A Jefferson Parish judge on Monday (Sept. 28) sentenced Danette Colbert to 60 years in prison, including for causing the death of Adan Manzano, a Kansas-based sports reporter who died in his Kenner hotel room last year.
Colbert, 49, was convicted of negligent homicide and of racketeering by a jury on Sept. 17. She and her pimp and co-defendant Rickey White were part of a years-long scheme in which Colbert and others targeted seemingly affluent men in New Orleans tourism spots and drugged them in hotel rooms during their trysts before stealing their belongings as they slept if off.
Their last known victim was Manzano, 27, of Topeka, Kan. He was in New Orleans to cover the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl for the Spanish-language news outlet Telemundo when he met Colbert in the French Quarter. She accompanied Manzano to his hotel room in Kenner. At one point, she slipped him alprazolam, a sedative. That, coupled with alcohol, caused his death from “positional asphyxia.”
Click here to read about the trial.
During Monday’s sentencing hearing, Judge Nancy Miller of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Colbert to the maximum 50 years for racketeering and ran it consecutive to the 10 years she gave him for negligent homicide. Further, Judge Miller ran her sentences consecutively to the 25 years Colbert already is serving out of Orleans Parish for fraud and theft.
“I understand your family’s desire to have you home,” Judge Miller told Colbert in announcing her sentences. “I don’t share in that sentiment.”
Colbert will appear before Judge Miller on Oct. 14, when she faces receiving even more prison time under Louisiana’s habitual offender law. Colbert’s criminal history in New Orleans and Jefferson parishes includes convictions of computer fraud, illegal transmission of monetary funds, access device fraud, possession of stolen property, theft, burglary, second-degree battery and simple robbery. She was on probation for some New Orleans convictions when she caused Manzano’s death.
White, 35, stood trial with Cobert and was convicted of racketeering. He was acquitted of manslaughter. Judge Miller sentenced White to 45 years in prison.
Members of Manzano’s family, including his parents testifying from their home via Zoom, urged Judge Miller to give the maximum sentences. They noted that months before Manzano died, his wife was killed in an automobile collision, leaving their toddler daughter without parents.
“I don’t want to say anything to the people that committed this crime, because they are beings of darkness, beings that don’t have God in their lives,” Manzano’s mother testified through an interpreter. “But I don’t think they should go on with life causing harm and killing people. Because I still can’t accept that Adan is not here. … This loss, I’ll never overcome it. I don’t wish this on anybody, on any family.”
Manzano’s father called it “a sad day for me and my family.”
“May the laws of this country lock up the people that destroyed my life,” he testified. “I respectfully ask that you give them the sentencing they deserve.”
Two of Manzano’s cousins also provided victim-impact testimony. “You guys should pay your entire life for it,” one of the cousins testified. Another cousin recalled proudly seeing Manzano on television. “He left Mexico to pursue the American dream,” the cousin testified. “He loved his work and the chance to do it on American soil.”
Assistant District Attorneys Jenny Voss, Mallory Grefer and Brendan Bowen prosecuted the case.