A Jefferson Parish jury on Tuesday (July 14) deliberated about 30 minutes in finding Leon “Mookie Mook” Ruffin Jr. guilty of emptying a canister of pepper spray into the face of a deputy, leaving her incapacitated, before escaping from custody at a West Bank hospital in the deputy’s marked vehicle. 

Ruffin, 53, of Algiers, was convicted as charged of aggravated escape, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and battery on a police officer. 

Separately, he was convicted of conspiring with his wife, Shelita Ruffin, to smuggle a cigarette lighter and cigarettes into the parish jail and of possessing contraband in the facility. 

Ruffin already is serving a life sentence at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola for murdering Gannon Johnson in Avondale three years ago. He was held in the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna awaiting trial for that murder when he escaped on Feb. 25, 2025. 

Immediately following the reading of the verdict on Tuesday morning, Judge Stephen Enright of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Ruffin to 32 years in prison and ordered him returned to Angola. Judge Enright ran Tuesday’s sentences consecutively to the life sentence that he gave Ruffin for the murder almost two years ago. 

“He can go back to Angola just as soon as they can get him there,” Judge Enright announced. He added he would personally call Angola’s warden with the request to “send the van immediately” to retrieve him from Jefferson Parish. 

While awaiting trial for the Avondale murder, Ruffin concocted an escape plan that included his feigning a medical episode in the parish jail.  The episode included faking a seizure, which was documented by deputies’ body-worn cameras. He also stole a canister of pepper spray from a deputy’s untended service belt in the jail’s medical unit. 

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, which operates the parish jail, sent Ruffin to Ochsner’s West Bank campus in unincorporated Gretna in an ambulance for evaluation.  

He was confined to a wheelchair, and because of an immobilizing medical boot on his right foot and leg and bandages on his left wrist, he was not shackled at the ankles and wrists. He likely smuggled the pepper spray canister out of the parish jail by hiding it in his medical boot. 

Several hours after he was hospitalized, he was released and was to be returned to the jail. Two nurses wheeled him out of the hospital and helped place him in the rear seat of a marked Sheriff’s Office vehicle. It was parked outside a non-public entrance to the hospital. 

Moments later, he complained to the transport deputy that his foot was hurting. When the deputy investigated, Ruffin emptied the canister of pepper spray into her face, temporarily blinding her. He removed the medical boot from his leg and discarded it at the scene, ran around the vehicle, got into the driver’s seat and sped away. The deputy fired her service weapon three times at Ruffin in an effort to stop his escape. 

The incident was recorded by the hospital video surveillance system. The evidence clearly implicates Ruffin, Assistant District Attorney Molly Love told jurors Tuesday in closing argument. 

“This isn’t a ‘maybe he did it,’” Assistant DA Love said. “This isn’t ‘possibly he did it.’ It’s him.” 

Ruffin drove the JPSO vehicle to the 3600 block of Gen. de Gaulle Drive in Algiers, where he abandoned it in a business parking lot. He ditched his jail clothing behind the building. He was at large for two days before a U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force located and arrested him at a motel in New Orleans East. 

Ruffin never denied his escape and, in front of jurors on Tuesday morning as closing arguments were about to begin, he loudly proclaimed he would be convicted. His attorney urged jurors to find him not guilty. The attorney assailed the Sheriff’s Office and the deputy who was pepper sprayed because she fired her service weapon twice outside the hospital. 

Assistant District Attorney Piper Didier defended the deputy’s actions in closing argument. 

“He was facing a charge of second-degree murder,” Assistant DA Didier said. “He was awaiting trial for second-degree murder. One of the most violent crimes. Of course she fired her service weapon. … That’s just shifting blame. The defendant is a grown man. He did what he did. He needs to be held accountable for what he did.” 

Ruffin’s repeated outbursts in the courtroom lead Judge Enright to bar him from the courtroom after he proclaimed he would be convicted. Ruffin observed the remainder of the trial from the parish jail via Zoom and did not oppose Judge Enright’s request to announce the sentencing immediately after the verdict was announced. 

“He’s not coming back into this courtroom because of his antics in the past,” Judge Enright said. 

Ruffin’s wife, Shelita Ruffin, 54, of Algiers, pleaded guilty in March 2025 to conspiracy to introduce contraband into the parish jail. She received a 2-year prison sentence. 

Ruffin’s cohort in the escape, Richard R. Robinson, 34, of Harvey, pleaded guilty Monday to accessory after the fact to simple escape and of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He received a 5-year sentence. Robinson drove Ruffin to the New Orleans East motel where he was arrested and provided him with food during his brief stay there.  

On July 9, 2023, Ruffin shot Johnson, 53, several times while Johnson jumped the battery of a rental car Ruffin was using. The shooting occurred in front of Johnson’s home in the 400 block of Federal Drive in Avondale. 

Ruffin pretended to have engine trouble and asked Gannon to use his jumper cables. As Gannon removed the jumper cables from Ruffin’s battery, Ruffin emerged from the driver’s seat of his car and shot Gannon six times, including in the body and head.  

Upon hearing the gunfire, Gannon’s fiancée walked out of the front door of their house. Ruffin shot at her as she fled back inside. Ruffin retrieved his jumper cables and drove away. He later returned to the neighborhood and watched deputies investigate the murder. 

Detectives found surveillance video from Gannon’s home that recorded the shooting. It showed Ruffin touching the hood of Johnson’s car. The Sheriff’s Office lifted one of Ruffin’s fingerprints from the hood, helping identify him as the killer. He was arrested at his Holiday Drive home in Algiers four days after he killed Johnson. 

When questioned by detectives, Ruffin, who grew up with Johnson in the Avondale area, confessed. Ruffin was convicted by a jury in September 2024 of the murder and was later sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. 

He additionally was convicted in that trial of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm (for which he received a 20-year sentence), aggravated assault with a firearm (for which he was sentenced to 10 years in prison), simple criminal damage to property (for which he was sentenced to 15 years in prison), and obstruction of justice (for which he was sentenced to 40 years in prison). 

He was prohibited from possessing firearms because of a 2009 conviction of armed robbery in Pike County, Miss. He was on parole for that crime when he killed Gannon. 

Assistant District Attorneys Piper Didier and Molly Love prosecuted Ruffin in the escape case. Assistant District Attorneys Tommy Block and Piper Didier prosecuted Ruffin in the murder case.