Woman, 78, gets 22 years for attempted murder of lawyer

COVINGTON, La. (AP) — A 78-year-old Louisiana woman has been sentenced to 22 years in prison for trying to kill her attorney.

Patricia Currie of Mandeville was 75 when she raised a loaded shotgun toward Keith Couture in 2016.

District Attorney Warren Montgomery said in a news release Friday that she was sentenced Thursday.

A St. Tammany Parish jury convicted Currie in August of attempted second-degree murder, which carries a minimum sentence of 10 years.

Couture testified that Currie arrived when he was alone, and he found her with a towel across her lap. When he asked why she was there, she said she had come to kill him, showed him the shotgun under the towel and raised it, but he wrestled it away.

Currie testified that she was just trying to scare Couture.