A Jefferson Parish judge on Wednesday (Dec. 18) sentenced Gerald “Bird” Barker to back-to-back life sentences in prison for executing two people in a Westwego residence from where he sometimes sold crack cocaine.
Barker, 37, will serve the life sentences for the second-degree murders of Linda Turner, 68, and Curtis Thomas, 51, who were shot inside Turner’s home in the 600 block of Emile Avenue on Jan. 17, 2023.
A Jefferson Parish jury on Dec. 4 deliberated about 20 minutes in finding Barker guilty as charged of killing Turner and Thomas, in addition to convicting him of obstruction of justice, possession of cocaine and of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.
Turner owned the home in which she died. She allowed Barker to sell narcotics from the home, and Barker later confessed to a Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detective that he helped her pay her bills because of this arrangement.
At about 9 p.m. Jan. 17, 2023, an acquaintance of theirs went to the home, discovered the bodies and called 911. Deputies found Thomas lying in a pool of his blood on the living room floor just inside the front door. He was pronounced dead at the scene. They found Turner seated on her sofa in the living room suffering from gunshot wounds. She died shortly after at a hospital.
The physical evidence shows that Thomas was standing just inside the front door when Barker, standing in the doorway, shot him in the back of his head, according to an expert in crime scene reconstruction. Thomas fell to the ground, and Barker stood over him and shot him in the face. Barker then entered the living room and shot Turner in her face, arm and head, according to the expert.
Detectives developed Barker as a suspect almost immediately. They also obtained surveillance video from a nearby residence showing that immediately after the murders, Barker ran from the house.
The detectives learned that Barker ran to his friend Lee Wings’ home less than a mile away, on Gwen Street.
Armed with an arrest warrant, members of the U.S. Marshals Service Gulf Coast Fugitive Task Force located Barker at an addiction treatment facility in New Orleans in March 2023 and took him into custody.
During his interview with the Sheriff’s Office, Barker admitted he sold crack cocaine from the Turner’s home and occasionally resided there. But he said he was at Wing’s home when Turner and Thomas were slain. He eventually confessed to shooting the two people.
“I hope and pray that you never see the streets again. Ever,” Thomas’s ex-wife told the court Wednesday in victim-impact testimony. “It was uncalled for. It was totally uncalled for. I know your family can see you again. We can never see him again. It’s never.”
Before announcing the sentences, Judge Frank Brindisi of the 24th Judicial District Court told Barker he is “incorrigible,” citing his numerous convictions of possession of cocaine since 2007.
“I don’t think you’ll ever go straight,” Judge Brindisi told him. “I think you’re a one-man crime wave.”
For the murders, he sentenced Barker to the mandatory life sentences, to be served without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. He ran the sentences consecutively.
Judge Brindisi separately sentenced Barker to 40 years for obstruction of justice and fined him $100,000, for eliminating the murder weapon; two years for possession of cocaine; and, 20 years for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Barker was prohibited from possessing firearms because of a 2018 conviction of possession of cocaine.
“Mr. Barker, you’re going where you need to be,” Judge Brindisi told him. “Good luck.”
Separately, Barker’s co-defendant, Wings, 59, pleaded guilty Wednesday to accessory after the fact to second-degree murder and was sentenced to three years of active probation. After Barker committed the murders, Wings drove Barker to the east bank of Jefferson Parish, stopping on the Crescent City Connection along the way so that Barker could toss the murder weapon into the Mississippi River. After returning to the West Bank, Wings left Barker at a motel.
Assistant District Attorneys Lindsay Truhe and Tommy Block prosecuted the case.