A Jefferson Parish jury on Thursday night (Nov. 30) found Alonzo Ford guilty as charged of fatally shooting two men in Marrero over a two-day period in 2019.
Ford, 48, of Marrero, was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of obstruction of justice and two counts of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He was acquitted of one count of attempted second-degree murder.
About 2:40 a.m., on March 30, 2019, Ford approached a sports-utility vehicle that was parked in the 6200 block of 2nd Avenue, in which Martin Hatten sat in the front passenger’s seat. Ford brandished a .38-caliber revolver and shot Hatten in the right side of his head.
The bullet passed through Hatten’s skull and struck a 51-year-old man in the neck, causing a superficial injury. This victim was the basis for the attempted murder charge for which Ford was acquitted.
Hatten died in a hospital on April 5, 2019. He was 50. Ford was seen arguing with Hatten at a neighborhood bar in Marrero on the night before the shooting.
Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives quickly identified Ford as the suspect in that shooting and obtained a warrant for his arrest. A detective was able to speak with Ford on a cell phone, and Ford said he would surrender. He failed to do so.
About 36 hours after Ford shot Hatten, on April 1, 2019, the detectives tracked Ford to the 6300 block of Acre Road.
A detective driving an unmarked police vehicle spotted Ford standing with another man in a bay of an Acre Road car wash business at Buccola Avenue. As the detective circled the block, he radioed other deputies who already were converging on the area.
But before the deputies arrived, Ford shot that man in the head. Amid calls placed to 911, the deputies found Laurence Hensley slumped over in the car wash bay and noted passers-by using their cell phones to take photographs of the fatally wounded man.
Hensley died the following day. He was 55. Detectives later determined that Hensley witnessed Ford shooting Hatten.
Ford, meanwhile, fled that scene in a pickup truck but was caught moments later several blocks away on Cohen Street, where he attempted to elude deputies on foot. As he ran, he tossed the revolver and the brown hooded jacket he was wearing when he shot Hensley. A police canine located the revolver in overgrown grass next to a Cohen Street fence.
Ford was prohibited from possessing guns because of his criminal history that includes convictions of attempted second-degree murder and narcotics offenses. He finished serving parole in 2018, a year before he killed Hatten and Hensley.
His convictions of obstruction of justice are based on his discarding the murder weapon and jacket. From the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna after his arrest, Ford had a telephone conversation with someone in which he asked that person to retrieve the revolver, unaware that the Sheriff’s Office already found it.
Ford denied committing the killings. His defense attorney argued that drug dealers framed Ford and that another man who cooperated with detectives and prosecutors in identifying Ford was the actual killer.
The jury that was seated Monday night deliberated for more than three hours before returning with its verdict at about 11 p.m., Thursday. Judge June Berry Darensburg of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Ford on Jan. 11.
Assistant District Attorneys Kristen Landrieu and Leo Aaron prosecuted the case.