Judge Halts Michaud Letters
Jan. 9, 2002
OAKLAND —A woman accused of helping her boyfriend sexually assault and kill a young Pleasanton woman was ordered Tuesday to stop sending letters to a relative in violation of a court order.
From her jail cell, Michelle Michaud has sent four letters to the young Sacramento woman through another family member, deputy district attorney Angela Backers told Judge Larry Goodman on Tuesday.
That violates a Sacramento court order barring Michaud from having any contact with the woman, Backers said.
An attorney for Michaud said she was unaware of the order and would stop sending letters. The content of the messages was not disclosed.
Michaud and James Daveggio are accused of abducting Vanessa Lei Samson, 22, from a Pleasanton street in December 1997. Police believe the woman was raped in the back of a van as the couple drove to Lake Tahoe, strangled, then dumped in an Alpine County snow bank.
Opening statements in their trial are scheduled to begin Jan. 22.