After over a year the misdemeanor case of the mother of Club Q shooter Anderson Aldrich continues to be delayed due to her inability to receive mental health restoration treatment out of state, causing tensions to flare between attorneys in court on Friday morning. 

Laura Voepel, 46, is facing misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest and disorderly conduct after police told Voepel on Nov. 20, 2022 that her child, Aldrich, had been arrested in connection with a murder. 

Aldrich, who killed five people at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ+ nightclub in November, pleaded guilty to 51 charges and was sentenced to 2,208 years in prison as part of a plea agreement.

Voepel’s case has stalled significantly since she moved to Florida over the summer and mental health professionals found her incompetent to stand trial.

At Friday morning’s hearing Voepel’s attorney, Carrie Thompson, informed the court that issues regarding Voepel’s competency remained.

Due to Voepel’s residency in Florida — where she currently lives with her parents — she has been unable to receive mental health treatment services to help restore her to competency to allow the case to proceed, according to Thompson. 

Voepel’s inability to get restoration services in Florida has been an issue for several months now after being found incompetent to stand trial by a forensic psychologist last year. Prosecutor Andrew Vaughan has been insistent at the past several hearings that he believes the only way to have the case proceed is for the court to either mandate Voepel’s extradition back to Colorado, or to issue a warrant for her arrest. 

Thompson in past hearings has disagreed with the opinion of the prosecution, stating that Voepel should eventually be able to receive restoration services in Florida, but on Friday Thompson elevated her frustrations with Vaughan and the District Attorney’s Office. 

Thompson stated that she thought it was “appalling” that the prosecution continues to attempt to have a mentally ill woman removed from her home and taken back to Colorado, where Thompson alleges Voepel would be homeless, over a misdemeanor offense. 

“If this was in any other jurisdiction the prosecution would have dismissed this case. … They have a bias against her,” Thompson said, alleging that the prosecution only continues to pursue the case because Voepel’s child committed the Club Q mass shooting. “They want her arrested because she was yelling outside of her apartment.” 

Back and forth between the attorneys continued throughout the hearing, with Vaughan attempting to clarify that he wasn’t seeking a warrant to be issued against Voepel on Friday, and Thompson expressing more frustration over 4th Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen allegedly refusing to meet with her about the case. 

Ultimately, Judge Yolonda Fennick stated that she would not be requesting for Voepel to be returned to Colorado, but set for a new review date on Feb. 9 for updates regarding progress on her restoration services. 

Thompson told Fennick that she anticipates good progress to be made before the February hearing, with hopes that Voepel will be accepted to Medicaid by that time. 

Until Voepel is restored to competency, which Thompson has acknowledged in previous hearing may never happen due to the severity of her mental illness, her criminal case will be put on hold.