CONCORD — In light of the conviction of a Claremont Police officer for falsifying evidence, the New Hampshire Attorney General, Gordon J. MacDonald and New Hampshire State Police Colonel Christopher J. Wagner conducted a review of an earlier case, in which the officer, Ian Kibbe, shot and killed a Claremont man, Cody Lafont. On Tuesday, the AG’s office released an amended conclusion to the Lafont case, stating it “can no longer conclude Mr. Kibbe’s actions were justified.”
However, the AG’s office also concluded it could not disprove Kibbe’s claim he acted in self-defense, and so no criminal charges will be filed against Kibbe related to Lafont’s death.
However, the conclusion opens the door for the family to file a wrongful death lawsuit in civil court, which they did this week. The suit names Kibbe, Claremont Police Capt. Brent Wilmot and the Claremont Police Department as defendants and alleges they failed to protect Lafont, who had a history of mental health issues and was know to the department for multiple calls to 911.
Former Claremont Police Corporal Ian Kibbe was convicted in 2018 of two crimes relating to the gathering of evidence: falsifying evidence and obstructing government administration. Kibbe and another officer were called to a possible domestic violence scene, where Kibbe conducted a search without a warrant and found weapons in the suspect’s belongings. The other officer later reported the misconduct.
Kibbe’s shooting of Cody Lafont, which took place in 2016, was unrelated. After an extensive investigation into Lafont’s death, the AG concluded that the evidence supported Kibbe’s claim that he shot Lafont in self-defense.
On Sept. 25, 2016, Kibbe responded to 53 Congress St. in Claremont after several 911 calls to the police from Cody Lafont, who lived there. Kibbe later told authorities that after he arrived, Lafont was standing at the front door holding a handgun. Kibbe said he ordered Lafont to drop the gun but instead, Lafont stepped towards him and moved his gun. Kibbe testified that he feared for his life, and so fired his service weapon three times, fatally wounding Lafont. There were no witnesses to the shooting.
The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office and the New Hampshire State Police investigated the circumstances surrounding the shooting and issued a detailed report on Oct. 19, 2016. It concluded Kibbe’s actions were legally justified, in that he acted in self-defense.
After Kibbe was convicted in December 2018 of falsifying evidence, the Attorney General’s Office reviewed the earlier crime. The review reexamined all the evidence, taking into account all of the information gathered during the 2018 investigation into Kibbe’s unrelated crimes. That review turned up no new information or any significant discrepancies between Kibbe’s statements concerning the shooting of Lafont and the evidence gathered in 2016.
In addition, Dr. Marilyn Miller, a nationally recognized expert in crime scene reconstruction, was retained to review the 2016 shooting incident. Miller concluded “the crime scene investigation was done in an effective manner” and that the physical evidence at the shooting scene was generally consistent with Kibbe’s statements about the incident.
Kibbe was sentenced to serve 90 days of a 12-month sentence in December 2018, after pleading guilty to two misdemeanor charges of unsworn falsification and one count of obstructing governmental administration.
