WOODLAND HILLS—On February 4, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office announced that a 25-year-old woman will stand trial for the fatal shooting of her mother.

 Laura L. Purviance is facing one count of murder with a special circumstance allegation of lying-in-wait following a preliminary hearing presided by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Kellogg, states a press release from the District Attorney’s office.

The lying-in-wait allegation is a special circumstance under the California penal code that makes this a potential death penalty case. Prosecutors will decide later whether to seek the death penalty.

“The lying-in-wait charge refers to testimony heard at the preliminary hearing which outlined how the defendant retrieved a gun from her boyfriend’s house while her mother waited in the car,” said Public Information Officer, Ricardo Santiago, to Canyon News.

The defendant later asked her mother, 61-year-old Caroline Purviance, to go into the room rented at a Woodland Hills home and had her mother wait while facing away from the bathroom. The defendant then shot her mother in the back of the head, killing her on impact. The suspect testified to all this in court during the preliminary hearing.

“Laura Purviance pleaded not guilty today [February 18] at her arraignment and she remains in custody,” said Santiago.

Santiago could not comment on any motive, but did say the mother was found dead by a roommate in the Woodland Hills home where the defendant lived. Stephanie Cuevas informed Canyon News that “The world may see her as a monster or killer, but in my opinion she is a nice person.”

There will be a bail motion hearing on March 5 to review her current bail which has been set at $2 million.