A Jefferson Parish judge on Friday (Aug. 31) sentenced Ivory Franklin II to a mandatory life sentence plus 40 years in prison, for his conviction of shooting an 18-year-old acquaintance in the back of his head as they walked along a Harvey drainage canal bank.
Franklin, 21, of Harvey, was convicted of second-degree murder in June of killing Reginald Black. He also was convicted as charged of attempted second-degree murder for trying to kill Black’s 15-year-old nephew, for which Franklin received the 40-year sentence.
After denying defense post-verdict motions and hearing impact testimony from Black’s mother, Judge Donnie Rowan of the 24th Judicial District Court ran the 40-year sentence consecutively to the life sentence.
Judge Rowan noted that after killing Black, Franklin fired indiscriminately at the fleeing 15-year-old without regard for the residents who lived nearby. “If you could, you would have taken out both parties in this case,” Judge Rowan said.
About 3 a.m., on May 5, 2016, the trio was walking along the canal bank behind homes on Windmere Court, just south of Post Street in the Woodmere subdivision, when Franklin shot Black with a revolver. Black, whom Franklin lured from his home that morning, never saw it coming, according to trial testimony.
Franklin then shot at the 15-year-old witness, who crossed through the canal water and to the first house he saw with lights on, according to trial evidence. The resident of that house called 911.
Franklin denied being the shooter and blamed the 15-year-old, whom he accused of horseplay with the pistol when it fired, striking Black. A Jefferson Parish jury rejected the defense assertion and convicted Franklin on June 9.
In a letter written to the court, Black’s mother noted that Franklin “was cold and calculated in his deed,” and that he “is the lowest of predator and should not participate in society again.”
Assistant District Attorneys Andrew DeCoste and Lynn Schiffman prosecuted the case.
