RivCo Woman Accused Of Execution-Style Slaying To Collect More Than $1 Million In Life Insurance

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Jury deliberations resumed Monday in the trial of a Moreno Valley woman accused of fatally shooting her 56-year-old husband to collect more than $1 million in life insurance proceeds.

Lorraine Alison Hunter, 61, could face the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder with special circumstance allegations of lying in wait and killing for financial gain in the 2009 execution-style slaying of Albert Thomas.

Following nearly two weeks of testimony at the Riverside Hall of Justice, the prosecution and defense made closing statements Thursday, after which jurors deliberated about an hour before going home for the weekend.

Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Will Robinson's key witness was Hunter's now-23-year-old daughter, Briuana Lashanae Hunter, who confessed to plotting with her mother to kill Thomas.

Briuana Hunter pleaded guilty last year to three counts of attempted murder and one count of voluntary manslaughter. She's slated to be sentenced to 18 years in state prison after her mother's trial concludes.

The young woman, who's being held without bail at the Indio Jail, testified that her stepfather was a "calm, quiet person," who was "never overly aggressive" in the seven years that she and her mother lived with him in Moreno Valley. The witness stated that he held down two jobs -- one as a short-haul trucker and another as a clerk at a Moreno Valley Auto Zone.

Hunter said her mother frequently argued with Thomas about not having enough money to spend. According to a trial brief filed by Robinson, the elder Hunter was "money hungry" and not interested in holding down a job to contribute to the household.

According to the witness, she aided her mother in filling out at least three life insurance applications, naming her stepfather as the insured party and Lorraine Hunter as the principal beneficiary. The elder defendant forged Thomas' name on each application, her daughter alleged.

Hunter took out a $750,000 policy, as well as a $10,000 policy, Robinson said. Thomas additionally had a $450,000 policy through the trucking company for which he worked, according to court papers.

The trial brief alleged that in the two months before he was gunned down, Lorraine Hunter attempted to shoot Thomas three times -- twice on walks through their neighborhood in the area of Day Street and Eucalyptus Avenue, and another time outside the victim's workplace. Briuana Hunter admitted being present on each occasion. "I did what my mother told me to do," Hunter testified. "She said we needed to get rid of him. I felt hurt and confused. He was the only father figure I knew. But I never questioned her because she was my mom and ... I was loyal to her first." On the evening of Nov. 3, 2009, Thomas and the defendants left their apartment and went walking to his big rig, where he wanted to grab a sweatshirt that he had bought for his then-15-year-old stepdaughter, according to testimony. The three of them climbed into his truck, and Thomas ducked into the rear sleeper compartment to find the shirt, while Hunter and her daughter sat in the front seat. Robinson alleged that Lorraine Hunter pulled a small-caliber handgun she'd stolen from an elderly member of her church and shot the victim point- blank in the back of the head twice, then shot him twice in the upper back as he knelt in the compartment. He died, and his body froze, in a kneeling position. The case went cold for two years, but according to court papers, investigators got a break when Briuana Hunter's cousin, identified only as "Shaniece," was arrested for shoplifting and confessed to picking up the defendants at the murder scene moments after Thomas was killed. Lorraine Hunter is being held in lieu of $1.5 million bail at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside.— By Bay City News Service / Image via ShutterstockThanks for your feedback! Now share it with your friends!Thanks for your feedback. Originally published August 21, 2017.