Author: Paul Purpura

Convicted of killing girlfriend with zip tie, Dennis Sheppard sentenced to life in prison

A Jefferson Parish judge on Monday (Oct. 30) sentenced Dennis Sheppard to life in prison for killing his girlfriend by tightening a zip tie around her neck and suffocating her.

Sheppard, 60, of Harvey, killed Jyra Holmes on Nov. 2, 2020, during a domestic dispute outside her apartment in the 1500 block of Chelsea Road in Harvey. After pulling the zip tie tightly, Sheppard pushed Holmes to the ground in full view of witnesses.

“She wanted me dead; now she’s dead,” Sheppard said as he killed her. A U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force arrested Sheppard three days later in Bay St. Louis, Miss.

A Jefferson Parish jury on Sept. 28 deliberated just over one-half hour in convicting Sheppard as charged of second-degree murder. Life in prison with no probation, parole or suspension of sentence is the mandatory punishment for the crime in Louisiana.

On Monday, Holmes’ twin sister provided victim-impact testimony, describing Sheppard’s behavior as “an evil act,” and saying, “I hope the only mercy you get for the rest of your life is the mercy you showed my sister.”

After denying defense motions for a new trial and post-verdict judgment of acquittal, Judge June Berry Darensburg of the 24th Judicial District Court noted how Sheppard fled the state after killing Holmes.

“She had a full life ahead of her; she was very young,” Judge Darensburg said. “To take someone’s life, I would have to agree with the impact testimony: It was an evil act.”

Assistant District Attorneys Kristen Landrieu and Carolyn Chkautovich prosecuted the case.

Marital infidelity, a Kenner hookup and a kidnapping lead to prison for a North Carolina couple

A Jefferson Parish judge has sentenced Mishanda Reed to 11 years for prison for her involvement in the kidnapping of her extramarital lover in Kenner, a week after her husband Malcom Reed was sentenced to 13 years for the same crime.

Malcom Reed, 42, and Mishanda Reed, 45, both of Durham, N.C., were convicted of second-degree kidnapping and attempted second-degree kidnapping, respectively, by a Jefferson Parish jury on Sept. 28.

Mishanda Reed and the victim, now age 47 and living in Houston, Texas, attended Xavier University in New Orleans together in 1995 and dated for about five years. They had had a sexual encounter in recent years, after she was married.

In 2021, they communicated, and she told the victim – falsely – that she was divorced. On June 27, 2021, after the victim traveled to the New Orleans area to meet her, he drove to an airbnb that she rented with her credit card in the 1300 block of Lloyd Price Avenue in Kenner.

Inside, the victim walked to an upper-level loft. There, the victim said, Malcom Reed suddenly appeared, carrying a silver semiautomatic pistol in his left hand and an aluminum bat in the other. He ordered the victim to get on his knees. When the victim refused, Malcom Reed beat him with the bat.

Malcom Reed ordered Mishanda Reed to retrieve zip-ties, which he had in a bag. She did, and she used them to bind the victim at the wrists and ankles.

Malcom Reed then got the password to the victim’s cell phone and scrolled through the text messages between the victim and Mishanda Reed. Malcom Reed interrogated the victim about his intentions with his wife. Malcom Reed also pointed the pistol at the victim and threatened to kill him. Malcom Reed also cut the victim’s face during the interrogation.

Several hours later, the Reeds left the airbnb in separate cars, taking the victim with them. The Reeds removed the zip-ties from the victim’s wrists and ankles and left him in the 300 block of Alliance Street. The Reeds then drove to North Carolina.

A bystander saw the victim bleeding in the street and called 911. The Kenner Police Department arrived soon after, and the victim was rushed to a hospital for injuries that included a broken leg.

Police officers who searched the airbnb found blood spattered on the stair railing, a mirror, bed sheets, a door and elsewhere. Detectives identified the Reeds and obtained arrest warrants. The Reeds surrendered on Aug. 1, 2021.

The couple additionally was charged with aggravated battery. But jurors convicted Malcom Reed of the lesser misdemeanor charge of simple battery and acquitted Mishanda Reed of that crime altogether. Malcom Reed was sentenced to six months in jail for that offense.

Although the Reeds were tried and convicted together, they were sentenced separately.

During Malcom Reed’s sentencing hearing on Oct. 13, he expressed remorse but minimized his involvement by telling the court that he learned only that day that his wife was having an affair. He said he hid outside the Airbnb for 1 ½ hours and then, armed with the bat, confronted the victim inside. He said he was defending himself when explaining why he struck the victim with the bat.

The victim, in victim-impact testimony on Oct. 13, described the entire incident as “a premediated ambush” that included Mishanda Reed’s participation. He said he suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome because of the kidnapping and beating he received.

On Friday (Oct. 20), Mishanda Reed testified during her request for a new trial, presenting herself as a victim as well and saying she was not a willing participant in the kidnapping because she was frightened of her husband. From the witness stand and with her husband looking on, she admitted being an adulterous wife but asserted she loves both men. Mishanda Reed also complained that her trial lawyer, whom she has fired since she was convicted, steered her away from testifying.

In rejecting the new-trial request, Judge Shayna Beevers Morvant of the 24th Judicial District Court described Mishanda Reed’s testimony given Friday as “theatrical and full of hysteria.” Judge Beevers Morvant said Mishanda Reed had numerous opportunities to flee from her husband if she was, in fact, not a willing participant in the crime.

“I do not think she wants to face liability for the jury’s verdict,” the judge said in denying the new-trial motion.

Assistant District Attorneys Matthew Whitworth and Blaine Moncrief prosecuted the case.

Convicted of sexually abusing juveniles, Elias Abrego Zambrano faces life in prison

A Jefferson Parish jury on Wednesday evening (Oct. 19) found Elias Abrego Zambrano guilty of sexually abusing two children.

Zambrano, 54, was convicted as charged of first-degree rape of a juvenile under age 13, two counts of sexual battery of a juvenile under age 13 and two counts of indecent behavior with juveniles under age 13.

The crimes occurred in Kenner beginning as early as 2012 and September 2017. The crimes were first reported to the Kenner Police Department in March 2020 when the victims were ages 13 and 19.

Zambrano was a friend of the victims’ family. He denied victimizing the children.

The jury deliberated for about two hours before returning with its unanimous verdicts. Judge Ellen Shirer Kovach of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Zambrano on Oct. 26. First-degree rape carries a mandatory life sentence in prison without probation, parole or suspension of sentence.

Assistant District Attorneys Carolyn Chkautovich and Blaine Moncrief prosecuted the case.

Albert Lewis guilty of home invasion in which resident shot him in the head

A Jefferson Parish jury on Wednesday evening (Oct. 11) found Albert Lewis guilty of violently forcing his way into a Marrero home, leading a resident to shoot him in the head to defend herself and her family.

Albert Lewis, 43, of Marrero, is guilty as charged of home invasion in connection with the New Year’s Eve 2022 incident in the 1100 block of Martin Drive, jurors determined during less than 30 minutes of deliberations.

At about 1:15 p.m., on Dec. 31, Lewis was at a residence on Martin Drive when he exited behaving erratically. At a nearby residence, meanwhile, a 28-year-old woman stepped outside her front door with her 1-year-old son to take photographs before they traveled to Slidell to attend a party.

After several minutes of erratic behavior, Lewis walked up the street and stopped in front of the woman’s home. From the sidewalk, he spoke to the woman, who ignored him. Neither she nor her family knew Lewis.

Lewis then walked toward the victim and banged on the hood of a vehicle in her driveway. She turned to pick up her son. He grabbed her from behind. She broke away, picked up her son and went inside. He followed her to her front door.

One of her nephews inside heard the commotion. He opened the door to let her in, then closed and locked it. Once inside, the woman handed her toddler to her other nephew and retrieved her .380 semiautomatic pistol. She told Lewis to leave several times. So, too, did her nephews, one of whom armed himself with a kitchen knife.

Lewis continued to force his way inside and broke and forced the door open. Lewis stepped over the threshold. Two residents saw Lewis step inside.

The woman, fearing for her life, then shot Lewis. He stumbled backwards and collapsed just outside the doorway. She then called 911 and waited for the officers to arrive.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies, responding to a report of an aggravated battery by shooting, arrived to find Lewis unresponsive and lying face down. Deputies also observed the damaged security and front door.

In addition to the victim, her toddler and her two nephews, her disabled grandmother was in the home when Lewis forced his way inside.

The Sheriff’s Office determined that the woman’s action was reasonable and justified. Lewis was arrested after he was released from a hospital.

Lewis’ public defenders argued that his behavior, while inexcusable, did not meet the legal criteria needed to convict him of home invasion, namely that he had the intention to enter. They said Lewis was behaving like “a mad man” because he was probably under the influence of narcotics or alcohol, which left him unable to formulate the required intent to commit home invasion.

Judge Lee Faulkner of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Lewis on Oct. 25.

Assistant District Attorneys Ashton Robinson and Blaine Moncrief prosecuted the case.

After ‘Ramos’ retrial, Dartanya Spottsville sentenced to back-to-back life sentences for two West Bank murders

A Jefferson Parish judge on Wednesday (Oct. 11) ordered Dartanya Spottsville to serve back-to-back life sentences in prison, plus another 50 years, for his role in a shooting inside a Harvey apartment that left two men dead and a third injured on Father’s Day 2015.

Spottsville, 35, of Marrero, was convicted as charged by a jury on Sept. 7 of two counts of second-degree murder, one count of attempted second-degree murder and one count of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

Click here to read about the trial.

Wednesday marked the second time Spottsville was sentenced for the crimes. He was convicted as charged of all counts by a jury in 2019. But the jury was not unanimous. As such, Spottsville received a new trial after the U.S. Supreme Court opined in its Ramos v. Louisiana decision that nonunanimous verdicts are unconstitutional.

Spottsville was one of three men who entered an apartment in the 1600 block of Apache Drive on June 21, 2015. Gunfire erupted, leaving Johnell Ovide and Trammell Marshall dead. They were ages 23 and 21, respectively. The surviving victim, who was 23 at the time, was shot three times, including once in his face.

Citing the seriousness of the homicides and the seriousness of the injuries the surviving victim sustained, 24th Judicial District Judge Stephen Grefer on Wednesday sentenced Spottsville to two consecutive life sentences, to be served consecutively to the 50-year sentence he gave for the attempted second-degree murder.

Judge Grefer also sentenced Spotsville to 10 years for the firearm charge. Spottsville was prohibited from possessing firearms because of a conviction of heroin possession in Jefferson Parish.

Assistant District Attorneys Matthew Clauss and Blaine Moncrief prosecuted the case.

For shooting a man in the back in Kenner, Shyheem Love convicted of attempted murder, other crimes

A Jefferson Parish jury on Tuesday night (Oct 3) convicted Shyheem Love of shooting a 61-year-old man in the back when he was criminally barred from possessing guns, and then from the parish jail tried to concoct a scheme to pay the victim $5,000 to recant.

Love, 28, of LaPlace, is guilty as charged of attempted second-degree murder, simple criminal damage of property and of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, jurors decided. He additionally was convicted of attempted obstruction of justice.

The shooting happened Dec. 22, 2021, in the 1600 block of Newport Place in Kenner, just outside Love’s girlfriend’s apartment. She had just been released from the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna and needed a ride to Kenner. A 61-year-old family friend with whom she had had sexual encounters in the past gave her that ride in his work van. He had taken with him her three young children to get their mother from the jail.

Outside her apartment, the woman was retrieving her children from the man’s work van to bring them inside. That’s when the man noticed Love standing nearby.

Love asked to speak with the man. He then asked the man to exit his van. The man refused. Love then fired three or four bullets at the van. The man sped away to his home in the 3600 block of Loyola Drive in Kenner. Once home, he noticed his back was wet with his own blood. The Kenner Police Department was notified.

After the man was treated and released from a hospital, he identified Love as the shooter by selecting his image in a photographic lineup. The man was familiar with Love but knew him only by his first name.

Love was arrested. While awaiting trial in the parish jail in Gretna, Love made numerous phone calls to his father and to his girlfriend. Knowing that the phone calls are recorded, he nonetheless made efforts to buy the victim’s silence through a $5,000 payoff. Love attempted to conceal his scheme through referring to it as “playing Monopoly,” a reference to the board game.

Love was convicted of attempted second-degree murder for shooting the victim; simple criminal damage to property valued at between $1,000 and $50,000 for damaging the victim’s work van with the bullets; and of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm (he was convicted in 2015 of second-degree battery in St. John the Baptist Parish). Love was charged with obstruction of justice for his scheme to get the victim to recant, but jurors returned with the verdict of attempted obstruction of justice.

The jury that was seated on Monday deliberated about 1 ½ hours before returning with its verdicts about 7 p.m., Tuesday. Judge Michael Mentz of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Love on Nov. 2.

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

Dennis Sheppard guilty of murdering girlfriend by using zip tie to strangle her

A Jefferson Parish jury has convicted Dennis Sheppard of murdering his girlfriend by using a plastic zip tie around her neck to strangle her.

Sheppard, 60, of Harvey, is guilty as charged of the second-degree murder of Jyra Holmes, the jury unanimously decided during 36 minutes of deliberation on Thursday (Sept. 28).

He killed Holmes, 39, on Nov. 2, 2020, during a domestic dispute outside her apartment the 1500 block of Chelsea Road in Harvey. He put the zip tie around her neck and pushed her to the ground, witnesses told detectives.

“She wanted me dead; now she’s dead,” Sheppard said after killing Holmes, according to two witnesses.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived to find her lifeless body in the driveway with a zip tie around her neck.

A U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force located and arrested Sheppard three days later in Bay St. Louis, Miss.

Through his public defender, Sheppard denied committing a second-degree murder. Rather, the defense attorney asserted that at best, Sheppard was guilty of manslaughter, a lesser homicide committed in the heat of passion that carries a maximum of 40 years in prison.

Judge June Berry Darensburg of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Sheppard on Oct. 30. Second-degree murder carries a mandatory punishment of life in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.

Assistant District Attorneys Kristen Landrieu and Carolyn Chkautovich prosecuted the case.

Daniel Tenner sentenced to life plus 139 years for murdering Mississippi woman

A Jefferson Parish judge on Friday (Sept. 15) sentenced Daniel Tenner to life plus 139 years in prison for his conviction of killing a Mississippi woman while robbing her during a cell phone sale they arranged through social media.

Tenner, 21, of Jackson, Miss., shot Morgan Tyrone in the back of her head after she drove from her home in Pascagoula, Miss., to the West Bank to purchase an iPhone 13 for $300 on the evening of April 10, 2022. She died in the driver’s seat of her minivan.

Tyrone was 24. She was murdered in front of her partner and her partner’s 13-month-old son who was in a child seat.

Tenner used a woman’s Facebook account to communicate with Tyrone via Facebook Marketplace. Tyrone believed she was negotiating the purchase with a woman.

A Jefferson Parish jury on Aug. 15 found Tenner guilty as charged of first-degree murder, armed robbery and obstruction of justice in connection with the crimes.

Click here to read about the trial and conviction.

Tenner appeared Friday before 24th Judicial District Judge Donald “Chick” Foret to receive the sentences.

Tyrone’s older brother, mother and partner provided victim-impact testimony. Before announcing the sentence, Judge Foret praised the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office homicide detectives for quickly solving the case and lectured Tenner, referring from the 29 pages of notes he said he jotted down during the trial.

Judge Foret noted testimony from the forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy: Tenner placed the pistol barrel to Tyrone’s neck and fired, the bullet severing her spinal cord and killing her instantly. He noted that Tenner shot the woman in front of her partner and the toddler. “This is as bad as it gets, Mr. Tenner,” Judge Foret said.

The punishment for first-degree murder is mandatory life in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. Judge Foret sentenced Tenner to 99 years for the armed robbery and 40 years for the obstruction of justice – both the maximum sentences. Judge Foret ran the sentences consecutively, or back-to-back.

“If I could give you more, I’d give you more,” Judge Foret told Tenner. “This is a tragic thing you’ve done. You’ve ruined these peoples’ lives.”

The District Attorney’s Office did not seek the death penalty.

Assistant District Attorneys LaShanda Webb and Brittany Beckner prosecuted the case.

Dartanya Spottsville convicted again of Father’s Day 2015 attack that left two dead, one injured

A Jefferson Parish jury on Thursday night (Sept. 7) found Dartanya O. Spottsville guilty of his role in the murders of a pair of cousins who were shot during an apparent ambush inside a West Bank apartment on Father’s Day 2015.

Spottsville, 35, of Marrero, was convicted as charged of two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Johnell Ovide and Trammell Marshall, one count of attempted second-degree murder in the shooting of another man and one count of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

His conviction brings to two the number of times he’s been found guilty of the crimes.

The first time Spottsville was convicted was in September 2019. Jurors in that trial did not return with unanimous verdicts. The following year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in an unrelated case, Ramos v. Louisiana, that non-unanimous verdicts are unconstitutional. As a result of the Ramos decision, Spottsville received a new trial.

About 10 p.m., on June 21, 2015, Spottsville and two friends — Jacobie Green and Johnell Walker, both of whom were armed — arrived unexpected at a small, one-bedroom apartment in the 1600 block of Apache Drive, just off Manhattan Boulevard in Harvey. Spottsville and Walker sat on sofas in the living room. Green stood in the doorway, the only way out of the apartment.

Ovide, Marshall and two other men already were at the apartment. At least two of those men had pistols.

Ovide allowed Spottsville to handle his pistol. After doing so, Spottsville handed the pistol back to Ovide. Spottsville then held the pistol owned by the surviving victim. For unknown reasons and without provocation, Spottsville shot Ovide and then shot the surviving victim. Chaos ensued, with Green and Walker, immediately opening fire and striking the three victims.

The 23-year-old man who rented the apartment fled into his bedroom and dove through a closed window to escape. At the same time, Spottsville ran past Green and out of the apartment, likely in pursuit of the renter who was able to escape. Marshall ran into the kitchen, followed by Green and Walker, and more shots were fired there.

By the time the gunfire ended, Ovide, 23, was shot three times, with one of the bullets piercing both lungs and his heart. Marshall, 21, was shot five times; three of those bullets struck his body from the rear. The surviving victim was shot three times, including once in the face.

Spottsville, Green and Walker fled and were not injured.

Hiding nearby in the apartment complex, the renter who escaped called 911. The first Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy arrived two minutes later to find the three gunshot victims outside the apartment. Ovide lay dead or dying in the grass near Marshall, who died a short while later at a hospital. The third victim sat leaning against the apartment’s entry doorframe.

Detectives immediately identified Spottsville as a suspect and obtained an arrest warrant. Spottsville surrendered the following day.

Spottsville initially denied involvement and told detectives that he was in New Orleans East when the shooting occurred. But detectives refuted the alibi assertion by using his cell phone to show that he was, in fact, near the murder scene when the shooting occurred. His cell phone data showed he went to New Orleans East only after the shooting.

In testimony Thursday, Spottsville admitted he lied to detectives about being in New Orleans East. Explaining why he fired a pistol, he asserted self-defense. He told jurors he was sitting on a sofa looking at his phone when he looked up to find a pistol pointed at him. During a tussle for the pistol, it fired, he testified. He wrestled the pistol away, fired it once at the surviving victim, dropped it and fled, Spottsville told jurors. He heard more gunfire as he ran to his car, he asserted.

Under cross-examination, Spottsville was pressed on why he raised self-defense only after his alibi effort failed. He was questioned about why the pistol he said he dropped in the living room was never found. And he was asked about why his and Green’s cell phone data showed they left the murder scene and went straight to Lake Pontchartrain’s Lincoln Beach in New Orleans East.

In rebuttal, prosecutors provided expert witness testimony to show that three bullet casings were found in the living room that were fired by the pistol that Spottsville said was fired only twice. Further, the location of the ejected bullet casings in the living room was consistent with where two witnesses said Spottsville stood when he shot Ovide and then the surviving victim. The evidence shows that all but one of the bullets that the trio fired in the apartment struck victims; the other bullet struck a wall.

Spottsville, Green and Walker were prosecuted as principals to the murders, meaning they were working in concert with each other in committing the crimes. A look at the convictions shows:

  • Green, 31, of New Orleans, was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted second-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without probation, parole or suspension of sentence in September 2018.
  • Walker, 29, of Marrero, was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted second-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without probation, parole or suspension of sentence in October 2021. Nine days after he was sentenced, Walker was found unresponsive at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center and was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
  • Archie Hulbert III, 39, of Algiers, pleaded guilty as charged to perjury in February 2018 and received a 7-year prison sentence. He admitted to lying to detectives about the time Green arrived at a Terrytown location after the murders occurred.

The jury that was seated on Monday deliberated almost four hours Thursday before unanimously convicting Spottsville of the murder and attempted murder counts, and for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He was prohibited from possessing guns because of a previous conviction of heroin possession in Jefferson Parish.

Judge Stephen Grefer of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Spottsville on Oct. 11.

Assistant District Attorneys Matthew Clauss and Blaine Moncrief prosecuted the case.

 

A manslaughter, an armed robbery and a battery send Shawn Carter to prison for 75 years

A Jefferson Parish judge on Monday (Aug. 21) sentenced Shawn Carter to 75 years in prison as a 3-time felon, based on his most recent conviction of robbing a Gretna convenience store while armed with a claw hammer.

Carter, 50, of Avondale, has a criminal history that includes beating a man to death using a hammer in 1994.

His most recent conviction occurred on July 26, when a Jefferson Parish jury found Carter guilty as charged of the armed robbery of a business in the 900 block of Lafayette Street.

At about 12:30 a.m., on Feb. 11, 2021, Carter walked into the business and approached the 42-year-old clerk who was seated behind the counter. Wielding a hammer, Carter ordered the clerk to surrender his cell phone and to refrain from activating the panic alarm. Carter then ordered the clerk to open the cash register and threatened to kill him if he did not comply.

After getting the cash, Carter fled with the clerk’s cell phone and three bottles of liquor. The Gretna Police Department linked Carter to the crime, leading to his arrest at his Avondale home by a federal task force.

At the time, Carter was on parole for his 1996 conviction of manslaughter.

That homicide occurred on June 1, 1994, when Carter, then age 20, fatally beat 21-year-old Christian Smith to death in Smith’s home in the 2100 block of Hancock Street in Gretna. Carter was charged with first-degree murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter in exchange for a 40-year sentence. He was paroled in 2014.

On Monday, 24th Judicial District Judge Ray Steib sentenced Carter to 50 years in prison for the armed robbery. Judge Steib then resentenced Carter to 75 years in finding that he is 3-time felon under Louisiana’s habitual offender law. The predicate offenses included the armed robbery, the manslaughter and a conviction of battery of a correctional officer.

Assistant District Attorneys Laura Schneidau and Blaine Moncrief prosecuted the case.