This story by Alex Ebrahimi was first published in the Valley News on Oct. 1, 2026.
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — One of three individuals involved in a botched robbery turned fatal shooting in Hartford has been sentenced to six to 10 years, suspended to six months in prison with 10 years of probation.
Jeffrey Mullins, 47, was arrested along with Michelle Mullins, 49, and the alleged gunman, Demetrius Drew, 31, of New Haven, Connecticut, in connection with the death of David Labrecque, 65, of Canaan, New Hampshire, who was shot and killed outside a home on Verna Court on Aug. 21, 2025.
Labrecque died to save the life of his girlfriend, Jessica Lemay, who survived but suffered gunshot wounds to the hand and abdomen. To this day, Lemay, who planned on marrying Labrecque, has a bend in her ring finger as a result of the attack.
“(Labrecque) was the hero that day,” Lemay told the court at Jeffrey Mullins’ sentencing hearing in Windsor Superior Court on Thursday. “Since the shooting, my life has been permanently altered.”
On top of her physical injuries, Lemay said in her statement to the court, she struggles to cope with psychological trauma which is “not in the past, it’s ongoing.”
Both Mullinses were initially charged with aiding in the commission of first-degree murder, which carries a penalty of up to life in prison, and a charge of accessory to attempted assault and robbery, with a penalty of up to 10 years.
Both Mullinses are now avoiding those potential penalties.
In a November 2025 plea agreement, Jeffrey Mullins agreed to plead guilty to felony accessory to attempted assault and robbery, with a sentence of six to 10 years suspended to six months and 10 years of probation.
On Thursday morning, Windsor Superior Judge Elizabeth Mann accepted and ordered the sentence, which also includes around three months of credit for time already served.
Michelle Mullins admitted guilt to the same lesser charge in a May plea agreement, also stipulating a sentence of six to 10 years suspended to six months, but with 12 years of probation.
For Lemay, the punishment doesn’t fit the crime.
“It’s insane that you get more time in the state of Vermont for drugs than you do for being involved in not only murder, but an attempted murder of a second person,” Lemay said.
The state has agreed not to refile the dismissed charge of aiding in the commission of first-degree murder for both Mullinses unless they fail to comply with court-sealed cooperation agreements ahead of the trial of the alleged gunman, Demetrius Drew.
“The state recognizes that (the plea agreements don’t) capture the harm caused,” said prosecutor Nicholas Battey, in response to Lemay’s victim impact statement. “Of course, the person the state is charging with killing David Labrecque and almost killing and seriously traumatizing (Lemay) is Demetrius Drew.”
Lemay’s anger, Battey added, is understandable and “appropriate,” but he said the state’s objective is to seek the “maximum justice it can for the person most responsible for the harm.”
“It just seemed an unacceptable risk to not get the cooperation of the co-defendants in this case,” he said, justifying the plea deals.
Jeffrey Mullins’ defense attorney, Jordan Handy, assured the court that his client is determined to help with the conviction of Drew.
“From day one, as soon as this all occurred, (Mullins) was immediately wanting to participate in putting Demetrius away behind bars and make sure that that is the end result here, because that is nothing that my client was ever interested in being involved in,” Handy said.
In a statement of his own to the court, Jeffrey Mullins expressed remorse over the incident.
“I couldn’t be more sorry,” he said. “Not a day goes by where I don’t regret everything that happened.”
While one ongoing case of three comes to a close with Mullins being transported in handcuffs to Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield on Thursday, Lemay said the wounds inflicted in August 2025 remain open.
“Every time this case is brought up, I’m revictimized,” she said in her statement at the beginning of Mullins’ sentencing.
The scheduling of Jeffrey Mullins’ presentence investigation, which culminates in a report prepared by a probation officer detailing a defendant’s criminal history to assist a judge in final sentencing, had been delayed due to his prior incarceration in New Hampshire in Grafton County Jail in connection with a separate misdemeanor criminal trespass case from March 2023.
Michelle Mullins, whose change of plea hearing was also previously delayed, is scheduled for a sentencing hearing on Nov. 13 at 9 a.m.
Drew is not expected to go on trial until next year. In July, he wrote to the court requesting a new arraignment and bail hearing and the impeachment of a witness due to perjury.
“I have to carry the full weight that the system hasn’t finished addressing,” Lemay told the court Thursday.
She said she has been forced to relive the incident over and over, leaving her “drained and empty.”
“My entire world flipped upside down in a matter of two minutes and they all three had a part in it,” she said. “But that doesn’t matter, does it?”
