In an interview with police directly after the incident, Mulholland said that during the argument, Labelle was repeatedly threatening to “put him in the ground,” and at one point shoved him, causing Mulholland to back away. Mulholland said as he backed away, Labelle reached into his pocket, so Mulholland drew out his gun and held it behind his back. Mulholland said Labelle then proceeded to charge at him, so he shot him in self-defense.
However, police reported that the video did not show Labelle ever charging Mulholland, and rather showed him never even leaving his own property. The affidavit states that in the video, Labelle’s hand is obscured, so it’s unclear if he reached into his pocket, but police noted right before the shooting, Mulholland took approximately nine steps toward Labelle, and then proceeded to shoot him 11 times.
After the 11 shots, Mulholland reloaded his firearm, though he did not fire his weapon again.
Labelle was quickly taken to the University of Vermont Medical Center, but died in surgery later that day.
In addition to the murder charge, Muholland was charged with two other counts, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and reckless endangerment, both of which relate to the way the shooting might have endangered the other people on the street that day, of which there were several.
However, in Franklin Superior Court in St. Albans on Monday, Judge Scot Kline said he could not find probable cause for the aggravated assault charge based on the affidavit, but said that could be reevaluated if further evidence was brought forward.
He did, however, find probable cause for first-degree murder, despite the charge being unusual, with high standards that can be difficult to meet. The charge, in this case, required the shooting to be willful, deliberate, and premeditated.
Kline said the standards of “willful” and “deliberate” were met fairly clearly, but that “premeditated” was harder to prove. However, he said, because of the amount of time that passed during the argument, the nine steps that Muholland took before beginning to shoot, and the 11 shots he ultimately fired, the incident could be considered premeditated.
At the hearing, Mulholland’s attorney, Steve Dunham, argued that Muholland should be released on conditions pending trial. Mulholland’s mother appeared in court to testify that she was willing and able to supervise a 24-hour curfew for Muholland at her home during that period.
She said her son has ADHD, a developmental disability and an IQ of 57. He owned the gun for about eight months, and she had urged him to get rid of it several times. She told the judge she was worried about an incident exactly like this occurring, but said Mulholland didn’t listen to her concerns, insisting that owning the gun was his legal right.
Lawyers for the state, in response, asked for Mulholland to be held without bail, calling the incident a “very violent response to something that started out very minor.”
Kline said despite Mulholland’s disability and his lifelong residency in Swanton, the violence of the crime, which is punishable with a sentence of up to life in prison, ultimately led him to decide to hold Mulholland without bail, pending further hearings.
Mulholland will be evaluated for competency to stand trial, Dunham said.
