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.