Month: February 2020

Melvin Miller guilty of murdering transgender woman, her lover in Metairie

A Jefferson Parish jury on Wednesday (Feb. 5) found Melvin Miller guilty of killing a transgender woman and her live-in lover in their Metairie apartment seven years ago.

Miller, 27, of Baton Rouge, was convicted as charged of two counts of second-degree murder in the Feb. 5, 2013 deaths of Akeem Boudreaux, 22, and Morris Alexander Williams, 26, who also went by the names Milan or Mimi.

Miller shot each of them once in their heads in the 2200 block of Edenborn Avenue. The bodies were discovered nine days later.

Miller, who traveled to Metairie via the LA Swift bus service on the day of the homicides, returned to Baton Rouge in Williams’ silver Pontiac and took Williams’ iPhone and computer early the following morning, according to evidence presented at trial. Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detective Sgt. Rhonda Goff tracked the suspect to Baton Rouge via the stolen car and the license plate recognition system.

Alerted that Miller was wanted in Jefferson Parish, Baton Rouge police arrested him on Feb. 16, 2013, after responding to a domestic dispute between Miller and his transgender lover, Joseph Alexander, who uses the name Jasmine. In October 2015, Alexander pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice for discarding bullets she found in their apartment during the homicide investigation and received five years of probation.

Miller also was convicted as charged of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He was legally barred from possessing guns because of a 2012 burglary conviction in Baton Rouge.

The jury, which was seated on Monday, deliberated under two hours in reaching the verdicts. Judge Scott Schlegel of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Miller on Feb. 20.

UPDATE: Miller’s sentencing hearing was reset for March 5.

Assistant District Attorneys Doug Freese and Lindsay Truhe prosecuted the case.