Month: March 2024

Ronald Newton convicted of the first-degree murder of Earl Ellsworth in Metairie

A Jefferson Parish jury on Tuesday night (March 19) convicted Ronald Newton of a first-degree murder he committed almost three hours after learning his girlfriend and mother were involved in a senseless brawl outside his Marrero home.

Newton, 30, shot and killed Earl Ellsworth, 23, as he and two friends hid in the bathroom of a Metairie apartment on the evening of Aug. 25, 2022.

The killing was the end result of an argument between women earlier that day and spilled over into social media. It escalated to a brawl between four women in the street and on the lawn in front of Newton’s home in the 6400 block of Millender Drive in Marrero.

“He was going there to get vengeance. He was going there to get blood. And he got what he wanted.”Assistant District Attorney Brendan Bowan

Newton’s girlfriend and mother were involved in the brawl. Newton’s cousin was among the women who went to the home. As an untended toddler stood in the street watching the brawl, Newton’s cousin’s boyfriend punched Newton’s girlfriend in her head as she stood over Newton’s cousin, punching her.

Ellsworth was present at the fight but did not participate in it. He only video recorded it. He was shot and killed two hours and 45 minutes later.

Newton was at his job during the fight. His girlfriend called him to tell him about it. When his shift ended about 6:30 p.m., he went home. His arrival and departure were recorded by his doorbell video camera.

“Come on, come on,” he was recorded saying as he walked out the front door holding a rifle in his left hand, heading to Metairie. The doorbell camera also recorded Newton’s mother on the phone with him after he drove away, pleading with him to calm down.

Newton crossed the Huey P. Long Bridge, enroute to the 2400 block of Pasadena Avenue, where his cousin lived with her boyfriend – the man who punched Newton’s girlfriend. Two witnesses followed Newton to Metairie, hoping to stop him. His arrival, at about 7:30 p.m., was recorded by an apartment building’s video surveillance camera. Two women followed him into the building.

Ellsworth was in the apartment visiting the couple, who almost three hours after the fight were hanging out and playing video games. When Newton arrived, his cousin looked through the front door peephole and saw him holding a gun. They retreated to a bathroom in the apartment, with Newton’s cousin hiding in the linen closet.

Newton kicked in the front door, defeating the deadbolt lock. One of his friends who followed him to Metairie went so far as to throw her cell phone at him in hopes of stopping him. Newton then kicked open the locked bedroom and bathroom doors. Ellsworth was attempting to insert a magazine into a pistol that Newton’s cousin owned in preparing to defend himself and his friends.

Armed with a Glock 9mm semiautomatic pistol he brought to Metairie, Newton shot Ellsworth once in the chest. In his last words before he died on the bathroom floor, Ellsworth told his friends, “Call police.” He never loaded or fired the pistol.

“Earl Ellsworth got his hands on that gun to protect himself and the ones he loved. And Ronald Newton killed him for it,” Assistant District Attorney Brendan Bowen told jurors in closing argument, saying Ellsworth was within his legal right under Louisiana’s stand-your-ground law to arm himself in the face of Newton’s aggression.

Newton also pistol-whipped his cousin’s boyfriend. Newton’s hurried departure was recorded by the apartment’s video surveillance camera, less than two minutes after he arrived.

Newton’s cousin called 911, frantically requesting help and repeatedly crying, “Please!” Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived to find Newton’s cousin’s boyfriend with his hands up at the front door. Newton’s cousin was still screaming. Ellsworth was slumped over against the bathtub on the floor, the unloaded pistol next to his body.

Back on Millender Drive, seven minutes after 911 was called, the doorbell camera recorded Newton’s mother receiving a phone call and then wailing, “Ronald done killed that boy.” Not long after, the doorbell camera recorded Newton arriving and then departing with his girlfriend, carrying clothing and other items.

Detectives immediately identified Newton as the killer and obtained a warrant for his arrest within hours of Ellsworth’s murder. A U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force located and arrested Newton on Aug. 30, 2022, in a fourth-floor room at a New Orleans hotel on Magazine Street at Canal Street.

At trial, Newton’s defense attorney argued there was no evidence that his client was armed when he went into the apartment. The attorney told jurors in closing argument that Newton’s cousin’s boyfriend was armed, and during a tussle, the pistol fired and Ellsworth was fatally shot. The attorney also said Ellsworth was armed.

In rebuttal, Bowen told jurors that Newton had no “blank check” to drive to Metairie two hours and 45 minutes after the fight “and murder someone who never threw a punch.”

“He was going there to get vengeance. He was going there to get blood. And he got what he wanted,” Bowen told jurors.

Newton was charged with first-degree murder, with the aggravating factor being aggravated burglary because he forced his way into the apartment while armed with a pistol. The District Attorney’s Office did not seek the death penalty.

He additionally was convicted of obstruction of justice because he intentionally removed the Glock 9mm pistol he used to kill Ellsworth to obstruct the investigation. That pistol still has not been recovered (nor has the rifle Newton carried out of his home when going to Metairie).

And he was found guilty of two counts of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He was barred from possessing firearms because of a 2015 conviction of two counts of distributing marijuana in Jefferson Parish. In addition to possessing the murder weapon, Newton is seen in the doorbell camera video leaving his home carrying a rifle and additionally is seen in his social media posing with four rifles.

The jury that was seated on Monday deliberated 1 hour and 15 minutes before returning with its unanimous verdicts.

Judge Lee Faulkner of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Newton on April 3.

Assistant District Attorneys Rachel Africk and Brendan Bowen prosecuted the case.

 

Cade Fuxan gets life in prison for murdering roommate in Kenner

A Jefferson Parish judge on Wednesday (March 13) sentenced Cade Fuxan to life in prison for his conviction of killing his roommate James Parker in their Kenner apartment.

Fuxan, 26, shot Parker five times in the hallway of their 2-bedroom apartment in the 4500 block of Williams Boulevard on June 2, 2022, including once in the back of his head. Fuxan then asserted to Kenner police and to the jury he was defending himself. Parker was 24.

Fuxan and Parker’s sister were dating. The couple, Parker and Parker’s brother shared the apartment. The shooting followed months of friction between the men and a physical fight in which Parker got the best of Fuxan. They were alone in the apartment when Fuxan shot Parker

A Jefferson Parish jury on Feb. 1 rejected Fuxan’s self-defense assertions and convicted him as charged of second=degree murder.

Click here to read about the crime.

During Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, 24th Judicial District Court Judge Stephen Enright denied Fuxan’s post-verdict motions for a new trial and to reject the jury’s unanimous conclusion that Fuxan committed a second-degree murder.

Prior to sentencing, Judge Enright heard victim-impact testimony from Parker’s sisters, including from Fuxan’s ex-girlfriend. She said she is “shattered” by her brother’s death and described him as a creative and caring young man.

She also blames herself for her brother’s death because she dated Fuxan. “I regret every moment of us,” she testified. “I regret giving you my love.”

Parker’s other sister described him as peaceful and non-confrontational. “You are the scum on the bottom of my shoe,” she told Fuxan.

Fuxan read from a prepared statement, directing criticism at the prosecutors, expressing sorrow for Parker’s family’s pain but maintaining it was a justifiable homicide. “I did what I had to do,” he said of shooting Parker. He also described the life sentence term as unjust.

Judge Enright then sentenced Fuxan to the mandatory punishment, to be served without parole, probation or suspension of sentence.

Assistant District Attorneys Piper Didier and Douglas Rushton prosecuted the case.

 

Arnold Magee gets life sentence for fatally shooting his estranged girlfriend

A Jefferson Parish judge on Friday (March 8) sentenced Arnold Magee to life in prison for his conviction of firing a military-style rifle at his estranged girlfriend outside his Metairie apartment building, killing her.

Magee, 37, fired two .223-caliber bullets at Kawana Tibbit on July, 2, 2020, while she was in the driver’s seat of her car in the apartment complex parking lot in the 4100 block of Hessmer Avenue, an area of Metairie with a high population density given the number of apartment complexes.

His first bullet struck a van parked nearby. The second bullet struck her in the right arm, causing massive internal damage.

Mortally wounded, Tibbit drove her car forward through the parking lot and crossed Hessmer Avenue to an apartment building. Her car struck a parked vehicle, where she died. She was 27.

A Jefferson Parish jury on Feb. 22 found Magee guilty as charged of second-degree murder.

Click here to read about the crime.

Magee appeared before 24th Judicial District Court Judge Donnie Rowan on Friday for the sentencing hearing, during which Tibbit’s cousin said in impact testimony that “domestic violence is serious.”

“I want you to know that I forgive you, because if I don’t, I know I will not have peace in my heart,” Tibbit’s cousin testified.

Judge Rowan denied Magee’s attorneys’ requests for a new trial, which included arguments that he was defending himself when shot Tibbit. Video surveillance evidence refutes Magee’s self-defense assertions. The judge also noted how the videos show Magee walking around his apartment complex after shooting Tibbit with the military-style rifle.

“I watched you walk around like this was Beirut, like this was a war-torn country,” Judge Rowan told Magee before sending him to the mandatory life sentence in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.

Assistant District Attorneys Taylor Somerville and Rachel Africk prosecuted the case.

Raymond Lee sentenced to life in prison for murdering Alonzo ‘Zo’ Wiley on the West Bank

A Jefferson Parish judge on Thursday (March 7) sentenced Raymond Lee of New Orleans to a mandatory life sentence in prison for his conviction of killing an entrepreneurial barbershop owner in a West Bank motel room.

Lee, 38, shot Alonzo “Zo” Wiley five times during an armed robbery on Dec. 5, 2021. At that time, in the wake of Hurricane Ida, Lee and Wiley were residents at the motel in the 2200 block of the Westbank Expressway.

Wiley, 35, who owned The Grooming Gallery barber shop in the Gretna area and had one previously on Tulane Avenue in New Orleans, dressed well and was known to carry cash. He aspired to expand his Grooming Gallery business.

Lee tricked Wiley into letting him into the motel room. Once inside, however, Lee attempted to rob Wiley. Wiley resisted and attempted to get away but was shot three times. Lee then placed a pillow over Wiley’s head and shot him twice more in the face before fleeing with the victim’s belongings.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives built a circumstantial case in tying Lee to the crime through cell phone technology, physical evidence and statements.

A Jefferson Parish jury on Feb. 2 found Lee guilty as charged of second-degree murder, obstruction of justice and of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

Click here to read more about the crime.

During Thursday’s sentencing hearing, Judge Michael Mentz of the 24th Judicial District Court denied defense requests for a new trial and heard victim impact testimony from family and friends of Wiley, including a letter written by a cousin that a prosecutor read aloud for the court.

“Our family hasn’t been the same since he’s been gone, as he was the one to light up every party and every conversation,” the cousin wrote. “To everyone on the outside looking in, he was a barber and a businessman or even just another name on the docket. But to us he was a protective cousin, a fun uncle, a supportive brother and a loving son.”

“There (were) a lot of people that depended on Alonzo,” the cousin wrote. “We need him. He made us happy. He made us laugh. He made us better. He did not deserve to be a victim of such a senseless, heinous crime. … Our lives are forever changed from the good times that we had with Alonzo, but we are also still feeling the emptiness from his murder.”

In addition to the life sentence, to be served without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence, Judge Mentz sentenced Lee to 40 years for the obstruction charge and 20 for the firearm charge. Judge Mentz ordered the sentenced to be served concurrently.

Assistant District Attorneys Leo Aaron and Tommy Block prosecuted the case.