A week after he was convicted of fatally shooting a Kenner man in front of his mother’s home, Albert “Wayne” Cox was sentenced Wednesday to a mandatory life sentence in prison plus another 15 years of incarceration.
Cox, 38, a former Kenner resident, received the additional 15-year sentence for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, for using a .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol to kill Cornel Woods.
Woods, 42, died from a gunshot wound to his chest he received on Oct. 7, 2015, as he stood outside his mother’s home in the 900 block of 27th Street. Earlier that day, Cox confronted Woods over a woman, calling him “a bitch” and threatening to pistol whip him.
That evening, a friend of Woods’ saw Cox walking up 27th Street toward Woods’ home, according to trial testimony. Moments later, the friend heard three gunshots and saw the muzzle flashes.
Cox fired three bullets. One struck a truck, another flattened a car tire. The third fatally wounded Woods.
Cox fled to an eastern New Orleans motel, from where he admitted to two cousins in separate telephone conversations that he killed Woods, leading the Kenner Police Department to obtain a warrant for his arrest. Cox admitted the same to another cousin.
Two days after the homicide, the U.S. Marshal’s Service Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force located and arrested Cox outside the bus station in Baton Rouge.
Cox was barred from possessing firearms because of his criminal history. According to the bill of indictment, Cox’s relevant convictions were for distribution of cocaine, possession with intent to distribute marijuana and possession of cocaine, all of which occurred in Jefferson Parish. Cox was on parole for those offenses at the time he killed Woods, having been released from state prison in May 2015. He was to remain under state supervision through January 2018, according to the Kenner Police Department.
A Jefferson Parish jury deliberated about an hour on April 12 in finding Cox guilty as charged of both counts. Life in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence is the mandatory punishment for second-degree murder in Louisiana.
Judge John Molaison of the 24th Judicial District Court, who presided over the case, denied post-conviction motions for acquittal and a new trial. Judge Molaison ran the sentences consecutively.
Assistant District Attorneys Rachel Africk and Douglas Rushton prosecuted the case.
