A Metairie man faces up to 10 years in prison for his conviction of causing injuries to his 4-month-old daughter that included a fractured skull and a broken wrist and leg.

Chase King, 38, was convicted as charged Wednesday night (Sept. 14) of cruelty to a juvenile, for the injuries that led a Children’s Hospital doctor to notify police on July 15, 2015. The offense involves the intentional or criminally negligent mistreatment or neglect that causes “unjustifiable pain or suffering” to a child, according to the statute.

King’s daughter had a blackened eye, bruising and a small cut on her face, a broken left femur and a broken right wrist. Prosecutors argued that the child’s skull was fractured days before she was brought to Children’s Hospital.

King, who suffers from cerebral palsy, was the child’s primary caregiver while his wife, Judith King, was at work. He told a detective during the interrogation that he cared for his daughter in the couple’s “cramped” efficiency apartment in the 2300 block of Pasadena Avenue.

He denied losing his temper with the child but admitted he slapped her “across the face” as she lay in her crib on the day before the baby was brought to the hospital. After striking her, he said he called his wife and said, “I just clobbered the kid,” he told Detective Kelly Kron of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office during the video-taped interrogation, which jurors saw.

Of the skull fracture, King speculated it happened accidentally when he lifted his daughter over his head, causing the child’s head to strike the ceiling. “She cried,” King told the detective. “We didn’t think anything of it.”

Of the broken wrist, King said the injury could have been caused as he pulled his daughter’s arm through a sleeve while dressing her.

As to what caused his daughter’s broken femur, he said, “I have no clue.”

King, who holds a master’s degree in educational ministry, expressed frustration over his struggle with cerebral palsy and being the primary caregiver in the small apartment, but he denied intentionally harming the child. His defense team suggested the injuries were the result of accidents caused, in part, by his cerebral palsy, which affected his motor skills.

Judge Scott Schlegel of the 24^th Judicial District Court scheduled King’s sentencing hearing for Sept. 22.

Judith King, 38, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of child abandonment on Jan. 15, for not going to her daughter’s aid after her husband called saying he “clobbered the kid.” She entered an Alford plea, in which she did not admit guilt but pleaded guilty in light of the evidence against her. Judge Schlegel deferred a prison sentence and ordered her to serve one year of active probation.

Assistant District Attorneys Rhonda Goode-Douglas and Marko Marjanovic prosecuted Mr. King.

A former Metairie resident faces up to 40 years in prison for raping a 14-year-old girl.

Marcus Harris, 40, was convicted as charged Friday night of the forcible rape of the teenager who was sexually assaulted in her bed in February 2010. The victim, now 21, testified this week that Harris, with whom she was acquainted, entered her bedroom as she was going to sleep and tickled her before raping her.

“I didn’t do nothing, because I was scared,” she recounted in tearful testimony. “I didn’t know what to do.”

Afterward, she thought, “What should I do? Should I say something? Or should I keep quiet?”

She disclosed the abuse at her school the following day, leading to an investigation by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services. Within hours of the disclosure, the Sheriff’s Office recovered evidence from the house in which the rape occurred, including the victim’s bed linens, detective Sgt. Randall Fernandez testified.

Harris’ DNA was found in seminal stains and skin cells on the bed sheets, according to testimony. Statistically speaking, the probability that the genetic material belongs to someone other than Harris is only greater than one in 100 billion, DNA analyst Sarah Serou of the JPSO Regional DNA Laboratory testified.

Serou’s findings led the Sheriff’s Office to obtain an arrest warrant, Fernandez testified.

The victim testified this week that she felt “disgusting” after he raped her, and that she “hated myself for the longest.”

“I forgive Marcus, because I’m a Christian,” the victim testified. “But I will never forget what happened.”

Harris did not testify. The defense depicted the victim as an emotionally troubled youth and suggested she planted the seminal fluid on her bed sheets. Harris’ mother, two brothers and his sister-in-law testified for his defense, primarily to call the victim’s credibility into question.

Soon after the rape investigation began, Harris pleaded guilty to an unrelated charge of second-degree battery of his then 19-year-old girlfriend, for which he received a four-year sentence. The rape investigation proceeded, leading to charges being filed in court after he completed that sentence.

The sentence for forcible rape is five years to 40 years in prison. Judge Ellen Shirer Kovach of the 24^th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Harris on Sept. 26.

Assistant District Attorneys Douglas Rushton and Lynn Schiffman prosecuted the case.

A 43-year-old New Orleans man averted his trial by pleading guilty on Monday (Aug. 15) to molesting a 7-year-old girl two years ago.

Ulysses Maxwell pleaded guilty as charged to sexual battery of a juvenile under age 13 and cyberstalking, and received a 25-year prison sentence. He also will have to register as sex offender for the rest of his life after he’s released from prison.

“We as a society should not tolerate predators of our own species,” Judge Danyelle Taylor of the 24^th Judicial District Court told Maxwell.

According to witnesses in the case, the victim was sleeping at her grandmother’s home on the West Bank in early 2014, and Maxwell was there at the time. He invited the victim into the kitchen, sat her on an ice chest and told her to close her eyes to play a game.

When she realized that Maxwell was sexually abusing her, she opened her eyes and began to cry, leading Maxwell to give her a candy bar. The victim told her grandmother, but she did not report the incident to anyone.

Several months later, the victim was watching a television show about child sexual predators and asked her mother if should could tell her anything. The mother said she could, and the child disclosed the abuse, leading the mother to notify the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.

The victim’s biological father and her mother’s boyfriend at the time, meanwhile, sought Maxwell out and beat him up.

Maxwell in turn sent a threatening text message to the boyfriend’s cellular phone, telling him, “You know yall should have killed me now my turn. You a died man.” [sic] That text message served as the basis for the cyberstalking charge.

Judge Taylor sentenced Maxwell to 25 years for the sexual battery, to be served without the benefit of probation, parole or suspended sentence. She sentenced Maxwell to six months for the cyberstalking and ran it concurrently with the 25 years.

Maxwell had been scheduled to stand trial this week for the offenses and faced 25 years to 99 years had he been convicted of the sexual battery. Through his public defender, however, he appeared in court Monday morning and offered to plead guilty as charged to both offenses.

Assistant District Attorneys Blair Constant and Rhonda Goode-Douglas prosecuted the case.

On the morning after his 8-year-old victim testified against him, a former Metairie resident pleaded guilty as charged on Thursday (Aug. 11) to two counts of indecent behavior with a juvenile under age 13 in exchange for a 10-year prison sentence.

Eric Fontenelle, 53, who more recently resided in Abita Springs, also will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life after he is released from prison, 24^th Judicial District Court Judge Glenn Ansardi ordered in accepting the negotiated plea agreement.

Fontenelle admitted that he inappropriately touched the then 7-year-old girl near her genital area outside her clothing on Oct. 5 and again on Oct. 6 in a Metairie home. Afterward, he told her, “If you tell anybody about this, I’m going to spank you,” prosecutors told the Jefferson Parish jury.

The victim disclosed Fontenelle’s behavior to her stepfather on Oct. 19, leading the family to notify the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. The child repeated her description of what happened to a road deputy, a sex crimes detective, the Jefferson Children’s Advocacy Center and Children’s Hospital.

She also repeated the description on Wednesday evening for the jury. Her testimony Wednesday evening apparently was a factor in Fontenelle’s decision to plead guilty.

Fontenelle had access to the child and was in a position of trust with her family. The abuse and betrayal has left turmoil in the victim’s home, the child’s mother said in an impact statement that was read aloud in court on Thursday.

“You have taken my little girl’s innocence away, something she will never get back,” the mother wrote. “It may be over today, but we still have a long healing process ahead of us!”

Before Thursday, Fontenelle’s criminal history included convictions of narcotics-related offenses. In addition to sex-offender registration, Fontenelle will be under state supervision for the rest of his life after he completes his prison sentence.

While the crimes happened in Metairie, Fontenelle provided the court with an Abita Springs address for his residence.

Assistant District Attorneys Rhonda Goode-Douglas and Marko Marjanovic prosecuted the case.

A former Marrero resident faces five years to 20 years in prison, for his conviction on Wednesday (June 22) of a second offense of failing to register as a sex offender.

A Jefferson Parish jury deliberated just over 15 minutes in finding Gerald Dominick guilty as charged. The jury delivered the verdict about 5:40 p.m., Wednesday.

Judge June Darensburg of the 24^th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Dominick on July 25.

Dominick, 60, was required by law to register as a sex offender for life because of a conviction of forcible rape in Jefferson Parish in 1984. He had been charged with aggravated rape of a 13-year-old girl in February 1984. Subsequent to a negotiated plea agreement, he admitted to committing a forcible rape that same year and received a 17-year prison sentence.

Then, between 2005 and 2011, he failed to maintain his registration. He pleaded guilty to failure to register in 2011 and received a two-year prison sentence. He returned to Jefferson Parish in January 2013, but he never registered as a sex offender.

The Sheriff’s Office arrested him in 2015, leading to his being charged with the second offense of failing to register and to this week’s trial.

Dominick pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, and his attorney argued that because of his history of psychiatric disorders, Dominick did not know right from wrong when he failed to register.

Assistant District Attorneys Josh Vanderhooft and Douglas Rushton prosecuted the case.

A Marrero man was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he pleaded guilty on Monday (June 6), to one count of possession of pornography depicting juveniles under the age of 13.

Sean A. Byers, 26, who lived in Westwego at the time of his arrest, appeared before Judge Lee Faulkner of the 24^th Judicial District Court to enter the plea reached pursuant to negotiations.

Byers must serve the sentence without the benefit of probation, parole or suspended sentence. He also must register as a sex offender for 25 years starting with the day he’s released from prison, Judge Faulkner said.

He was arrested Aug. 6, 2015, after the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents served a search warrant of his residence at the time in the 400 block of Celotex Parkway.

Sheriff’s Office Detective Nick Vega had opened the investigation a month earlier, as part of an ongoing undercover search of people engaged in the distribution and possession of child pornography on the internet. Byers shared with the detective three videos depicting prepubescent girls engaged in sexual activities with adult males, according to the arrest affidavit.

During the search of Byers’ home, police found a flash drive containing those three videos in addition to 16 other images and videos depicting child pornography, according to the arrest affidavit. Byers confessed he downloaded the videos and images.

Byers posted a $10,000 commercial bond two months after his arrest, records show. He surrendered to authorities on Monday to begin his sentence.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Smith prosecuted the case.

A former Metairie resident was sentenced on Monday (June 6) to 30 years in prison for the sexual battery of a girl.

Alejandro Bravo, 45, was convicted last month of inappropriately touching the child on at least three occasions, the last of which occurred on March 9, 2013, when she was 7 years old.

The child was visiting her step-grandmother’s home on Severn Avenue, when Bravo touched her as she sat on his lap. The child spoke out, leading her step-grandmother to call her own mother before alerting the victim’s parents, who in turn notified the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, according to testimony during last month’s trial.

The child testified during the trial that Bravo touched her three times, and that she did not understand that his behavior was wrong until police were notified.

“You made my daughter a victim, but my daughter refuses that label,” the girl’s mother said in an impact testimony letter that a prosecutor read aloud in court on Monday.

After the Sheriff’s Office initiated its investigation and obtained an arrest warrant, Bravo vanished. He was arrested two years later in Minnesota and was extradited to Jefferson Parish to face charges, according to testimony. He testified during the trial that the child “obviously” was lying.

Sexual battery involving a juvenile under age 13 carries a sentence of 25 years to 99 years in prison. Judge Lee Faulkner of the 24^th Judicial District Court, who denied Bravo’s attorney’s request for a new trial last week, cited Bravo’s being a middle-age man in handing down the sentence without probation, parole or suspended sentence.

Judge Faulkner also ordered that Bravo register as a sex offender for the rest of his life from the day he’s released from prison. The registration must be updated every six months, the judge told Bravo.

Assistant District Attorneys Lindsay Truhe and Michael Smith prosecuted the case.