Author: Paul Purpura

A guilty plea, a jury verdict bring justice for murder victim Shannon Young

A Jefferson Parish judge on Wednesday (Nov. 13) sentenced Jenaj Nijay Johnson to a year of active probation after she admitted she helped her boyfriend avoid arrest when he fatally shot his longtime friend during a dice game in Marrero two years ago.

In pleading guilty as charged to accessory after the fact to second-degree murder, Johnson admitted she drove her boyfriend Larry Junior away from the scene after he fatally shot Shannon K. Young Jr., on Nov. 21, 2022.

A Jefferson Parish jury on July 11 found Junior, 24, of Marrero, guilty as charged of second-degree murder. Just two days before Junior killed him, Young, 22, of Ponchatoula, learned he was going to be a father.

On Sept. 9, Judge Lee Faulkner of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Junior to life in prison without probation, parole or suspension of sentence, and to five years in prison for his conviction of obstruction of justice because he removed the murder weapon from the scene to hinder the investigation.

Johnson’s case was unresolved until Wednesday, when the 22-year-old Chalmette resident appeared in Judge Faulkner’s court to plead guilty. Judge Faulkner sentenced Johnson to one year in prison. He suspended the prison term and ordered her to serve one year of active probation.

Junior and Young were among four friends who were helping one of the friends move furniture into a home in the 600 block of Grovewood Drive. During breaks in moving furniture, Junior and Young played dice for money while their two friends played video games.

Young won most of the games and teased Junior about it. That led Junior to make a remark about Young’s younger sister, heightening tensions between the men.

At one point, Junior called his girlfriend, Johnson, asking her to pick him up. Before long, Junior and Young engaged in a physical fight, during which Young, who weighed almost 225 pounds, threw the 140-pound Junior into a wall, damaging the drywall board. One of their friends intervened. The tussle ended.

But Junior then brandished a pistol, told Young they were no longer friends and demanded the money he lost in gambling. Without saying anything, Young walked out of the house and to his car. Junior then fired one shot at Young, missing him.

After hearing the gunshot, Young hid behind his car. Junior returned to the inside of the house and shut the door behind him. But about 20 seconds later, he exited through a side door and climbed atop a fence. Unaware that Junior was atop a fence, Young thought he was in the clear and so stepped out from behind the car.

That’s when Junior fired a second shot. The bullet struck Young in the left side of his neck, killing him.

Junior then got into the car with Johnson, and she drove away. They returned, leading Junior’s two friends to run in fear. Junior and Johnson left again. The two friends called 911.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office obtained a warrant for Junior’s arrest shortly after the murder. A U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force located and arrested Junior and Johnson eight days later at Johnson’s mother’s home in Chalmette.

Johnson was booked and later charged with being an accessory after the fact to second-degree murder.

At his trial, Junior alleged self-defense, saying that Young was arming himself, so he grabbed a pistol as well. He alleged that it was Young who was losing the dice game and wanted to win back his money. But Junior said he wanted to leave, leading to the hostilities.

The state argued that Junior was the aggressor, and as such he could not assert self-defense. Junior could have departed when Johnson responded to his call and arrived at the house. But he remained at the house, belying his assertion that he feared for his safety.

“He brought a gun to a fistfight, and to an argument,” Assistant District Attorney Leo Aaron told jurors during Junior’s trial in July. “That is the essence of being an aggressor.”

Further challenging the self-defense assertion, a crime scene reconstruction expert told jurors that the bullet trajectory through Young’s body shows he was shot by a gunman firing from a high vantage point, and that he was shot from the side.

Jurors deliberated just over four hours in finding Junior guilty as charged.

Assistant District Attorneys Leo Aaron and Molly Love prosecuted the case.

Patricia Tito pleads guilty, gets life in prison for Grand Isle murder

A Jefferson Parish judge on Wednesday (Nov. 13) sentenced Patricia Tito to life in prison, after she pleaded guilty to murdering a Grand Isle man who went missing in 1984.

In closing out one of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office’s cold-case investigations, Tito, 60, pleaded guilty as charged to the second-degree murder of Lester Rome. A one-time companion of Tito’s, his skeletal remains were discovered in a north Louisiana well two years after he went missing.

Rome was 57 years old and the owner of a lounge on Grand Isle when he was last seen on Jan. 9, 1984. Tito, then a teenager who was Rome’s live-in girlfriend, continued operating the lounge in his absence. She continued to live in his home and drove his car until his brother arrived on the island and evicted her.

Tito had told residents that she was the last person to see Rome, and that she had driven him to the airport for a trip. Tito had told another woman that she had acquired ownership of Rome’s business, that he had given the lounge to her and left the state.

The Sheriff’s Office considered her a suspect in his disappearance, but the investigation was suspended because Rome’s body could not be found.

His remains were found in a well on farmland just outside Many, La., in 1986 but were not identified until 2021. The Sabine Parish Sheriff’s Office investigation focused on Tito. By then, she was serving a 40-year prison sentence for her 2007 guilty plea to manslaughter – she admitted killing a Shreveport woman, whom she shot on Aug. 31, 2003.

The Sheriff’s Office joined in the Sabine Parish investigation in 2021. Tito had told a Sabine Parish detective she was aware that Rome was murdered but that she was merely a witness to it. She blamed another man for killing Rome, over what she said was a drug debt. She further said that the murder occurred in Jefferson Parish.

In 2022, Tito then was returned to Jefferson Parish to be questioned in Rome’s homicide. She eventually alleged that she and Rome were entering into a business relationship, and that he made sexual advances toward her. The business arrangement collapsed, and Rome was killed shortly after, she told a detective.

Tito was indicted by a Jefferson Parish grand jury with the second-degree murder of Rome in December 2023.

On Wednesday, Tito pleaded guilty as charged to second-degree murder over the objection of her court-appointed attorney. She pleaded guilty under North Carolina v Alford, wherein she stated that the guilty plea was in her best interest.

Judge Danyelle Taylor of the 24th Judicial District Court accepted Tito’s guilty plea. Tito waived delays, and Judge Taylor sentenced her to the mandatory life in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.

Assistant District Attorneys David Wolff and Lindsay Truhe prosecuted the case.

Cody Labranche convicted of Metairie double-murder

A Jefferson Parish jury on Friday (Nov. 8) deliberated about 35 minutes in finding Cody Labranche guilty of murdering two men in their Metairie home, including his deceased sister’s longtime companion whom he blamed for her death.

Labranche, 30 of Ponchatoula, was convicted as charged of the first-degree murders of roommates Jonathan Pizzuto, 39, and William Mitchell, 36. He additionally was convicted of obstruction of justice.

Pizzuto had been in a long-term relationship with Labranche’s sister, Brittany, who overdosed in July 2020 in their home in the 600 block of Rosa Avenue. Labranche believes that Pizzuto was responsible for her death. Mitchell became Pizzuto’s roommate about two months before he was murdered.

On Jan. 17, 2022, Labranche drove from Ponchatoula to Metairie and, upon arrival at about 9 p.m., he entered the home through the unlocked side door. He walked through the kitchen and into the living room, where Pizzuto and Mitchell sat playing video games and began shooting.

Labranche then searched the apartment for the urn containing his sister’s ashes but did not find it. He fled with the dog Pizzuto and his sister owned, Dro, and later left it in Hazelhurst, Miss. Neither Dro nor the murder weapon has been found.

One of Pizzuto’s friends who was going to the home to play video games discovered the bodies on the living room floor and called 911. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office developed Labranche as a suspect after learning he held Pizzuto responsible for his sister’s death.

On the night of the murders, Labranche removed the license plate of the car he acquired from his sister after her death and drove to Rosa Avenue armed with the pistol with extended magazine. He left his cell phone in Ponchatoula in an apparent attempt to avoid its location services being used to establish a record of his whereabouts.

Detectives obtained surveillance video from neighboring residences showing the car pulling up to the residence. Labranche left the engine running and went inside. About a minute after he arrived, two nearby surveillance systems recorded the gunshots. Labranche then sped away and returned to Ponchatoula with Dro.

A U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force arrested Labranche at his home on Feb. 11, 2022. Labranche asserted self-defense, telling a detective that he went to confront Pizzuto about his sister’s death and believed Mitchell was reaching behind his back for a pistol. Labranche began shooting believing he was about to be shot, his attorneys argued at trial in asking jurors to conclude he was defending himself.

However, evidence shows that Labranche was the aggressor, and as such cannot assert self-defense. Ten .45-caliber bullet casings littered the living room floor, in a pattern indicating that Labranche began shooting as he entered the living room from the kitchen after entering the side door. He continued shooting as he crossed the room. “No hesitating in there,” Assistant District Attorney Megan Gorman told jurors.

Further, the victims’ bullet wounds to their front and back sides show they were sitting down when the gunfire began, and they turned to run. They were on the floor when Labranche finished them off, including Pizzuto, whose gunshot wounds include two the back of his neck next to a tattoo of Labranche’s sister’s name. Mitchell was shot in his front side and his back side and died holding his cell phone. All 10 of the bullets Labranche fired struck the victims in what the crime scene reconstruction expert describes as “focused fire.”

Labranche was charged with first-degree murder in part because he had the specific intent to kill more than one person, and that he did so during the commission of an aggravated burglary. The District Attorney’s Office did not seek the death penalty, meaning Labranche will receive a life sentence in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.

In addition to the murder charges, Labranche was convicted of obstruction of justice because he eliminated evidence by disposing of the murder weapon, which he confessed to throwing in a river. Detectives found photos of the pistol on his cell phone, a firearm compatible with the bullet casings retrieved from the murder scene.

Judge Ellen Shirer Kovach of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Labranche on Dec. 4.

Assistant District Attorneys Megan Gorman and Alyssa Aleman prosecuted the case.

 

Former public school teacher assistant Lance Johnson convicted of indecent behavior with juvenile student

A Jefferson Parish jury deliberated 30 minutes on Wednesday evening (Oct. 30) in finding Lance Johnson, a former public school teacher’s assistant, guilty of repeatedly sexually propositioning a 14-year-old student.

Johnson, 42, of LaPlace, was convicted as charged of indecent behavior with a juvenile and soliciting for prostitution involving someone under age 18. Although the perpetrator and victim were at the same east bank school, the juvenile was never one of Johnson’s students.

Johnson made numerous sexual advances toward the juvenile while on school grounds, beginning in June 2022, and later offered to pay the student $80 in exchange for a sexual act. At one point, Johnson drove to the student’s home.

The student disclosed Johnson’s behavior to another teacher, who in turn alerted the student’s mother. In September 2022, she reported it to the Jefferson Parish Public Schools System, which suspended Johnson pending the investigation, and to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Detectives obtained evidence that included residential surveillance video footage showing Johnson’s off-campus encounters with the student. Separately, the doorbell camera at the student’s home also recorded Johnson driving up and speaking with the juvenile in the street.

Detectives used Johnson’s cell phone records to corroborate the videos, showing his location when he encountered the student off-campus and at the student’s home.

The jury that was seated on Tuesday and heard one day of testimony returned with its guilty verdicts at about 6:10 p.m., Wednesday.

Judge Nancy Miller of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Johnson next Wednesday (Nov. 6).

Assistant District Attorneys Leo Aaron and Molly Love prosecuted the case.

 

Kintez “Kutta” Johnson gets life sentence for murdering Reginel Golman

A Jefferson Parish judge on Tuesday (Oct. 29) sentenced Kintez “Kutta” Johnson to life in prison for his conviction of shooting a man to death as he sat in a car outside a Marrero convenience store.

Johnson, 23, of Harvey, was convicted by a jury earlier this month of the second-degree murder of Reginel Golman, 30. Golman’s girlfriend was seated in the car next to him when Johnson opened fire, but she was not physically injured.

Johnson also was convicted of aggravated assault with a firearm, with the victim being Golman’s girlfriend. The jury additionally found him guilty of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and of obstruction of justice – for getting rid of the gun he used to kill Johnson.

Golman suffered 15 gunshot wounds on the evening of Sept. 23, 2022, as he sat in the passenger’s seat of a car parked outside the business at Fourth Street and Ames Boulevard. He died shortly afterward.

Click here to read more about the trial.

After denying post-verdict defense motions and hearing impact testimony from Golman’s girlfriend, Judge Shayna Beevers Morvant of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Johnson to the mandatory life sentence in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.

Judge Beevers Morvant sentenced Johnson to 10 years for the aggravated assault and ran it consecutive to the life sentence; 15 years for being a felon in possession of a firearm; and 20 years for obstruction of justice.

Assistant District Attorneys Matthew Whitworth and LaShanda Webb prosecuted the case.

‘You were the only demon,’ judge tells murderer Jerry Gelpi in sentencing him to life in prison

A Jefferson Parish judge on Wednesday (Oct. 9) sentenced Jerry Gelpi to life plus 40 years in prison for his conviction of brutally stabbing his neighbor Charles Davis to death in Old Jefferson and then obstructing justice by eliminating evidence tying him to the crime.

“Mr. Gelpi, you’re going where you deserve to be,” 24th Judicial District Court Judge Frank Brindisi told Gelpi in sending him to prison for the rest of his life.

A Jefferson Parish jury last week rejected Gelpi’s insanity defense and found him guilty as charged of the first-degree murder of Davis, 68. Gelpi and Davis lived in the same apartment building in the 400 block of Highway Drive in February 2021.

Click here to read about the trial.

Gelpi, 42, gained access to Davis’s apartment and attacked him in the bathroom, stabbing him at least 16 times. Gelpi initially took steps to hide his involvement, including cleaning blood from the kitchen floor and discarding his bloody clothing and the murder weapon.

But when Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives gathered evidence tying him to the crime, Gelpi began feigning a mental defect to escape criminal liability. He later pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He testified that he is the “son of God” and that Davis was “a demon” who needed to die.

“You accused this man of being a demon,” Judge Brindisi told Gelpi on Wednesday. “You were the only demon that day.”

The judge rejected defense motions to overturn the jury’s verdict and for a new trial. He additionally heard victim-impact testimony from four of Davis’s family members, including a daughter who’ll mark her birthday next week without well-wishes from her father.

“Knowing that I can never get that phone call again is heartbreaking,” she testified.

Davis’s sister told the court, “I will never get a chance to hug him to speak with him to tell him how much I love him … or just to hear him say, ‘Sis, you alright?’”

Judge Brindisi sentenced Gelpi to the mandatory life sentence in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. He additionally sentenced Gelpi to 40 years in prison for obstruction of justice, which is the maximum punishment for that offence. He ran the sentences consecutively. The judge also fined Gelpi $100,000.

Assistant District Attorneys Tommy Block and Lindsay Truhe prosecuted the case.

William Frye sentenced to 65 years for bank robbery, carjacking and kidnapping

A Jefferson Parish judge on Wednesday (Oct. 9) sentenced William Frye to 65 years in prison for his convictions of robbing a Jefferson bank and then forcibly taking a grandmother’s car with her 18-year-old daughter in the back seat as he made his getaway.

Frye, 47, was convicted as charged last month of two counts of simple robbery, carjacking and second-degree kidnapping in connection with the Nov. 30, 2022 crimes.

“I do believe you’re a menace to the good people of Jefferson Parish,” 24th Judicial District Court Judge Frank Brindisi told Frye. “On that day, you were a one-man crime wave. You terrorized everybody.”

Click here to read about the trial.

Frye entered the bank branch in the 3600 block of Jefferson Highway about 1:15 p.m., threatening to harm the tellers if they did not give him cash. He fled on foot with cash and carjacked the woman and her two grandchildren outside a business in the 3500 block of Berwick Street.

The teen who was in the back seat of that vehicle jumped out a back door and suffered a broken pelvis as she landed in the street.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives and FBI agents tracked Frye to an Airline Drive motel and arrested him later that day.

Frye’s criminal history dates back to the early 1990s and includes a conviction in federal court of robbing the same bank branch he was convicted of robbing last month, the judge noted said before announcing his sentencing, citing a pre-sentencing memorandum.

“I don’t think you can be rehabilitated,” Judge Brindisi told Frye. “I think you’re an incorrigible criminal.”

Judge Brindisi sentenced Frye to 35 years for the kidnapping, 20 years for the carjacking and five years for each of the two simple robbery counts. He ran the sentences consecutively, for a total of 65 years.

Assistant District Attorneys Eric Cusimano and Taylor Somerville prosecuted the case.

 

 

Kintez ‘Kutta’ Johnson convicted of murdering Reginel Golman in Marrero

A Jefferson Parish jury on Wednesday (Oct. 2) found Kintez “Kutta” Johnson guilty of shooting a man as he sat in a car outside a Marrero convenience store two years ago, killing him.

Johnson, 23, of Harvey, was convicted as charged of the second-degree murder of Reginel Golman, 30.

On the evening of Sept. 23, 2022, Golman and his girlfriend were seated in a vehicle parked outside a business at Fourth Street and Ames Boulevard when Johnson, wearing a mask, approached. He and Golman spoke for a moment. Johnson then brandished a semiautomatic pistol and shot Golman as he sat in the front passenger’s seat.

Johnson’s girlfriend tried to drive away but then sought refuge inside the store – its owners rushed to lock the doors after hearing gunfire. She returned to the car. Golman was still alive.

“Take me home by my momma,” Golman told her. She sped to his mother’s home on nearby Silver Lilly Lane, where 911 was called. Golman died there, slumped over in the front passenger’s seat.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives quickly identified Johnson as the suspect, through witnesses and through the convenience store’s video security system. Johnson was arrested days later at a motel in New Orleans East.

About an hour before the homicide, Golman and his girlfriend were at a home in Marrero when Johnson appeared at the home. It was during that time that Golman’s brother happened to call their niece from the north Louisiana prison where he is incarcerated. Golman then got on the phone with his brother.

Prison phone calls are recorded, so jurors were able to hear Golman tell his brother that Johnson told him that there was “a bag on my head,” meaning someone wanted him dead. Golman’s family urged him to not leave with Johnson, whose identity was acknowledged during the recorded phone call.

Nonetheless, Golman and his girlfriend drove to the convenience store, with Johnson in the back seat. Golman got out of the car and went inside. He asked his girlfriend to drive Johnson to a nearby apartment complex. She did so and returned to the store, where Golman got into the front passenger’s seat.

That’s when Johnson walked up, spoke with Golman and began shooting. Johnson then fled on foot. In total, 10 spent bullet casings were recovered that were tied to Johnson’s pistol. Golman suffered from 15 bullet wounds, some caused by the same bullets that entered his body, exited and entered other body parts.

In addition to second-degree murder, jurors found Johnson guilty of three other charges:

  • Aggravated assault with a firearm. The victim was Golman’s girlfriend, who was seated in the driver’s seat when Johnson opened fire but was not physically injured.
  • Convicted felon in possession of a firearm. Johnson was prohibited from possessing firearms because of a prior felony conviction. In 2020, he pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm while possessing heroin and to six counts of illegal discharge of a firearm.
  • Obstruction of justice. Johnson hindered the investigation into Golman’s death by tampering with evidence — getting rid of the firearm. The firearm turned up in a bar in Kenner on Oct. 7, 2022. Police were summoned to the bar because an intoxicated customer passed out. That customer had a duffle bag that contained a firearm. Ballistics experts determined that the firearm was used in Golman’s killing. The intoxicated man had no connection to Golman’s homicide and no known connection to Johnson.

Suggesting self-defense, Johnson’s attorney told jurors that Golman had a gun in the vehicle with him when he was shot; a gun was never found. The attorney said witnesses lied, and there was no forensic evidence tying Johnson to Golman’s death. He urged jurors to acquit Johnson.

The jury, which was seated on Monday, deliberated about 2 1/2 hours before returning with its unanimous verdicts.

Judge Shayna Beevers Morvant of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Johnson on Oct. 29.

Assistant District Attorneys Matt Whitworth and LaShanda Webb prosecuted the case.

Jerry Gelpi convicted in brutal stabbing death of 68-year-old neighbor Charles Davis

A Jefferson Parish jury deliberated 24 minutes Wednesday night (Oct. 2) in finding Jerry Gelpi guilty of fatally stabbing his neighbor in an Old Jefferson apartment, rejecting his assertion that a mental defect prevented him from knowing right from wrong when he murdered the man.

Gelpi, 42, was convicted as charged of the first-degree murder of Charles Davis, 68, who died in the bathtub of his second-floor apartment in the 400 block of Highway Drive in February 2021.

In his final months of life, Davis struggled with Covid-19 and its lingering effects. A forklift driver who rode his bicycle to work several miles from his home each day, Davis became infected with Covid-19 in April 2020 and was hospitalized for three months. The virus killed his live-in girlfriend while he was hospitalized. Although he survived, he was severely weakened, having lost 70 pounds. He required auxiliary oxygen and was undergoing long-term rehabilitation.

Gelpi, who lived in the apartment beneath Davis’s, gained access to Davis’s apartment. According to the crime scene reconstruction, Gelpi attacked Davis in the entrance to his bathroom. During the struggle, Gelpi stabbed Davis in the neck. Davis’s sink was knocked off the wall. Davis was either pushed or fell into the bathtub, where Gelpi continued to stab him – in all, at least 16 times. Davis’s wounds included cuts to his right hand, showing that he was trying to defend himself.

Gelpi then went to the kitchen sink to clean the blood from his hands and returned to his apartment seven minutes after he walked up to Davis’s apartment.

Davis’s daughter found his body on the morning of Feb. 9, 2021, when she investigated why he was not responding to phone calls. She found the front door unlocked and discovered his clothed body curled in the fetal position in the bathtub. His wallet was missing.

In the early stages of the investigation, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives questioned neighbors and looked at surveillance videos to determine who went to Davis’s apartment. Someone was seen walking from Gelpi’s apartment at 1:27 a.m., and then returning to Gelpi’s apartment at 1:34 a.m., carrying a bag.

When questioned by detectives, Gelpi denied knowledge of the homicide. He initially denied ever being in Davis’s apartment. He gave detectives the name of a local homeless man as a suspect. He presented no hint of mental illness.

Detectives investigating Gelpi’s background then found two criminal matters that involved his use of knives in crime:

  • On Sept. 11, 2020, Gelpi got into an altercation with two young men of Middle Eastern descent who were browsing video games at a Walmart in Kenner. Gelpi stood close to the men without wearing a mask, leading the men to ask Gelpi to step back because of their concerns about Covid-19. Gelpi then asked them about their language and struck one of the men in the head without provocation, leading to a physical altercation where Gelpi brandished a knife and began to threaten the men. One of the men pulled out his mobile device and began videotaping the encounter. Once Gelpi saw he was being recorded, he put the knife away and fled. Kenner police arrested Gelpi.
  • On Nov. 8, 2013, Gelpi was in Springfield, Ohio, where he was caught shoplifting at a pharmacy store. He used a knife to cut open packaging for teeth whitening strips before pocketing them. When confronted by the loss-prevention officer, Gelpi brandished the knife, threatened to stab the man and ran out with the stolen goods. Gelpi later was convicted of felony robbery, and as such, his DNA profile was entered into a national database.

Later in February 2021, detectives got a hit from the national DNA database that linked Gelpi to Davis’s apartment. Gelpi’s DNA was under Davis’s fingernails and on the kitchen faucet he used to wash the blood from his hands. They obtained an arrest warrant and returned to the apartment building in time to find Gelpi arriving on a bicycle. He was carrying a knife.

They searched his apartment and found five tactical knives. The Sheriff’s Office’s Digital Forensic Unit searched Gelpi’s computer browser history and found searches for information about knife fighting and about stabbing people in their kidneys, hearts and lungs.

It was only after his arrest that Gelpi began asserting mental illness. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

At trial, Gelpi testified Wednesday that he is “the son of God,” that he was not in control of himself when he killed Davis, and that he did so because he believed that Davis was “the strongest demon in my experience.” He pointed to detectives seated in the courtroom and said they were demons. Gelpi’s attorney argued that he was insane at the time he stabbed Davis and so could not be held criminally responsible for Davis’s death.

In rebuttal, prosecutors presented evidence about Gelpi’s pretrial stint in the state mental hospital in Jackson, La., to where he was sent for the sole purpose of determining whether he was mentally competent to stand trial.

While in the hospital, Gelpi alleged there were demons present but otherwise exhibited no true signs of mental illness. The doctors concluded that Gelpi was malingering, or fabricating mental illness symptoms to achieve his needs.

A separate doctor evaluated Gelpi to determine whether he was criminally insane when he killed Davis. That doctor also concluded Gelpi is malingering and found that Gelpi’s behaviors when killing Davis and afterwards show he knew right from wrong. For instance, he waited until late at night when no one was around to kill Davis, and he cleaned up the blood afterwards to conceal his involvement in the crime. Further, he disposed of his bloody clothing and the murder weapon, which he threw in the Mississippi River.

Prior to his arrest, Gelpi was never diagnosed with or treated for a psychotic disorder. However, he had a history of such feigning disorders.

After enlisting in the Navy to avoid punishment for a criminal matter, Gelpi faked a mental illness so he could be discharged in 2004. After his arrest for killing Davis, the Sheriff’s Office’s Digital Forensic Unit discovered an email Gelpi sent to an acquaintance in which he boasted about lying to the judge overseeing the Ohio robbery case. Gelpi told the judge he had a substance abuse problem in order to get leniency, “and the judge bought it,” he told the acquaintance.

The jury that was seated on Monday returned with its unanimous verdicts at 9:15 p.m. The District Attorney’s Office did not seek the death penalty, meaning life without parole, probation or suspension of sentence is mandatory for the murder.

Gelpi also was found guilty as charged of obstruction of justice, for eliminating evidence.

Judge Frank Brindisi of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Gelpi on Wednesday (Oct. 9).

Assistant District Attorneys Tommy Block and Lindsay Truhe prosecuted the case.

William Frye guilty in Jefferson bank robbery, carjacking, kidnapping

A Jefferson Parish jury deliberated less than an hour on Wednesday evening (Sept. 25) in finding William Frye guilty of robbing a Jefferson Highway bank before forcibly taking a car from a nearby family and speeding away with a teenager in the back seat.

Frye, 47, of Jefferson’s Shrewsbury neighborhood, was convicted as charged of two counts of simple robbery, carjacking and second-degree kidnapping.

Wearing a hooded shirt and erratically waving a white pillowcase, Frye stormed into a bank branch in the 3600 block of Jefferson Highway at about 1:15 p.m., on Nov. 30, 2022, threatening deadly violence and demanding that the tellers turn over cash.

He threw the pillowcase at two tellers, ordering them both to fill it. They complied. He then fled on foot, dumping his gloves, the pillowcase and the hoodie in a Sizeler Avenue back yard before hopping a resident’s fence and emerging in the 3500 block of Berwick Street.

At that time, a woman and two family members arrived at a Berwick Street business. The woman alone had exited the car but left the engine running. Frye jumped into the driver’s seat, rebuffing another family member’s attempts to physically remove him.

Frye sped away with an 18-year-old woman in the back seat. About 25 yards away, the terrified teenager jumped out of a back door, breaking her pelvis and she hit the roadway.

After striking a parked car and continuing, Frye abandoned the car less than a mile away, at Scott Street and Saia Lane. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, which launched a manhunt that included the agency’s helicopter, quickly obtained information identifying Frye as the suspect.

Detectives and FBI agents tracked Frye to a motel in the 5700 block of Airline Drive, where he had been renting a room. After conducting surveillance, agents located Frye walking out of the room. When he saw the law enforcement officers, Frye fled on foot. He was captured a short distance away.

Frye left the motel that morning, telling the manager he would pay for his room that day but that he had to go to the bank, first. Detectives later obtained images from the motel’s security system of Frye leaving the business that morning. He wore the same clothing as the robber.

In Frye’s pocket when he was arrested, detectives found cash that was directly linked to what was stolen from the bank. In the motel room he occupied, detectives found cash stuffed under the mattress. One of the white pillowcases was missing.

Further, the Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab found Frye’s DNA on the steering wheel of the car he stole and in one of the gloves he wore during the robbery, which he dumped in the Sizeler Avenue backyard.

From her hospital room, where she underwent surgery, the teenaged kidnapping victim read an online news report about the bank robbery that included Frye’s booking mugshot. She alerted detectives, confirming that Frye was the carjacker.

Frye denied committing the crimes. His attorney argued that the Sheriff’s Office arrested the wrong suspect.

The jury, which was seated Tuesday and heard two days of testimony, deliberated 49 minutes before returning with its unanimous verdicts.

Judge Frank Brindisi of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Frye on Wednesday (Oct. 2).

Assistant District Attorneys Eric Cusimano and Taylor Somerville prosecuted the case.