Year: 2016

Man pleads guilty to indecent behavior with 7-year-old Metairie girl, gets 10 years

On the morning after his 8-year-old victim testified against him, a former Metairie resident pleaded guilty as charged on Thursday (Aug. 11) to two counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile under age 13 in exchange for a 10-year prison sentence.

Eric Fontenelle, 53, who more recently resided in Abita Springs, also will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life after he is released from prison, 24th Judicial District Court Judge Glenn Ansardi ordered in accepting the negotiated plea agreement.

Fontenelle admitted that he inappropriately touched the then 7-year-old girl near her genital area outside her clothing on Oct. 5 and again on Oct. 6 in a Metairie home. Afterward, he told her, “If you tell anybody about this, I’m going to spank you,” prosecutors told the Jefferson Parish jury.

The victim disclosed Fontenelle’s behavior to her stepfather on Oct. 19, leading the family to notify the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. The child repeated her description of what happened to a road deputy, a sex crimes detective, the Jefferson Children’s Advocacy Center and Children’s Hospital.

She also repeated the description on Wednesday evening for the jury. Her testimony Wednesday evening apparently was a factor in Fontenelle’s decision to plead guilty.

Fontenelle had access to the child and was in a position of trust with her family. The abuse and betrayal has left turmoil in the victim’s home, the child’s mother said in an impact statement that was read aloud in court on Thursday.

“You have taken my little girl’s innocence away, something she will never get back,” the mother wrote. “It may be over today, but we still have a long healing process ahead of us!”

Before Thursday, Fontenelle’s criminal history included convictions of narcotics-related offenses. In addition to sex-offender registration, Fontenelle will be under state supervision for the rest of his life after he completes his prison sentence.

While the crimes happened in Metairie, Fontenelle provided the court with an Abita Springs address for his residence.

Assistant District Attorneys Rhonda Goode-Douglas and Marko Marjanovic prosecuted the case.

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‘I’ll keep you in my prayers,’ beating victim tells burglar at plea hearing

The third of three men accused in a Metairie residential burglary during which a 61-year-old woman was brutally beaten admitted his guilt on Wednesday (Aug. 10) and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Ronald Bowman, 38, of Marrero, pleaded guilty as charged to aggravated burglary for his role in the Oct. 14 crime in the 3500 block of Bissonet Drive. Bowman and two cohorts went to the residence posing as workers and then forced their way inside, knocking the woman to the ground.

At least one of the men beat and kicked her, causing injuries that required hospitalization. After a Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy entered the Bissonet Drive home in responding to a 911 call, Bowman ran out the back door but was captured blocks away.

Although Bowman pleaded guilty, he denied physically attacking the woman. The assertion prompted 24th Judicial District Court Judge Stephen Enright to warn Bowman that he could withdraw the guilty plea and proceed to trial. Bowman moved forward with the plea.

The victim’s son, John Herrin, told Bowman in impact testimony that his mother was frail and unable to defend herself against the attackers.

“You could have killed my mother, and you’d be looking at a lot more than 15 (years in prison),” Herrin testified. “You should feel remorse and sorry for your actions.”

He said his mother remains traumatized by the attack. “She’s a strong woman,” Herrin said. “She’ll bounce back. … My mother holds no resentment toward you. I don’t hate you.”

Bowman nodded in agreement with Herrin and afterward expressed remorse. “I truly want to apologize to the nice lady,” Bowman told the court.

The victim sat in the front row in the courtroom’s gallery. “God bless you, and I’ll keep you in my prayers,” she told Bowman.

Bowman replied, “God bless you, too.”

The victim offered similar blessings to Bowman’s two codefendants, Allen Narcisse and Terry McCall. Both men have expressed remorse for their actions.

Narcisse, 38, of Kenner, whom the victim is certain beat her, was sentenced on Monday to 20 years in prison. He pleaded guilty last month to aggravated burglary, aggravated assault on a police officer and resisting arrest by force or violence.

McCall, 29, of Westwego, pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary and was sentenced to 15 years in prison on March 17.

Bowman, who already is confined to a state prison, appeared in court for a pretrial motion hearing on Wednesday. The guilty plea was unexpected.

Eight days after the crime, Bowman pleaded guilty in the 24th Judicial District Court to an unrelated narcotics charge. He received a five-year prison sentence, which he is serving at the River Correctional Center in Concordia Parish, from where he was transported on Wednesday to the Jefferson Parish courthouse in Gretna.

Assistant District Attorney Angad Ghai prosecuted all three cases.

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‘God bless you, baby,’ beating victim tells her attacker who gets 20-year sentence

Allen Narcisse of Kenner brutally beat a 60-year-old Metairie woman in her home last year. He admitted as much last month, when he pleaded guilty as charged to being one of the three men who brazenly forced their way into the victim’s residence intent on committing a burglary.

On Monday (Aug. 8), Narcisse appeared in a Jefferson Parish courtroom to receive his 20-year prison sentence, as his victim, now age 61, and some of her family members looked on. Narcisse, 38, whose mother knows the victim, beat the woman, causing severe injuries before he went on to injure a Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy in an attempt to escape.

The victim’s son, John Herrin, told Narcisse during his impact testimony on Monday that what he did “was reprehensible and almost without forgiveness.”

“You took advantage of a 60-year-old woman, who couldn’t even defend herself,” Herrin testified, disclosing her mother’s myriad medical woes that include rotator cuff problems that limited her ability to raise her arms and a pacemaker that helps keep her heart beating.

“You beat her,” Herrin testified. “What kind of man does it take to do something like that? How would you like it if someone did that to your mother?”

Narcisse pleaded guilty as charged on July 21 to aggravated burglary, aggravated assault on a police officer and resisting arrest by force or violence. His sentencing hearing was postponed to Monday, to allow the victim and her family to be present to provide impact testimony.

Narcisse, who was able to post a bond and temporarily gain his release from custody last week, asked Judge Stephen Enright of the 24th Judicial District Court to postpone the sentencing further, “so I can spend a couple of days with my kid.”

Judge Enright denied the request. “It’s time for this matter to be brought to an end,” the judge said.

Narcisse and two cohorts went to the woman’s home on Bissonet Drive about 11:20 a.m., on Oct. 14, carrying a chain saw and wearing work gloves as they announced they were there to for a job. When the victim told the men she needed no work, they forced their way inside. Narcisse, a 200-pound construction worker, beat her.

A neighbor called 911, and Deputy Stephen Bowman was the first officer to arrive. He encountered Narcisse, who at first told the deputy he lived there. As Deputy Bowman attempted to take Narcisse into custody, Narcisse resisted, broke away and fled in a Chevrolet Tahoe, dragging the officer a short distance.

Narcisse led other deputies on a chase that ended in the 5400 block of Veterans Memorial Boulevard, where he surrendered in a business’s parking lot.

A second suspect, Terry McCall, 29, of Westwego, was captured hiding in the home. He pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary and was sentenced to 15 years in prison on March 17. The third defendant, Ronald J. Bowman, 38, of Marrero, awaits trial.

Herrin urged Narcisse to use his time in prison “wisely.” “You hurt my mom, you hurt my family,” Herrin told Narcisse. “For that, I’m pretty upset. How would you like it if someone did that to your mom?”

Narcisse then was sentenced to 20 years for the aggravated burglary, 10 years for the aggravated assault with a motor vehicle on Deputy Bowman and three years for resisting arrest. The sentences were run concurrently.

Narcisse also pleaded guilty to being a double offender, but the sentence remained 20 years. Noting he recognizes 20 years to be “a lengthy sentence,” Judge Enright told Narcisse he’ll be in his late 50s when he’s released from prison.

“I’m struck by the compassion of the victim in this case has given and the tremendous and really inhuman beating you gave her,” Judge Enright told Narcisse.

Moments later, as the sentencing hearing ended, the victim rose from her seat in the gallery’s front row to leave and called out to Narcisse, who was handcuffed and seated in the jury box. “God bless you, baby,” she told him.

Narcisse responded. “I’m sorry,” he told her.

Assistant District Attorney Angad Ghai prosecuted the case.

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‘My brother trusted you,’ homicide victim’s sister tells convict at sentencing hearing

With a dozen members of her victim’s family and many of her own kin appearing in a Jefferson Parish courtroom, an eastern New Orleans woman was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday (Aug. 4), for orchestrating an armed robbery that ended with a fatal shooting two years ago.

Markeisha Lewis, 25, on Monday admitted to her role in the June 27, 2014, death of a man she knew, Demone Robinson, 24, whom she set up to be robbed of a pistol and Xanax pills in a meeting she arranged in the 1000 block of Inca Drive.

She pleaded guilty to manslaughter, conspiracy to possess Xanax and obstruction of justice. In accepting the plea, Judge Lee Faulkner of the 24th Judicial District Court delayed the sentencing to Thursday, when three of Robinson’s family members provided impact testimony.

“You’re looking like you don’t care, but we care,” Robinson’s mother Letrina Robinson testified, speaking to the shackled Lewis sitting directly across the courtroom in the jury box. “You don’t know how much I loved my son. I fought to get you to this point where you are right now.”

Lewis and Robinson knew each other, the family members said. Yet she conceived the plan to rob him of his pistol and Xanax, according to court documents. Through a series of text messages, she set up the meeting in the 1000 block of Inca Drive in Harvey, near where Robinson lived.

“My brother trusted you, well enough for you to have his number,” his sister Ashley Robinson said in impact testimony. She thanked “those of you who brought justice for my brother.” And she called it “a senseless and poorly planned crime” that robbed the Robinson family of their loved one.

Lewis enlisted two teenagers, Raynell Whittaker, then 17, and Everis Hilton, then 16, to help carry out the plan, according to the court records. As she and Whittaker met with Robinson on the street, Lewis called out, “We about to get crunk,” her signal for the armed Hilton to commence the robbery, the records show.

Instead, Hilton emerged and opened fire, killing Robinson. Hilton later told Whittaker that Robinson was removing a pistol from his pants, leading to the shooting. “I had to. He was going to kill me,” according to court records.

Afterward, Lewis deleted the incriminating text messages from her phone and removed the firearms – actions that led to the obstruction of justice charge.

Family members said Robinson had four daughters. One of them was at their nearby home when her father left to meet with Lewis, the family members said. That daughter had been waiting for her father to return, they said.

Everis and Whittaker pleaded guilty to manslaughter and other offenses in July. Everis received a 40-year sentence, and Whittaker was sentenced to 30 years.

In addition to her testimony, Letrina Robinson prepared a statement that was read aloud by her sister, ArKemi Robinson. In it, she accused Lewis of not caring about Robinson’s family when she concocted and carried out the robbery.

“You were only worried about your mission being accomplished,” Letrina Robinson wrote. “Today, you’re sitting in this courtroom, in this box, facing Demone’s family, something you didn’t think would ever happen.”

She said she did not believe Lewis should ever “walk the streets” as a free person again. “We did get justice for my son, because that’s all that matters,” she wrote. She told Lewis to consider her parting thoughts while she’s being transported to a state prison to begin her 25-year sentence.

“While you’re riding, ask yourself: Was it worth it?” Letrina Robinson wrote. “Enjoy your years.”

After her testimony, Letrina Robinson returned to the courtroom gallery where her family sat and began sobbing. A family member carried her from the courtroom.

Just days before the homicide, Hilton and Whittaker robbed a man of his cell phone in New Orleans’ Irish Channel. They pleaded guilty in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court and were serving 10-year prison sentences for that crime when a Jefferson Parish grand jury handed up an indictment charging them in Robinson’s death.

Assistant District Attorneys Lindsay Truhe and Michael Smith prosecuted the case.

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New Orleans woman pleads guilty to role in Harvey homicide

An eastern New Orleans woman has pleaded guilty on to her role in the shooting death of a man in West Jefferson two years ago, bringing to three the number of people who’ve admitted guilt in the homicide.

Markeisha Lewis, 25, pleaded guilty Monday afternoon (Aug. 1) to manslaughter, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to possess Xanex in connection with the June 27, 2014 death of Demone Robinson of Harvey.

In accepting the negotiated plea agreement, Judge Lee Faulkner of the 24th Judicial District Court  will sentence Lewis to 25 years in prison during a hearing set for 1:30 p.m., on Thursday.

Robinson, 24, was shot to death in the 1000 block of Inca Drive in Harvey, during an attempt to rob him of Xanax pills and his pistol. He died at the scene.

The shooter, Everis Hilton, 18, of New Orleans, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on July 12, and received a 40-year prison sentence. Hilton was 16 years old at the time of the offense.

The third participant, Raynell Whittaker, 19, of Harvey, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on June 10, in exchange for a 30-year prison sentence. Judge Faulkner handed down those sentences on July 18.

According to court records, Lewis had been romantically involved with Whittaker’s mother and conceived a plan to rob Robinson of a pistol under the guise of obtaining Xanex pills. She and Robinson communicated via text messages in arranging a meeting. She then told Hilton, “We going to savage D,” speaking in slang of robbing Robinson, according to court records.

The plan called for her and Whittaker to meet with Robinson for the purported narcotics transaction. She told Hilton that her signal to rob Robinson was her saying, “We going to get crunk,” court records show. Lewis and Whittaker then met with Robinson when she called out the signal phrase, leading Hilton to emerge saying “freeze,” court records show.

Robinson began to remove his pistol from his waistband, and Hilton began shooting, according to court records. Afterwards, Hilton explained to Whittaker his reason for opening fire: “I had to. He was going to kill me,” according to court records.

Lewis’ obstruction of justice charge stems from her orchestrating the removal of firearms in connection with the homicide investigation and eliminating evidence of the plan from her cellular phone. She was scheduled to stand trial this week on charges including second-degree murder.

Judge Faulkner will sentence Lewis to 25 years at hard labor for the manslaughter, 2 1/2 years for the conspiracy and 10 years for obstruction of justice. He will run the sentences concurrently, he said.

In pleading guilty on Monday, Lewis told the judge she lived in eastern New Orleans. In court records, her home address was given as the 1000 block of Inca Drive, which is near the homicide scene.

Her guilty plea comes a week after the Louisiana Supreme Court sided with Jefferson Parish prosecutors in their quest to use Lewis’ rap videos and lyrics as evidence against her during the trial. Lyrics describing a violent armed robbery tended to incriminate her in connection with Robinson’s death, prosecutors argued.

Just days before the homicide, Hilton and Whittaker robbed a man of his cell phone in New Orleans’ Irish Channel. They pleaded guilty in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court and were serving 10-year prison sentences for that crime when a Jefferson Parish grand jury handed up an indictment charging them in Robinson’s death.

Assistant District Attorney Lindsay Truhe and Michael Smith prosecuted the case.

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Harvey Hustlers gang associate pleads guilty to narcotics charges

A Harvey man with ties to the Harvey Hustlers street gang has pleaded guilty to narcotics trafficking offenses in exchange for a 12-year prison sentence.

Glendale A. Houston, 30, pleaded guilty as charged on Monday (July 25) to two counts of distribution of cocaine, possession of heroin and possession of methamphetamine, court records show.

Judge Conn Regan of the 24th Judicial District Court, who accepted the plea, sentenced Houston to 12 years in prison on each count and ran them concurrently.

Houston was arrested in connection with the local and federal investigation of the Harvey Hustlers, whose members and affiliates were responsible for the movement of illegal narcotics into the West Jefferson area.

The gang, whose roots date to the 1980s, originated in Harvey’s Scotsdale neighborhood and used violence and even homicide to protect its illegal activities. Several of Houston’s associates, including relatives, were prosecuted in U.S. District Court in New Orleans for their involvement in Harvey Hustler activities.

In Jefferson Parish, a grand jury handed up a two-count indictment on Feb. 25, charging Houston with distributing cocaine on two dates in March 2013, court records show. That prosecution concluded on Monday with his guilty pleas.

Houston separately pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine and possession of heroin on Monday. Judge Regan sentenced Houston to 10 years in prison on each count, and ran them concurrently with each other and the 12-year sentence he received for the cocaine conviction.

That case stems from his Feb. 10 arrest in Harvey, where officers conducting a narcotics investigation attempted to stop the vehicle Houston was driving, according to the arrest report. Houston led the officers on a brief pursuit through a residential neighborhood.

When he stopped, he threw a large amount of currency to a woman and told her, “Take the money so the police can’t take it,” according to the report.

The officers got the $6,729, in denominations consistent with street-level narcotics sales, along with 2.9 grams of methamphetamine and .6 gram of heroin. He also had a small amount of marijuana, leading to a misdemeanor charge to which he pleaded guilty on Monday and received a 10-day jail sentence.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New Orleans Gang Task Force and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office investigated the Harvey Hustlers. Assistant District Attorney Doug Freese handled the Houston case.

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New Orleans man pleads guilty to Gretna rape and burglary for 20-year sentence

A New Orleans man was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Monday (July 25), after he pleaded guilty as charged to raping a woman in her Gretna home before stealing some of her belongings.

Tyrone Brown, 26, pleaded guilty as charged to forcible rape and aggravated burglary in connection with the July 4, 2015 crime. He also will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life after he is released from prison.

About 9 a.m. on the day of the crime, Brown followed the 32-year-old woman home from the French Quarter bar where she had gone the night before. The woman, who was intoxicated, went into her home and neglected to lock the door behind her.

When she emerged from her restroom moments later, Brown was inside of the house. That’s when he forcibly raped her. She blacked out during the crime, she told the Gretna Police Department.

While the victim was unconscious, Brown stole her laptop computer, ATM card and cash. He went to a business on North Broad Street in New Orleans, where he solicited another man to try to use the victim’s ATM card to make a purchase.

Police used surveillance video footage from that business and the French Quarter to develop Brown as a suspect. He was arrested and provided a partial confession.

Calling Brown “a serial rapist” because of another rape conviction, Judge Ellen Shirer Kovach of the 24th Judicial District Court accepted the plea and sentenced him to 20 years for the forcible rape and 15 years for the aggravated burglary. She ran the sentences concurrently. Brown will serve the prison time without the benefit of probation, parole or suspended sentence.

Brown then pleaded guilty to being double offender under the state’s habitual offender law and sentenced him to 15 years, which is run concurrently. His previous conviction was for theft of a motor vehicle in 2009 in New Orleans, for which he received five years of probation.

A panel of potential jurors was assembled outside Judge Kovach’s courtroom on Monday morning, for the start of jury selection, when Brown agreed to plead guilty.

Assistant District Attorneys Douglas Rushton and Seth Shute prosecuted the case.

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Kenner man pleads guilty in brutal aggravated burglary

A Kenner man admitted in court on Thursday (July 21) that he was one of three suspects who forced their way into a Metairie home last year and brutally beat a 61-year-old woman who lived at the residence.

Allen Narcisse, who turns 38 next week, pleaded guilty as charged to aggravated burglary, aggravated assault on a police officer and resisting arrest by force or violence.

Judge Stephen Enright of the 24th Judicial District Court, who accepted the plea Thursday, is set to sentence Narcisse on Aug. 8 to 20 years in prison. The sentencing was postponed to allow the victim and her family to be in court and provide impact testimony.

Narcisse and two other suspects disguised themselves as workers on Oct. 14 and went to a home in the 3500 block of Bissonet Drive, knocking on the front door and informing the resident they were there to perform work. One of the suspects carried a chain saw as part of the ruse.

When the woman said she didn’t ask for the work, the suspects forced their way inside. Narcisse, a 200-pound construction worker, bore the most culpability, as he severely beat the woman in her face.

A witness to the unfolding crime called 911. Deputy Stephen Bowman of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office responded to the dispatch, arriving to find the suspects still in the home.

Narcisse resisted Bowman, leading the deputy to use his Taser as the suspect attempted to escape, according to the arrest report. Narcisse was able to break away and got into a Chevrolet Tahoe, dragging Deputy Bowman for a short distance and then striking the deputy’s patrol vehicle in attempting to escape, according to the arrest report. Bowman suffered minor injuries.

Narcisse drove south on Bissonet in the Tahoe, with another deputy in pursuit in his patrol vehicle with emergency lights activated. The pursuit ended at a car wash business in the 5400 block of Veterans Memorial Boulevard, where Narcisse surrendered.

Judge Enright will sentence Narcisse to 20 years for the aggravated burglary, 10 years for the aggravated assault with a motor vehicle on Deputy Bowman and three years for resisting arrest. The sentences will be run concurrently. Narcisse also agreed to plead guilty on Aug. 8 as a double offender, but the overall sentence will remain 20 years, according to the negotiated plea agreement.

Narcisse is the second suspect to plead guilty in connection with the incident. On March 17, Terry McCall, 29, of Westwego, pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary and received a 15-year sentence.

McCall remained in the home, where he comforted the victim’s roommate in another room while Narcisse beat the victim. Deputies found him hiding under a bed. At his plea hearing, he said he didn’t beat anyone. “If I could take it back, I would,” he told the victim in the audience, where she sat with family members. The woman, a cancer survivor, replied, “God bless you, baby.”

The third suspect, Ronald J. Bowman, 38, of Marrero, remains charged with aggravated burglary. The Sheriff’s Office asserted that Bowman ran from the home through the back yard and was apprehended at Riverside and Olympic drives, more than seven blocks away, according to the arrest report.

Assistant District Attorney Angad Ghai is prosecuting the cases.

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Avondale man pleads guilty to possessing, distributing child pornography

A 20-year-old Avondale man was sentenced Tuesday (July 19) to 10 years in prison, after he admitted he possessed and distributed child pornography.

Taylor Bourgeois also will have to register as a sex offender for 25 years, beginning on the day he is released from prison, 24th Judicial District Court Judge Lee Faulkner ordered.

Bourgeois’ illegal activities came to light in February, when he was observed discussing in an online chatroom that he raped a 4-year-old girl. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children passed a tip about Bourgeois’ assertions to the Louisiana Attorney General’s Cyber Crime Unit, which, working with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, opened an investigation that led to Bourgeois’ home, according to the arrest report.

After obtaining a search warrant on March 7, state and Sheriff’s Office agents and members of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force found a computer and two cellular devices in Bourgeois’ bedroom – along with six potted marijuana plants being grown in a cardboard box in his closet and bagged marijuana weighing 5.2 grams.

Bourgeois, who worked at an ice cream parlor in Westwego, confessed to downloading and possessing child pornography, which was stored on a cellular device, and to sharing several hundred images and videos through a file sharing website, according to the report.

Investigators uncovered images that included infants and girls under age 13 being raped by adult men, according to the report.

He pleaded guilty as charged Tuesday to three counts of possessing child pornography involving children under age 13, three counts of distributing child pornography involving children under age 13 and one count of possessing child pornography involving children between the ages of 13 and 17.

He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for each of the seven counts. Judge Faulkner ran them concurrently.

Bourgeois told agents that he purchased marijuana seeds about two months prior to his arrest and began growing them in the cardboard box he equipped with a light and fan, according to the arrest report. He also purchased marijuana that was recovered from his bedroom.

He also pleaded guilty Tuesday to two misdemeanor counts of marijuana possession. He received two 15-day sentences for those offenses, run concurrently with the 10-year sentences.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Smith prosecuted the case.

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‘I’m happy I testified against you,’ victim tells her attacker who gets 50-year sentence

A Metairie man who was convicted last month of shooting an Avondale woman during a home invasion two years ago was sentenced on Monday (July 18) to 50 years in prison.

Danny “Noonie” Saulny, 25, a former Avondale resident, shot the then-23-year-old woman at least 10 times, including once in the face, while he and a cohort forced their way into the home in the 100 block of Madeira Drive on Jan. 13, 2014.

The woman testified during the trial last month that she immediately recognized Saulny, whom she had known for years. The gunmen dragged her throughout the home, intent on robbery, before they opened fire, according to trial testimony. While she was shot at least 10 times, she had 15 bullet wounds, including one to her cheek that caused severe damage to her tongue.

In impact testimony on Monday, the victim told the court she was left in a coma following the attack, waking to find her jaw wired shut and facing enduring physical and emotional hardships. She still has a projectile and bullet fragments in her body.

Addressing him by his nickname Noonie, she said she did nothing to him to prompt the shooting.

“God kept me here for a reason, and I am happy I testified against you to get you off the street and keep you from harming anyone else,” she testified.

Saulny declined to make a statement. He was convicted as charged by a Jefferson Parish jury on June 23 of attempted second-degree murder, home invasion and of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

Judge Conn Regan of the 24th Judicial District Court, sentenced Saulny to the maximum 50 years for the attempted murder, 20 years for the firearm offense and 25 years for the home invasion. He ran the sentences concurrently.

“The court finds the victim in this matter was very fortunate to have survived this vicious attack by two people who entered her home and carried out this crime,” Judge Regan said in announcing the sentence.

Saulny was barred by law of possessing guns because of a conviction of possessing a firearm during a crime of violence, a crime involving an aggravated second-degree battery in 2010. He also has conviction of felony theft and resisting arrest from 2010.

Prosecutors announced during the sentencing hearing they intend to file a multiple bill charging Saulny as a habitual offender under Louisiana law.

The second gunman was never booked. In a pretrial hearing in Saulny’s case, the victim said she recognized the second gunman in the courtroom by a tattoo on his hand. Detectives questioned him, but prosecutors lacked sufficient evidence on which to base criminal charges, according to testimony.

Assistant District Attorneys Blair Constant and Lynn Schiffman prosecuted the case.

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