Tag: homicide

Dexter Allen convicted of killing David Pence, son Nicholas in Metairie home

Dexter Allen of New Orleans, arrested last year in connection with the horrific execution of a man and his son in their Metairie home, faces spending the rest of his life in prison for his conviction on Monday (Oct. 17) of two counts of second-degree murder and 19 counts of simple burglary.

After hearing testimony over five days from almost 50 witnesses and seeing about 180 exhibits of evidence, a Jefferson Parish jury unanimously found that Allen, 18, used a stolen shotgun to execute David Pence, 56, and his son Nicholas Pence, 25, in the victims’ home just before midnight on April 22, 2015.

Allen, who traveled to Metairie in a sport-utility vehicle that he allegedly carjacked in New Orleans earlier that day, broke into 19 vehicles in the Pences’ neighborhood. He broke into David Pence’s Ford Mustang that was parked in the family’s driveway, and then slipped into the Pence home through a side door in hopes of stealing a purse that was visible from outside.

Allen killed the Pences with five shotgun blasts, according to testimony. David Pence was likely killed first, while he slept in the recliner chair from which he watched television almost nightly. A shotgun blast to his head probably killed him instantly, according to testimony. Nicholas Pence, who likely went to his father’s side after hearing the gunfire, appeared to have been forced to the ground before he was shot in the head.

Beth Pence was in her bed during the shooting, roused from sleep by the noise, she testified. She found her husband dead and her son dying and called 911 at 11:53 p.m., according to testimony. The jury heard a recording of her heart-rending call, including Nicholas Pence’s last breaths and a 911 dispatcher’s urging the woman to perform chest compressions to keep her son alive.

Judge Ray Steib of the 24th Judicial District Court set a Nov. 14 status hearing on Allen’s sentencing, which would be done at a later date. Because Allen was under age 18 at the time he killed the Pences, he cannot receive a mandatory life sentence in prison, which is the statutory punishment for second-degree murder under Louisiana law. Allen was 17 when he killed the Pences.

Judge Steib has the discretion to hand down either a sentence of life with the possibility of parole or life without parole, a decision he will make after hearing testimony and receiving evidence at a sentencing hearing. By law, Allen potentially could receive life with parole, meaning he would be eligible to apply for parole after serving 35 years of his sentence, provided certain criteria are met.

Allen denied killing the Pences, and there were no eyewitnesses to the homicides. However, he confessed to Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives William “Brad” Roniger and Thomas Gai that he and his girlfriend were in Metairie in a stolen vehicle, breaking into cars on the night in question.

Police found the shotgun hidden under Allen’s mother’s home in New Orleans. Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office Deputy Emily Barrios, qualified as an expert in firearms and tool mark analysis, connected the spent shotgun shells in the Pence home to that shotgun. She testified she had “no doubt” that the shotgun found under Allen’s mother’s home was the murder weapon.

Laura Catilin Oliver of the Sheriff’s Office Regional DNA Laboratory, qualified as an expert in DNA analysis, testified that Allen’s genetic material was recovered from the shotgun’s stock, grip and trigger guard. The statistical probability that the DNA belonged to someone other than Allen is greater than only one in 100 billion, Oliver testified.

Two days after killing the Pences, Allen was arrested in eastern New Orleans. He led members of a U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force on a vehicle pursuit that ended with his arrest after he jumped into the Industrial Canal at Interstate 10, according to testimony. Detectives found evidence in the stolen sports-utility vehicle and Allen’s mother’s home that was connected to some of the Metairie burglaries, according to testimony.

Detectives also found David Pence’s pharmacy card under the front passenger seat, where Allen sat after leaving Metairie following the homicides. That card was in Mrs. Pence’s purse, which was stolen from her kitchen countertop during the homicides, according to testimony.

Other evidence included residential security camera images of the burglars and traffic cameras through which detectives tracked the stolen SUV being driven to I-10 on Bonnabel Boulevard and back to New Orleans.

Allen’s attorney, who provided no witnesses, called the state’s case “100-percent circumstantial,” and argued that prosecutors had not proven that Allen killed the Pences.

The jury deliberated less than two hours before convicting Allen as charged of all counts. He still faces trial in New Orleans Criminal District Court for the carjacking and other offenses that occurred the day he killed the Pences and during the days that followed.

Allen’s girlfriend, Haraquon Degruy, 19, of New Orleans, awaits trial in Jefferson Parish on two counts of being principal to second-degree murder and 17 counts of simple burglary.

Assistant District Attorneys Seth Shute and Rachel Africk prosecuted the case.

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Jerman Neveaux indicted for first-degree murder of JPSO Detective David Michel

Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul D. Connick Jr. announced today that a grand jury has returned an indictment for first-degree murder against Jerman Joseph Neveaux in the death of Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office Detective David F. Michel Jr.

“We believe the circumstances surrounding the shooting death of Detective Michel warrant the harshest penalty,” Mr. Connick said. “After consulting with my staff and Detective Michel’s family, I have decided that my office will seek the death penalty.”

Neveaux additionally was indicted on charges of aggravated assault with a firearm, two counts of resisting arrest by force or violence and one count of possession of a stolen firearm.

Because this is a pending matter, there will be no further comment by this office.

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Harvey man pleads guilty to manslaughter in woman’s shooting death

A Harvey man facing trial this week for killing his girlfriend pleaded guilty on Monday morning (Sept. 19) to manslaughter and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Eric Alexander, 21, admitted he killed Ayesha Majeed, whom he shot three times during an argument on Feb. 1, 2014. Investigators believed that Majeed, 18, of Waggaman, was fleeing Alexander and ran to a home in the 3700 block of Clover Lane in Harvey, in search of help, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.

The homeowner, thinking someone was trying to break in, called 911. Deputies found Majeed’s body outside the front door, amid broken glass from the house. Majeed and Alexander had an intimate relationship, although Alexander had a girlfriend.

After killing Majeed, Alexander went to a breakfast restaurant on Elysian Fields Avenue in New Orleans, evidence shows. The Sheriff’s Office, in investigating the homicide, obtained surveillance video from the neighborhood showing Alexander and Majeed arguing on the street, five minutes before the gunfire.

Alexander, who lived near the shooting scene, surrendered to the Sheriff’s Office. He initially denied he was with Majeed at the time of the incident. He then asserted that they were the victims of a drive-by shooting.

In a letter she wrote to the court in lieu of live impact testimony, Majeed’s sister said her younger sister planned to study cosmetology or nursing, but instead was killed “in cold blood.”

“Ayesha’s life was just beginning,” the sister wrote, adding that their father died from a massive heart attack just three days after the homicide, a death the family attributes to Majeed’s passing.

“Eric Alexander has harmed several families with his harsh decision to murder Ayesha,” the sister wrote.

Alexander apologized to “the victim’s family,” he said in court, his back turned to Majeed’s family seated in the courtroom’s audience.

Jury selection was scheduled to begin Monday morning, as Alexander was to stand trial on a charge of second-degree murder. On Friday, he turned down a negotiated plea offer reached between his attorneys and prosecutors with support from Majeed’s family, in which he would plead guilty to manslaughter in exchange for a 30-year prison sentence.

Judge Stephen Enright of the 24th Judicial District Court told Alexander on Friday that the plea deal and 30-year sentence would no longer be available to him on Monday. On Monday morning, prosecutors were preparing to begin jury selection, when defense counsel inquired about the plea arrangement, leading to Alexander pleading guilty.

The case against Alexander, who was 19 at the time of the homicide, was built on circumstantial evidence, as there were no eye-witnesses who could link him to the homicide. The gun used in the homicide was never recovered.

Assistant District Attorneys Kellie Rish and Megan Gorman prosecuted the case.

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Jefferson Parish prosecutors in Harvey Hustlers cases receive top FBI awards

Two Jefferson Parish prosecutors who are working with the joint local and federal task force that dismantled the notorious Harvey Hustlers gang, sending dozens of extremely violent drug dealers to prison for as long as 120 years, received 2016 FBI Director’s Awards for their ongoing work in the case.

Assistant District Attorneys Doug Freese and Seth Shute were among the New Orleans-area local and federal law enforcement officials to receive the award in the Outstanding Criminal Investigation category on Thursday (Sept. 15) from FBI Director James Comey, during a ceremony in Washington D.C.

Members of the FBI New Orleans Gang Task Force, which initiated the investigation seven years ago, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office also were named to receive the awards.

The Director’s Awards, considered to be among the most prestigious accolades within the FBI, are given annually to Bureau employees and others to recognize their exemplary contributions and service to their communities. This year’s recipients include men and women who investigated deadly terrorist and cyber attacks, designed innovative technology and training and provided exceptional service to colleagues and victims of crime, according to the FBI.

Read the FBI New Orleans announcement here.

Considered the scourge of some West Bank neighborhoods, the Harvey Hustlers traces its roots to the 1980s in the Scotsdale subdivision, from where a core group of members oversaw a narcotics distribution ring. The gang enlisted affiliates from other West Bank neighborhoods to help import the narcotics into Jefferson Parish from as far as Texas and to distribute it in the area.

The Harvey Hustlers had an enforcement arm known as the Murder Squad, which used violence to protect its illegal activities. Numerous homicides were tied to the gang, including those of an 81-year-old Bridge City woman and a 58-year-old Marrero man, neither of whom was the intended target.

The FBI New Orleans Gang Task Force and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office initiated the investigation in 2009, leading to more than 65 criminal indictments in state and federal courts. Since the investigation began, Jefferson Parish saw a 39-percent decrease in its homicide rate through 2015, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana and the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office collaborated in deciding the jurisdiction in which the cases would be prosecuted, depending on whether federal or state law could provide the more appropriate punishment.

Convictions in Jefferson Parish’s 24th Judicial District Court in Gretna, and U.S. District Court in New Orleans, led to sentences ranging from five years to life in prison. The state and federal charges ranged from heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine distribution, racketeering, conspiracy to distribute narcotics, firearms offenses, homicide and murder-in-aid of racketeering.

In the Jefferson Parish, Freese and Shute prosecuted more than 30 Harvey Hustlers and their affiliates. Of them, 21 defendants were charged last year by a state grand jury in a sweeping 30-count racketeering and conspiracy case that includes a pending second-degree murder case.

Among them was Robert Williams, a Harvey Hustlers leader who was convicted at trial and sentenced in January to 120 years in prison. Each of the Harvey Hustlers who already had prior criminal convictions received no less than 20-year prison sentences in the Jefferson Parish cases.

This is the second time this year the Harvey Hustlers task force has been recognized. In February, New Orleans’ Metropolitan Crime Commission awarded the task force its 2016 Excellence in Law Enforcement Award.

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‘My brother trusted you,’ homicide victim’s sister tells convict at sentencing hearing

With a dozen members of her victim’s family and many of her own kin appearing in a Jefferson Parish courtroom, an eastern New Orleans woman was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday (Aug. 4), for orchestrating an armed robbery that ended with a fatal shooting two years ago.

Markeisha Lewis, 25, on Monday admitted to her role in the June 27, 2014, death of a man she knew, Demone Robinson, 24, whom she set up to be robbed of a pistol and Xanax pills in a meeting she arranged in the 1000 block of Inca Drive.

She pleaded guilty to manslaughter, conspiracy to possess Xanax and obstruction of justice. In accepting the plea, Judge Lee Faulkner of the 24th Judicial District Court delayed the sentencing to Thursday, when three of Robinson’s family members provided impact testimony.

“You’re looking like you don’t care, but we care,” Robinson’s mother Letrina Robinson testified, speaking to the shackled Lewis sitting directly across the courtroom in the jury box. “You don’t know how much I loved my son. I fought to get you to this point where you are right now.”

Lewis and Robinson knew each other, the family members said. Yet she conceived the plan to rob him of his pistol and Xanax, according to court documents. Through a series of text messages, she set up the meeting in the 1000 block of Inca Drive in Harvey, near where Robinson lived.

“My brother trusted you, well enough for you to have his number,” his sister Ashley Robinson said in impact testimony. She thanked “those of you who brought justice for my brother.” And she called it “a senseless and poorly planned crime” that robbed the Robinson family of their loved one.

Lewis enlisted two teenagers, Raynell Whittaker, then 17, and Everis Hilton, then 16, to help carry out the plan, according to the court records. As she and Whittaker met with Robinson on the street, Lewis called out, “We about to get crunk,” her signal for the armed Hilton to commence the robbery, the records show.

Instead, Hilton emerged and opened fire, killing Robinson. Hilton later told Whittaker that Robinson was removing a pistol from his pants, leading to the shooting. “I had to. He was going to kill me,” according to court records.

Afterward, Lewis deleted the incriminating text messages from her phone and removed the firearms – actions that led to the obstruction of justice charge.

Family members said Robinson had four daughters. One of them was at their nearby home when her father left to meet with Lewis, the family members said. That daughter had been waiting for her father to return, they said.

Everis and Whittaker pleaded guilty to manslaughter and other offenses in July. Everis received a 40-year sentence, and Whittaker was sentenced to 30 years.

In addition to her testimony, Letrina Robinson prepared a statement that was read aloud by her sister, ArKemi Robinson. In it, she accused Lewis of not caring about Robinson’s family when she concocted and carried out the robbery.

“You were only worried about your mission being accomplished,” Letrina Robinson wrote. “Today, you’re sitting in this courtroom, in this box, facing Demone’s family, something you didn’t think would ever happen.”

She said she did not believe Lewis should ever “walk the streets” as a free person again. “We did get justice for my son, because that’s all that matters,” she wrote. She told Lewis to consider her parting thoughts while she’s being transported to a state prison to begin her 25-year sentence.

“While you’re riding, ask yourself: Was it worth it?” Letrina Robinson wrote. “Enjoy your years.”

After her testimony, Letrina Robinson returned to the courtroom gallery where her family sat and began sobbing. A family member carried her from the courtroom.

Just days before the homicide, Hilton and Whittaker robbed a man of his cell phone in New Orleans’ Irish Channel. They pleaded guilty in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court and were serving 10-year prison sentences for that crime when a Jefferson Parish grand jury handed up an indictment charging them in Robinson’s death.

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

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New Orleans woman pleads guilty to role in Harvey homicide

An eastern New Orleans woman has pleaded guilty on to her role in the shooting death of a man in West Jefferson two years ago, bringing to three the number of people who’ve admitted guilt in the homicide.

Markeisha Lewis, 25, pleaded guilty Monday afternoon (Aug. 1) to manslaughter, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to possess Xanex in connection with the June 27, 2014 death of Demone Robinson of Harvey.

In accepting the negotiated plea agreement, Judge Lee Faulkner of the 24th Judicial District Court  will sentence Lewis to 25 years in prison during a hearing set for 1:30 p.m., on Thursday.

Robinson, 24, was shot to death in the 1000 block of Inca Drive in Harvey, during an attempt to rob him of Xanax pills and his pistol. He died at the scene.

The shooter, Everis Hilton, 18, of New Orleans, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on July 12, and received a 40-year prison sentence. Hilton was 16 years old at the time of the offense.

The third participant, Raynell Whittaker, 19, of Harvey, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on June 10, in exchange for a 30-year prison sentence. Judge Faulkner handed down those sentences on July 18.

According to court records, Lewis had been romantically involved with Whittaker’s mother and conceived a plan to rob Robinson of a pistol under the guise of obtaining Xanex pills. She and Robinson communicated via text messages in arranging a meeting. She then told Hilton, “We going to savage D,” speaking in slang of robbing Robinson, according to court records.

The plan called for her and Whittaker to meet with Robinson for the purported narcotics transaction. She told Hilton that her signal to rob Robinson was her saying, “We going to get crunk,” court records show. Lewis and Whittaker then met with Robinson when she called out the signal phrase, leading Hilton to emerge saying “freeze,” court records show.

Robinson began to remove his pistol from his waistband, and Hilton began shooting, according to court records. Afterwards, Hilton explained to Whittaker his reason for opening fire: “I had to. He was going to kill me,” according to court records.

Lewis’ obstruction of justice charge stems from her orchestrating the removal of firearms in connection with the homicide investigation and eliminating evidence of the plan from her cellular phone. She was scheduled to stand trial this week on charges including second-degree murder.

Judge Faulkner will sentence Lewis to 25 years at hard labor for the manslaughter, 2 1/2 years for the conspiracy and 10 years for obstruction of justice. He will run the sentences concurrently, he said.

In pleading guilty on Monday, Lewis told the judge she lived in eastern New Orleans. In court records, her home address was given as the 1000 block of Inca Drive, which is near the homicide scene.

Her guilty plea comes a week after the Louisiana Supreme Court sided with Jefferson Parish prosecutors in their quest to use Lewis’ rap videos and lyrics as evidence against her during the trial. Lyrics describing a violent armed robbery tended to incriminate her in connection with Robinson’s death, prosecutors argued.

Just days before the homicide, Hilton and Whittaker robbed a man of his cell phone in New Orleans’ Irish Channel. They pleaded guilty in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court and were serving 10-year prison sentences for that crime when a Jefferson Parish grand jury handed up an indictment charging them in Robinson’s death.

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

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West Bank man pleads guilty to fatally stabbing his friend

As a jury was waiting to hear opening statements in his trial, a West Bank man admitted on Wednesday morning (July 13), to fatally stabbing his longtime friend during an argument in a Harvey apartment five years ago.

Melvin Billiot, 52, pleaded guilty as charged to manslaughter and obstruction of justice in exchange for a 20-year prison sentence. He admitted he killed Richard Barrios, who died from a single stab wound to his upper chest on July 19, 2011.

The men, both intoxicated, argued in the apartment they shared in the 4200 block of La Couture Drive, before Billiot stabbed his friend. Manslaughter generally is defined as a homicide carried out in the heat of passion or done where there’s no specific intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm.

“I stabbed Richard, but I didn’t mean to kill him,” Billiot wrote on guilty plea forms.

Billiot then removed the kitchen knife, cleaned it and returned it to a drawer, and attempted to clean the blood from his floor. Those actions lead to his being charged with obstruction of justice for tampering with evidence to attempt to distort the criminal investigation.

Detectives gathered several knives from the apartment, and Barrios’ DNA was located on one of them, leading authorities to say it was used in the homicide. Deputies also used the leuco-crystal violet substance at the crime scene and found the presumptive presence of blood throughout the apartment.

“Richard was supposed to be Melvin’s friend,” Barrios’ sister Santa Marie Cardenal told the court in impact testimony. “Richard and Melvin grew up together. You don’t do that to a friend.”

Judge Henry Sullivan of the 24th Judicial District Court, in accepting the negotiated plea, sentenced Billiot to 20 years in prison for each offense. Judge Sullivan ran the sentences concurrently.

Billiot and his sister, Pamela Billiot Leblanc, initially were booked by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office with obstruction of justice. They both asserted Barrios fell and said nothing about the stabbing until emergency medical technicians found the stab wound.

Billiot was later booked with the homicide. He confessed to stabbing Barrios when questioned the Sheriff’s Office.

Leblanc was never formally charged in connection with the crime and later died following an illness.

A jury was seated late Tuesday night and was in a room adjacent to the courtroom waiting to hear opening statements when Billiot pleaded guilty.

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

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New Orleans teen pleads guilty to manslaughter in Harvey homicide

A New Orleans teenager pleaded guilty to manslaughter on Tuesday (July 12), as the gunman in a Harvey shooting that left a 24-year-old man dead.

Everis Hilton, 18, will be sentenced to 40 years in prison, the maximum for manslaughter, during a July 18 hearing, Judge Lee Faulkner of the 24th Judicial District Court said Tuesday in accepting the guilty plea.

Hilton was 16 years old on June 27, 2014, when he and another teen planned to rob Demone Robinson of Xanax pills. Robinson was shot multiple times and died in the 1000 block of Inca Drive.

Hilton was charged with second-degree murder and, because he was a juvenile at the time of the offense, he potentially faced life in prison with or without parole eligibility had he been convicted of that crime. But as part of a negotiated agreement, he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.

A co-defendant, Raynell Whittaker, 19, of Harvey, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the case on June 10. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 18 to 30 years in prison. He also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess Xanax, for which he will receive a 2 1/2-year sentence that will be run concurrently with the punishment for manslaughter.

According to court documents, Markeisha T. Lewis, who had been romantically involved with Whittaker’s mother, conceived the plan to rob Robinson of the Xanax pills. She and Whittaker were to meet with Robinson for the transaction, during which they would say, “We about to get crunk” to signal to Hilton to rob the victim.

Upon hearing the signal, Hilton, who was armed, approached and shot Robinson. Hilton then removed Robinson’s pistol and gave it to Lewis, according to court documents.

After returning to Whittaker’s apartment, he asked Hilton why he shot Robinson. Hilton responded, “I had to. He was going to kill me,” according to court documents.

Lewis, 25, of Harvey, awaits trial on charges of second-degree murder, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to possess Xanax in connection with Robinson’s death.

At the time a Jefferson Parish grand jury handed up charges in Robinson’s homicide, Whittaker and Everis already were in state prison in connection with their guilty pleas to armed robbery in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court.

That crime happened sixteen days before Robinson was killed. Whittaker and Everis admitted they robbed a man of his cell phone in the 600 block of Third Street, in New Orleans’ Irish Channel. They are currently serving 10-year prison sentences for that crime.

Judge Faulkner is running the sentences for the Harvey crime concurrently with the sentences they are serving for the New Orleans armed robbery.

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

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Metairie woman pleads guilty to death, dismemberment of Jaren Lockhart

A Metairie woman pleaded guilty Monday morning (June 20) to participating in the death of Jaren Lockhart, the French Quarter exotic dancer who was fatally stabbed in a Kenner home four years ago before her body was dismembered and her body parts were discarded along the Mississippi Gulf Coast by the two killers.

One year and one day after her ex-boyfriend Terry Speaks was convicted for his role in the same crime, Margaret Sanchez, 32, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice. She was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Lockhart, 22, the mother of a 3-year-old child, died on June 6, 2012, after agreeing to leave her French Quarter job in the early morning hours with Sanchez and Speaks. The trio went to the home that Sanchez and Speaks shared in the 2000 block of Connecticut Avenue, near Louis Armstrong International Airport in Kenner, where Speaks and Sanchez killed Lockhart.

“After consulting with Ms. Lockhart’s family, it was decided that the negotiated plea agreement was in the best interests of all parties involved,” Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul D. Connick, Jr. said. “Out of respect for Ms. Lockhart and her family, I will not comment further on the case or the evidence.”

Members of Lockhart’s family, along with numerous law enforcement officers from Kenner and Mississippi who were involved in the investigation, were present in the courtroom when Sanchez pleaded guilty.

“Words cannot express the pain her family and friends have endured since the murder,” Donna Kulick, guardian of Ms. Lockhart’s daughter, said in impact testimony.

She said the girl still cries over the loss of her mother, and that their family is “forever broken.”

“This will have a huge impact on her for the rest of her life,” Kulick testified.

In accepting the plea agreement, Judge Stephen Grefer of the 24th Judicial District Court, who presided over both criminal cases, sentenced Sanchez to 40 years for manslaughter, 40 years for obstruction of justice and 20 years for the charge of conspiracy to obstruct justice.

The three sentences are the maximum for the respective charges. Judge Grefer ran the sentences concurrently.

Sanchez was scheduled to stand trial beginning July 11 on charges of second-degree murder, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Speaks, 43, was convicted as charged on June 19, 2015, of second-degree murder, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice. He is serving two life sentences at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. The first of those life sentences was handed down for the second degree murder.

After initially sentencing Speaks to 40 years in prison for obstruction of justice, Judge Grefer ruled on Jan. 22 that Speaks is a quadruple felony offender under Louisiana’s habitual offender law. Judge Grefer then handed down the second life sentence.

Sanchez has been held in the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna since May 2014, when the Kenner Police Department arrested her in connection with Lockhart’s death. She and Speaks were indicted by a Jefferson Parish grand jury on Aug. 14, 2014. She was unable to post a $1.5 million bond.

Sanchez’s last court appearance was Dec. 7, when Judge Grefer denied requests to dismiss the indictment and, alternatively, to move the trial out of the Jefferson Parish area. Her attorneys asserted the extraordinary pretrial publicity the case received by local news media made it difficult to seat a fair and impartial jury. However, her July 11 trial date was set that day, court records show.

Assistant District Attorneys Doug Freese and Tommy Block prosecuted both cases.

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Teenager pleads guilty, sentenced to 30 years for Harvey homicide

A Harvey teenager pleaded guilty to manslaughter on Friday (June 10), for his involvement in a homicide two years ago in which a 24-year old man was shot to death.

Raynell Whittaker, 19, will receive a 30-year prison sentence for the June 27, 2014 death of Demone Robinson, according to the plea agreement presented in court on Friday.

Robinson was shot multiple times and died in the 1000 block of Inca Drive, which is off Manhattan Boulevard in Harvey. According to court documents, Robinson was targeted as part of a plan to rob him. Whittaker and a co-defendant who is the accused shooter had been scheduled to stand trial next week on a charge of second-degree murder.

As part of the negotiated plea which requires Whittaker’s cooperation, prosecutors reduced the murder charge to manslaughter, which carries a maximum punishment of 40 years in prison. Whittaker also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess Xanax, for which he will receive a 2 ½-year sentence that will run concurrently with the manslaughter sentence.

Judge Lee Faulkner of the 24th Judicial District Court, who accepted Whittaker’s guilty pleas, scheduled the sentencing for July 18.

Everis Hilton, 18, of New Orleans, and Markeisha T. Lewis, 25, of Harvey, also are charged with second-degree murder in connection with Robinson’s death.

Second-degree murder carries a punishment of mandatory life in prison upon conviction. However, under a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Miller vs. Alabama, individuals who commit homicides before they reach age 18 cannot automatically be sentenced to life imprisonment without the benefit of parole.

At the time of Robinson’s death, Whittaker was 17 and Hilton was 16, but both were charged as adults.

At the time a Jefferson Parish grand jury handed up charges in Robinson’s homicide, Whittaker and Everis already were in state prison in connection with their guilty pleas to armed robbery in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court.

That crime happened sixteen days before Robinson was killed. Whittaker and Everis admitted they robbed a man of his cell phone in the 600 block of Third Street, in New Orleans’ Irish Channel. They currently are serving 10-year prison sentences for that crime.

In accepting the plea, Faulkner agreed to run Whittaker’s 30-year sentence currently with the 10-year sentence in the armed robbery case.

Assistant District Attorneys Lindsay Truhe and Michael Smith are prosecuting the cases.

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