Former Principal Accused Of Killing Husband For Life Insurance Due In Court

Feb. 11--A former elementary school principal charged with murder in her husband's shooting is due in court Friday for a hearing to determine if attorneys are prepared to proceed to trial later this month.

Leslie Chance, 52, faces a life term in prison if convicted of the first-degree murder charge filed against her.

Chance was first arrested days after the body of Todd Chance, 45, was found the morning of Aug. 25, 2013, in a field off a dirt section of Noriega Road near Enos Lane.

She was released days later when prosecutors requested further investigation on the part of sheriff's investigators. Detectives rearrested her in December 2016, and she's been held without bail ever since.

Prosecutors say Chance and her husband arrived in the field in Todd Chance's Ford Mustang, and she shot him. She then abandoned the car in a southwest Bakersfield neighborhood before getting home by using a taxi and walking, court documents allege.

She denied leaving her house the morning of her husband's death, documents said, but surveillance cameras captured her at multiple locations as she made her way home.

Chance stood to receive $250,000 from her husband's life insurance policies, the documents said. It's alleged she learned about criminal investigative techniques and tried to cover her tracks through information she gained after attending a "CSI" exhibit in Las Vegas about two months before the killing.

She was principal at Fairview Elementary School at the time of the slaying.

On Wednesday, a man charged with gunning down three people in 2010 will be in court for a hearing regarding his competency to stand trial.

Tokunbo Okuwoga, 30, shot dead three people inside a Bakersfield house to eliminate witnesses against him in connection with a beating and attempted robbery case, according to authorities.

Those killed in the 2010 shootings were Felipe Juarez Bravo Jr., 21, Bravo's live-in girlfriend, Daina Caraveo, 22, and Bravo's father, Felipe Palacio Bravo, 43.

Okuwoga faces 14 charges, including three counts of first-degree murder.

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