BIDDEFORD — A jury has sided with prosecutors, finding Lorenze Labonte killed a man two years ago who he didn’t want hanging out with his younger sister.

Labonte, 27, was found guilty of murder on Wednesday in the death of Ahmed Sharif on Nov. 24, 2023. Sharif, 27, was staying with Labonte’s sister at their mother’s apartment in Biddeford when prosecutors say Labonte, wearing gloves and a mask, shot Sharif and then fled to New Bedford, Massachusetts.

The jury reached its verdict after about three hours of deliberation — almost immediately after jurors asked the court to replay a garbled recording of a call Labonte, now 27, made from jail, in which he says his 10-year-old sister “told on me.” The girl had told police that Labonte was at their apartment before the shooting and told her to leave because of an argument he was having with his other sister, 18-year-old Ariana Tito.

Labonte was silent until the jury left the courtroom. As he was being taken away, he shouted, prompting one of Sharif’s relatives to shout back, despite a warning from the judge beforehand that they remain calm. 

“I have been impressed that you have treated this court with respect during this trial,” Superior Court Justice James Martemucci told Labonte before the verdict. “I just ask you to do your very best to use appropriate decorum.”

Several court marshals escorted Sharif’s family to the parking lot and waited for them to drive away.

Sharif’s family was grateful for the jury’s verdict, his brother said in a written statement Wednesday night. He said they were offended by Labonte’s actions in court.

“He murdered my brother and still found a way to mock our pain right there in court,” Badr Sharif wrote. “I have no mercy for him. I hope he never breathes free air again. That kind of evil shouldn’t get another chance. And still even after all that, I looked at his mother and felt something. I don’t know what it was, but no mother deserves to watch her child turn into that.”

Labonte’s attorney, Verne Paradie, said they were “disappointed by the verdict.”

“This is a very young man, and obviously this will affect the rest of his life. I’m certain he’s quite upset,” Paradie said after court.

The defense team called no witnesses. Labonte declined to testify and chose not to let the jury consider a manslaughter charge, which could have entailed a lesser sentence. His sentencing will be scheduled at a later date. He faces 25 years to life in prison. Paradie said they plan to appeal the verdict.

Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Ackerman suggested that Labonte believed Sharif had given a friend’s sister drugs, leading to her overdosing, and that Labonte was upset Sharif was spending time with Tito.

“He took Ahmed Sharif’s life — for what?” Ackerman said in closing arguments Wednesday morning. “For street cred for his best friend? To show his sister that what he said means business? To protect her from this man … who he claims somehow hurt his best friend’s sister? He doesn’t get to decide who lives and dies. He doesn’t get to decide who is worthy of this life, because he cannot control the people in his life.”

Paradie had told the jury he felt the evidence was purely circumstantial. The prosecution’s videos and testimony only place Labonte at the scene, and the jury never heard anyone testify that they saw Labonte shoot Sharif.

In closing arguments, Ackerman shared Snapchat messages with the jury that she said showed Labonte and Tito were fighting about Sharif an hour before the shooting. Using someone else’s Snapchat account, Ackerman said, Labonte confronted Tito about a picture she uploaded that showed Sharif in her bedroom.

“He shouldn’t have even been allowed in there,” Labonte wrote.

“I can have who I want in my room,” Tito replied.

“He wants to control what his sister is doing. She’s not having it,” Ackerman argued. “And what does he do? He puts a mask on his face, a hoodie on his body, he puts gloves on his hands, and he arms himself with a .45 caliber firearm.”

Labonte then called a few friends and asked them to drive him to Biddeford, Ackerman said, citing testimony from two men last week. She replayed surveillance camera videos from other homes near the Biddeford apartment, which showed a gray Chevy Equinox pull into the apartment’s driveway. A man with his face covered then gets out of the car and approaches the house.

The videos don’t clearly identify who the man was, nor do they capture the shooting, but, Ackerman said, the man approaches the home “like he owns the place” — suggesting this was not a stranger, as one friend testified that Labonte instructed him to tell police.

Tito also told police the shooter was a short, unnamed man. Ackerman suggested she was protecting Labonte. Tito, who is serving an eight-year sentence for shooting Labonte’s ex-fiancée, did not testify in her brother’s trial.

Before the verdict, Paradie scrutinized Ackerman’s theory and questioned why police didn’t fully investigate Tito as a suspect or other potential leads. Paradie said the police zeroed in on Labonte, suffering from “tunnel vision,” and that investigators failed to explore all of the forensic evidence, including testing various items for Labonte’s DNA.

The case’s lead detective testified Tuesday that such DNA evidence wouldn’t be reliable in this case, because Labonte had previously lived at the Biddeford apartment and they would have found his DNA there regardless.

This story has been updated.