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Case involving Club Q shooter’s mom dismissed by court

The misdemeanor case of the mother of Club Q shooter Anderson Aldrich was dismissed on Tuesday due to her ongoing competency issues, more than two years after charges were first filed.

Laura Voepel, 47, was facing misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest and disorderly conduct after police told Voepel on Nov. 20, 2022, that her child, Aldrich, had been arrested hours earlier in connection with the Club Q mass shooting.

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

In June, Aldrich was sentenced to an additional 55 concurrent life sentences and 190 years in prison while accepting a plea agreement in the federal case, which included 74 charges. Notably, the possibility of the death penalty was voided by the plea agreement.

Last week at a review hearing Voepel’s attorney filed a motion to dismiss due to reports from competency evaluators that Voepel is incompetent to proceed and may never be restored to competency.

Voepel’s misdemeanor case lasted for more than two years because of findings by mental health professionals that she was incompetent to proceed and in need of restoration treatment.

Prosecutor Andrew Vaughan objected to the motion to dismiss at the hearing last week, arguing that Voepel’s evaluations and restorative treatment in Florida have not met the standard of Colorado law, and that Voepel remains a danger to the community.

Vaughan had argued since Voepel’s move to Florida last year that her absence had caused the case to stall, and had requested in the past to have her transported back to Colorado.

Despite the objections to the dismissal last week, and a request from Vaughan to have Voepel’s evaluator appear via Webex to testify, no prosecutors appeared to Tuesday’s hearing to argue against the dismissal of the case.

With no presence from the prosecution, the hearing lasted for just over one minute before Judge Yolonda Fennick dismissed the case.

At the hearing last week Fennick stated that ahead of the hearing she was looking at the portion of the Colorado statute that allows for dismissal of cases due to incompetency findings in which the high charge is a level two misdemeanor, such as Voepel’s.

Voepel appeared to Tuesday’s hearing virtually from Florida. She no longer faces criminal charges in the state of Colorado.

A picture of Anderson Aldrich and Laura Voepel, Aldrich’s mother, inside Club Q in August 2021. (Via preliminary hearing evidence display)
A picture of Anderson Aldrich and Laura Voepel, Aldrich’s mother, inside Club Q in August 2021. (Via preliminary hearing evidence display)


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