Tag: homicide

Gretna man pleads guilty, gets 20 years for killing Carnival float driver while driving drunk

A Gretna man was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Tuesday (May 10) after pleading guilty to killing a Carnival float tractor driver in Marrero while driving drunk.

Michael Burrle, 56, pleaded guilty as charged to vehicular homicide and reckless operation of a motor vehicle in connection with the Feb. 7, 2015, collision at Lapalco Boulevard and Paxton Street.

Burrle admitted he caused the death of Don Dauzat, 53, of Westwego, who was driving the tractor he used to pull a float in a Metairie parade the night before.

At the time of the collision, Burrle’s blood-alcohol content was .12 percent, which is 50 percent above the legal limit to drive.

He was speeding westward on Lapalco just before 3 a.m., in a 2001 Ford Explorer, when he ran the red light at Paxton, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Dauzat, meanwhile, was in a convoy of tractors and had just turned onto Lapalco from Paxton when the 2012 John Deere he was driving was struck by Burrle’s sports-utility vehicle. The impact sent the tractor rolling about 70 feet, and Dauzat was ejected.

Dauzat died from his injuries at a hospital later that day. Burrle was arrested at the scene.

Dauzat was among the tractor drivers who pulled floats in the Krewe of Excalibur parade the night before and had just dropped off the floats at a den in Marrero. The drivers, including Dauzat, were driving the tractors in a convoy to a staging area for another parade scheduled for the following night when Burrle caused the fatal collision.

In impact testimony given during the plea hearing Tuesday, Dauzat’s daughter Courtney Dauzat called her father “my protector, comforter, friend and my hero.” She recounted how her father taught her to ride a bike, to “properly cast a fishing pole,” to check the air in her tires and many other things.

“My father taught me a lot about how to have faith in God and how to love others,” she testified. “That night I lost the man who was supposed to walk me down the aisle on my wedding day, a day that every daughter looks forward to. I lost the man I felt safest with.

“My father cared for people in such an extraordinary way,” she said. “He always had a glow about him, always smiling, laughing and enjoying his life. I had always looked up to my father and hoped that one day my husband might be half the man my father was.”

Dauzat’s goddaughter, Lindsey Seibert, was among the family and friends who wrote letters to the court. A prosecutor read hers aloud. “Don did what he could to be a protector, a supporter, a husband, a friend, a son, a brother, a dedicated safety coordinator at Monsanto,” Seibert wrote. “He did a damn good job at all of those things and many more.

“We need more people in the world like Don, and unfortunately, we lost one too early that night. His kindness and happiness will live on in our hearts forever, but sometimes it just doesn’t feel like it’s enough,” Seibert wrote.

In accepting the negotiated pleas, Judge Ray Steib of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Burrle to 20 years in prison for the vehicular homicide and 90 days for the reckless operation offense. Steib additionally ordered Burrle to pay a $2,000 fine.

Assistant District Attorney Angad Ghai prosecuted the case.

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Terrytown woman’s beating death brings manslaughter guilty pleas

A woman and her former boyfriend pleaded guilty on Monday (April 25), to beating her mother to death in her Terrytown home while stealing her drugs, and admitting guilt to narcotics, obstruction and firearms offenses.

Misty Eiermann, 36, and Bryan Schwartz, 28, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with the Sept. 9, 2014, death of Mary Romano, 56. Romano was struck in the head with a blunt object at least 17 times, in her home in the 700 block of Terry Parkway, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Eiermann, who admitted she killed her mother, was sentenced to the maximum 40-year sentence for manslaughter. Schwartz received a 20-year sentence as a principal to manslaughter.

In pleading guilty, Eiermann testified that she and Schwartz had been drinking and using drugs that night when they decided to rob her mother of her morphine and Xanax. She asserted Schwartz held a gun to Romano’s head and pointed it at her, too.

“He said, ‘You kill her or I will.’ So I did,” Eiermann testified, reiterating one of the four contradictive statements she made following her arrest.

When he entered his guilty plea minutes later, Schwartz said he helped Eiermann.

After the homicide, the couple fled in Romano’s vehicle, which they later gave to a homeless woman who at the time lived under the South Claiborne Avenue overpass in New Orleans, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

The couple was charged with second-degree murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence in prison upon conviction. With Romano’s family members in the courtroom, Judge Henry Sullivan of the 24th Judicial District Court accepted the negotiated plea to manslaughter and handed down the sentences.

Eiermann and Schwartz also pleaded guilty as charged to obstruction of justice, for discarding the clothing they wore during the homicide, Romano’s vehicle and the blunt instrument used in the homicide. Sullivan sentenced each of them to 20 years in prison for those offenses.

Schwartz also pleaded guilty to being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, because of a 9 mm pistol deputies found in the South Niagra Circle apartment that he and Eiermann shared. He was barred from possessing firearms because of a 2008 burglary conviction in Kentucky. He received a 20-year sentence for that crime.

Eierman pleaded guilty to illegally supplying a felon with a firearm, for providing that pistol to Schwartz, knowing he was barred from possessing firearms. She received a five-year sentence for that charge.

Each also pleaded guilty as charged charged with possession of morphine, possession of Zoloft and possession of Alprazolam. Additionally, Eiermann was charged with a second count of possession of morphine. They received five-year sentences for each of those counts.

Judge Sullivan ran their sentences concurrently.

Schwartz also pleaded guilty to being a double offender on the obstruction charge, under Louisiana’s habitual offender law, for his 2008 burglary conviction in Kentucky. His sentence as a double offender was 20 years, run currently.

During a pretrial hearing on March 12, 2015, Schwartz wiped feces on his face in the courtroom, leading the judge to order to a sanity evaluation to determine whether he was fit to stand trial. Doctors later concluded Schwartz was mentally sound to stand trial.

Assistant District Attorney Kellie Rish prosecuted the cases.

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Harvey Hustler associate sentenced to 35 years in quintuple shooting

Days after he was sentenced for federal homicide and narcotics charges, a Waggaman drug dealer tied to the notorious Harvey Hustlers street gang was sentenced in state court on Monday (April 25) to 35 years in prison for a West Jefferson shooting that injured three toddlers and two women. None of the five injured victims was an intended target of the gunfire.

Frankie Hookfin Jr., 24, who was part of an offshoot to the Harvey Hustlers, pleaded guilty in Jefferson Parish’s 24th Judicial District Court earlier this year to five counts of attempted second-degree murder, aggravated criminal damage to property and aggravated flight. His sentencing was postponed to Monday, as Hookfin’s guilty pleas in state and federal court were a result of the coordinated effort between the United States Attorney’s Office and the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office.

Those charges stem from his involvement in a shooting at the Lapalco Apartments in the 2300 block of Lapalco Boulevard in Harvey on April 22, 2013. Hookfin and a second gunman stood outside an apartment door about 4:20 a.m., and opened fire, authorities said.

Immediately after the shooting, Hookfin led police on a chase across the Crescent City Connection into downtown New Orleans, where he wrecked his car at the Earhart Boulevard exit. Hookfin was injured after jumping or falling from the exit ramp to the ground below, authorities said.

Judge Henry Sullivan of the 24th Judicial District Court, who accepted Hookfin’s guilty plea on Jan. 19, handed down the 35-year sentence on Monday. Judge Sullivan ran the sentence concurrently with a 35-year prison sentenced Hookfin received last week in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

The Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office originally charged Hookfin and three others with the attempted murders, but later dismissed the charges against two of them. The third man, Charlie Gumms, was among the 21 defendants charged in a superseding indictment last year, in connection with the Harvey Hustlers narcotics distribution ring.

Gumms, 20, of Terrytown, pleaded guilty on Feb. 1, to five counts of attempted second-degree murder for the Lapalco Apartments shooting, racketeering, conspiracy to distribute cocaine and conspiracy to distribute heroin. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Hookfin was not included in that 21-defendant Harvey Hustler case, because the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Orleans charged him with the same narcotics-related activities in federal court last year.

Hookfin pleaded guilty on Sept. 22, to charges of causing a death through the use of firearms and conspiracy to distribute cocaine and heroin. In connection with that plea, U.S. District Court Judge Lance Africk sentenced Hookfin on Thursday (April 21) to 35 years in prison.

In that case, Hookfin admitted he was among four men who on Feb. 11, 2013, went to Marrero looking to kill a rival to their narcotics ring, “Buddy Boy,” federal prosecutors say in court documents. Hookfin and others, went to a house in the 6100 block of August Avenue and opened fire as they walked down the street, causing several people outside to flee.

Emeal Washington, 58, who was visiting a friend at the house, was shot dead as he ran, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office said at the time. Gunmen fired 81 bullets.

On Feb. 13, 2013, Hookfin was among the same group that went to Bridge City to attack another rival to their narcotics ring. Hookfin and two others stormed the house, kicking in the front door and opening fire, authorities said.

Doretha Richardson, 81, whose grandson was the target in the home invasion, was shot and killed in her kitchen. Hookfin also shot a cohort, Isaac Smith, in the back during that crime, federal prosecutors say.

Hookfin also admitted he was among the shooters at two other incidents, including the Jan. 12, 2013, shooting of a man who purchased heroin from the narcotics ring using fake $100 bills, federal prosecutors say. In that incident, the victim, his girlfriend and their two children led the gunmen on a car chase that ended at a store parking lot, where the gunmen opened fire. No one died in that incident.

Then, on Feb. 11, 2013, just before Washington was killed in Marrero, Hookfin and cohorts shot at another man, federal prosecutors say.

Assistant District Attorney Doug Freese prosecuted Hookfin in the state case. Freese and Assistant District Attorney Seth Shute worked on the Harvey Hustler cases with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Orleans, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s New Orleans Gang Task Force and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.

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Jacoby Maize sentenced to life plus 55 years for murder, arson and other crimes

Convicted killer Jacoby Maize was sentenced on Monday (March 28) to life in prison plus 55 years, for shooting Justin Hendricks Jr. in his Old Jefferson home on the day after Easter Sunday 2011 and for six other crimes.

Maize, 38, of Kenner, was convicted of second-degree murder in the April 25, 2011 homicide inside Hendricks’ home in the 100 block of Maine Street. Firefighters found the body the following day when extinguishing the fire Maize set to conceal evidence of his crime.

“For five years, I have waited for this day,” his father, Dr. Justin Hendricks Sr. testified. “The Lord has answered my prayers. For five years I’ve waited to lay eyes on my son’s murderer: You. I have finally gotten justice.”

Hendricks anonymously called 911 after witnessing Maize pistol whipping his wife in his home. Maize returned to the house later and shot Hendricks once in the hip, leaving him to bleed to death.

Dr. Hendricks said his son “did the unthinkable” by calling 911, in that others did not stand up to Maize. “Did he think his life was in peril? Yes,” Dr. Hendricks testified. “But he did it anyway.”

During his trial, Maize accused his wife of being the killer and the arsonist. He asserted that Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives, his wife and other witnesses falsely accused him of committing the seven crimes for which he stood trial.

During Monday’s sentencing hearing, Dr. Hendricks, who attended the trial, noted Maize’s defense assertions in calling him “a liar” and “a coward.” Maize chuckled and continued smiling as the grieving father wept in the witness seat.

A Jefferson Parish jury on March 4 convicted Maize as charged of the murder, aggravated arson, two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, aggravated second-degree battery, witness intimidation and aggravated assault.

The aggravated second-degree battery, aggravated assault and witness intimidation involve Maize’s wife, whom he shot at, beat and threatened if she told anyone that he killed Hendricks, according to trial testimony.

After rejecting Maize’s attorneys’ request for a new trial on Monday, Judge Henry Sullivan of the 24th Judicial District Court handed down the mandatory life sentence for Hendricks’ death.

Judge Sullivan sentenced Maize to 15 years for the aggravated second-degree battery, 20 years for each of the firearm charges, 40 years for witness intimidation, 20 years for aggravated arson and 10 years for aggravated assault.

The judge ran some of the sentences consecutively to one-another, with the end result being 55 years on top of life in prison.

Assistant District Attorneys Doug Freese and Lindsay Truhe prosecuted the case.

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Matthew Flugence pleads guilty to first-degree murder of Ahlittia North

Matthew Flugence, the Marrero man accused of killing 6-year-old Ahlittia North before discarding her body in a residential trash can that he rolled to a Harvey curb two years ago, pleaded guilty as charged to first-degree murder on Thursday (March 24), accepting a life sentence in prison in a plea deal that removed the possibility he one day could die by lethal injection.

Flugence, 22, had been charged with first-degree murder, and the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office planned to seek the death penalty. His guilty plea, which removes the death penalty, was negotiated with his public defenders, leading to Thursday’s unscheduled hearing before 24th Judicial District Court Judge Adrian Adams.

“There will always be an Ahlittia-size hole in my heart, in my life,” her mother Lisa North testified during the plea hearing.

The North family agreed to the plea arrangement and was thankful for it, District Attorney Paul Connick Jr. said.

“This outcome gives peace to the Ahilittia’s family, who have been spared the painful experience of reliving the horrible events during the trial,” Connick Jr. said. “Justice has been served.”

Capital cases mandate a high level of scrutiny at the appellate level, meaning the review at higher courts can last for years. This plea ends it. As part of his plea, Flugence agreed to waive his appeal rights and spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of probation, parole or suspended sentence.

Flugence admitted he abducted North from her mother’s apartment in the 2900 block of Destrehan Avenue in Harvey’s Woodmere subdivision on July 13, 2013.

Her disappearance set off a massive search by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, the FBI and other agencies that ended three days later, when the child’s body was found wrapped in plastic bags and a blanket. Her remains were discarded in a residential garbage can left along Destrehan Avenue near where her mother lived, “to be picked up as though she was not a human being,” Lisa North testified.

“She died terrified and alone at the hands of an evil monster,” Lisa North testified.

North, who would have turned 9 on March 3, was stabbed twice in the neck and twice in the abdomen.

Flugence, whose uncle was North’s stepfather, emerged as the suspect and was arrested three days after she disappeared. Police found him walking alone on Victory Drive in Westwego. He was carrying a knife, police said at the time.

He confessed, asserting that the child initiated sexual contact behind an apartment building on Destrehan Avenue, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. After the encounter he alleged happened, he told police, he snapped, stabbed her and watched her die.

Lisa North said Flugence “showed no grace or mercy” throughout the ordeal, including his baseless accusations of what he alleged her daughter did. “But far worse than that, he shows no remorse,” she testified.

In connection with the plea arrangement, the District Attorney’s Office also dismissed charges of aggravated rape, unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling, two counts of battery on a corrections officer and resisting arrest by force or violence. The rape charge did not involve Ahlittia.

Flugence’s brother, Russell Flugence, 24, of Marrero, pleaded guilty to a charge of failure to report a certain felony in 2014 and was sentenced to one year in prison. He admitted his brother told him he killed North, but he didn’t report it to police.

Assistant District Attorneys Sunny Funk and Doug Freese prosecuted the cases.

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Terrebonne Parish man pleads guilty as charged to murdering girlfriend on Grand Isle

A Terrebonne Parish man pleaded guilty as charged Tuesday (March 15) to the second-degree murder of his girlfriend, admitting he stabbed her 44 times all over her body during an argument on Grand Isle.

Randy Paul Marcel, 29, of Chauvin, pleaded guilty knowing he would automatically be sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. He admitted he killed his girlfriend of two years, Jennifer Dozier, also of Chauvin, during the June 21, 2014, crime.

Dozier, 34, whose left leg had been amputated because of injuries sustained in an automobile accident, died about 10 p.m. Police found her body near her aluminum crutches in the grassy parking area near the beach at Cypress Lane and Louisiana 1.

Marcel, Dozier, her 2-year-old son and a friend and his cousin were visiting Grand Isle for the weekend when the couple argued over an array of reasons. Marcel knocked her to the ground during an argument over her having his cigarettes.

She got up and was walking to their vehicle, saying she was calling police, when Marcel attacked her with a blue-handle fillet knife he purchased days earlier. Marcel’s cousin and their third friend witnessed the attack, and Dozier’s child also was nearby.

Dozier’s mother, Patricia Killingsworth, testified during the sentencing hearing that she hears her grandson, now 4, cry every night for his mother.

”I cannot begin to tell anyone the heartache and the pain that I suffer every night, every day without her,” Killingsworth testified. “She was far from perfect, but she was mine. She was my daughter.”

Marcel wept quietly during the sentencing hearing but said nothing to the members of Dozier’s family that traveled to the Jefferson Parish Courthouse in Gretna from Terrebonne Parish to witness the sentencing.

Dozier suffered 10 stab wounds to her head, two of which punctured her brain; 24 wounds to her trunk; five to her neck; and three defensive wounds on her hands, among other injuries. She received at least one stab wound after she died, according to the Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office.

Marcel ran after the attack. A nearby resident saw the police searching the area and noticed Marcel hiding in tall grass near the end of Cypress Lane. The resident alerted police, leading to Marcel’s arrest. Marcel gave detectives three statements, initially saying he blacked out and remembered nothing. He finally confessed, but he recalled only stabbing Dozier twice in self-defense, he told Sgt. Travis Eserman, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detective who led the investigation.

Marcel, who has been jailed since his arrest, was to stand trial this week for second-degree murder. He sat in 24th Judicial District Court Judge Lee Faulkner’s courtroom dressed for trial, but entered the guilty plea before the first panel of prospective jurors was escorted to court.

Judge Faulkner then agreed to postpone the sentencing for several hours, to give Dozier’s family time to travel from Terrebonne Parish.

Dozier, a native of Laurel, Miss., left three children behind. She dated Marcel about two years, but he fathered none of her children. Last year, her brother, Adam Dozier, was held in contempt of court and fined $100 for punching Marcel in the face as he was escorted into the courtroom for a pretrial hearing.

“I’ve tried to be strong through this for my other children,” Killingsworth testified. “To them I apologize, because I haven’t been there for them. Because I was trying to grieve for my daughter. My life will never, ever be the same, and understand that. I’m just trying to move on.”

The last time a Jefferson Parish defendant pleaded guilty as charged second-degree murder was in 2011, when Mark Sonnier, stopped his trial just after a prosecutor finished her opening statements during his trial.

Sonnier admitted he killed a Metairie man with a brass lap in the man’s home during a home invasion. In pleading guilty, Sonnier told the court he pleaded guilty as charged to spare the victims’ families of having to sit through the trial. Faulkner presided over that case, too.

Assistant District Attorneys Kellie Rish and Molly Massey prosecuted the case.

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Jacoby Maize convicted of murder, arson, gun charges and brutalizing his wife

Jacoby Maize was convicted Friday (March 4) of repeatedly brutalizing his wife and of fatally shooting an acquaintance in his Old Jefferson home on the day after Easter Sunday in 2011, then returning to the crime scene the following day to set the house on fire.

Maize, 38, of Kenner, faces a mandatory life sentence in prison for the most serious of his seven charges: The April 25, 2011 second-degree murder of Justin Hendricks Jr., 34, who was shot and bled to death in his home in the 100 block of Maine Street.

The shooting happened after Hendricks anonymously called 911 to report that Maize pistol-whipped his wife in the Maine Street house. Maize shot him once in the hip, the bullet severing a femoral artery before exiting his body.

The jury also found Maize guilty of aggravated arson, for dousing Hendrick’s house with gasoline the day after the killing and igniting it in an attempt to destroy evidence. Expert testimony indicated that Maize’s fire endangered the lives of the residents in a neighboring house.

Maize additionally was convicted of aggravated second-degree battery, witness intimidation and aggravated assault with a firearm, all of which involved his wife.

The jury heard testimony about Maize shooting at her, pistol-whipping her, slicing her left cheek with a knife and ordering her to “kiss the ground” before beating her with a baseball bat. He threatened to kill her family if she told anyone he shot Hendricks.

Maize is “nothing but a low and cowardly abuser of women,” Assistant District Attorney Doug Freese, who prosecuted the case with Assistant District Attorney Lindsay Truhe, told jurors in opening statements.

Additionally, Maize was found guilty of two counts of convicted felon in possession of a firearm. Because of his criminal history, Maize was barred from having guns and yet used one to beat his wife and to shoot Hendricks, prosecutors said. In testimony Friday, Maize indirectly admitted he possessed a Glock pistol “every day” during the period Hendricks was killed, in denying he had the gun used in the homicide.

The jury deliberated just over an hour in finding Maize guilty as charged of all seven counts. He showed no reaction. Judge Henry Sullivan of the 24th Judicial District Court will hand down the punishment March 28.

Maize denied all but the firearm possession charges. He accused his wife of killing Hendricks. He assailed the myriad witnesses who testified against him, including the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives who investigated and arrested him, Rhonda Goff and Sgt. Eddie Klein.

“All of your witnesses are liars, proven liars,” Maize told Freese during the cross-examination. “I’m like, you brought a bunch of liars.”

The jury also heard testimony from a Jefferson Parish man who said Maize shot him for no reason other than that he said hello to his wife on the morning of Easter Sunday 2011. That shooting happened at Tchoupitoulas and Upperline streets in Uptown New Orleans, when Maize, his wife, the man and two others were driving in Maize’s vehicle.

The man was able to get out of Maize’s vehicle and run. He said he was struck by three bullets before a he ran into the path of a truck that struck him, breaking one of his leg bones.

Maize’s wife, who was sleeping in their vehicle when her husband shot the man, testified she endured daily abuse but never called police or left the relationship.

“I wanted to be loved,” she testified. “I thought that was love. I thought I could get no better. I thought I found someone who wanted me and held my hand. So I stayed.”

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Harvey man sentenced to 35 years in prison in Waggaman manslaughter case

A Harvey man who admitted he killed another man outside a Waggaman daiquiri shop five years ago was sentenced Wednesday (Feb. 23), to 35 years in prison.

Raheem Robinson, 23, shot Albert Bullock in the head early on the morning of Jan. 26, 2011, outside the business in the 8700 block of River Road. Bullock, 24, of Gretna, died at the scene.

Robinson pleaded guilty to manslaughter in November 2013. He also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit second-degree murder and illegal discharge of a firearm, both in connection with Bullock’s death.

Judge Stephen Grefer of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Robinson to 35 years for the manslaughter, 35 years for the conspiracy to commit second-degree murder and 20 years for the illegal discharge of a firearm. He ran the sentences concurrently.

Robinson is one of three people to be sent to prison in the Bullock homicide. Harry Smoot, 30, of Avondale, and Terrance J. Antoine, 34, of Harvey, pleaded guilty in 2013 to obstruction of justice in a homicide for removing Bullock’s gun from his body.

Smoot was sentenced to seven years in prison, and Antoine was sentenced to 15 years in prison, records show.

Last year, Robinson was sentenced to three years in prison after he pleaded guilty to battery on a corrections officer. Separately, he’s serving a 13-year prison sentence for an armed robbery he committed in November 2011, to which he pleaded guilty in January 2012.

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Harvey Hustlers gang investigators and prosecutors receive ‘excellence’ awards

 

District Attorney Paul D. Connick Jr., was on hand when two assistants, Doug Freese and Seth Shute, and investigator Kevin Smith received Excellence in Law Enforcement Awards from the Metropolitan Crime Commission for their work in dismantling the Harvey Hustlers street gang. (JPDA photos)

 

Two Jefferson Parish prosecutors and their investigator who are part of the task force that dismantled the murderous Harvey Hustlers street gang on the West Bank were recognized Tuesday (Feb. 23), by the Metropolitan Crime Commission.

Assistant District Attorneys Doug Freese and Seth Shute and Capt. Kevin Smith were among the local and federal authorities to receive the commission’s 2016 Excellence in Law Enforcement Awards, presented annually to those who “contribute to making our community a better place to live, work and raise our families,” Rafael Goyeneche, the commission’s president and executive director, told a luncheon audience at the downtown New Orleans Sheraton.

A joint federal and local task force was born from the Harvey Hustler’s investigation, creating an unparalleled level of cooperation between federal and Jefferson Parish prosecutors, the FBI and the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.

“Over the last twenty years, the level of cooperation between the District Attorney’s Office, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI has been exceptional,” said Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul Connick, the parish’s top prosecutor for two decades.

“In investigating and prosecuting these cases, however, the quality of our cooperative work has gone to a whole new level, with everyone willingly and without reservation contributing enormous manpower and other resources needed to ensure we achieved the results our community deserved,” Connick said.

Between state and federal jurisdictions, the task force’s work led to 66 indictments, and the sentences gang affiliates received ranged from five years to life in prison, said Alan H. Philipson, the Metropolitan Crime Commission’s chairman.

During the five-year period ending in 2015, the active years in Harvey Hustler prosecutions, Jefferson Parish saw a 39-percent reduction in homicides, he said.

Originating in Harvey’s Scotsdale neighborhood, the Harvey Hustlers and its affiliated arms funneled about 20 kilograms of cocaine into West Jefferson from Texas monthly, distributing it and heroin and marijuana on area streets.

It’s “Murder Squad” was charged with protecting the gang’s illegal trade and was responsible for numerous homicides in the area. The gang’s death toll includes an 81-year-old Bridge City woman and a 58-year-old Marrero man, neither of whom were the intended targets.

Federal authorities, led by the FBI, began the investigation in 2009, leading the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Orleans to begin obtaining indictments beginning in 2010. U.S. Attorney Kenneth Polite said his office assembled a “dream team of prosecutors” for the Harvey Hustlers case, and his office and Connick’s collaborated in which jurisdiction to prosecute to “give us the biggest bang for our buck.”

Of the cases that were not prosecuted in U.S. District Court for the Eastern Division of Louisiana, where several Harvey Hustlers have received life sentences for homicides, 26 defendants have been prosecuted in six cases filed in Jefferson Parish’s 24th Judicial District Court.

Those include 21 defendants who were charged in a 30-count racketeering indictment. In less than a year, two of them were convicted at trial, while the remainder pleaded guilty.

“To all of you, I extend my deepest appreciation for all the work you’ve done,” Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand told award recipients.

From the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, detectives Brad Roniger and Jeremiah Washington also received the Excellence in Law Enforcement Awards.

FBI Special Agents Todd Schliem, Christopher Stokes and ATF Special Agent Karen Evanoski were awarded accolades, as were the FBI’s Gabrella S. Kelly, Karen Reed.

From the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Orleans, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Duane Evans, David Haller, Greg Kennedy and Myles Ranier received the awards. Paralegal supervisor Ashley R. Rohde was recognized. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Collin Sims, a former federal prosecutor who now oversees felony prosecutions in St. Tammany Parish, also was involved in the Harvey Hustlers cases.

The Metropolitan Crime Commission awarded its 2016 "Excellence in Law Enforcement Awards" to members of the task for that investigated and prosecuted the Harvey Hustlers gang. (JPDA photo)
The Metropolitan Crime Commission awarded its 2016 “Excellence in Law Enforcement Awards” to members of the task for that investigated and prosecuted the Harvey Hustlers gang. (JPDA photo)
Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul Connick Jr., left, speaks with New Orleans District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro, center, and investigator Capt. Kevin Smith during the 2016 Metropolitan Crime Commission awards ceremony on Tuesday, Feb. 23. (JPDA photo)
Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul Connick Jr., left, speaks with New Orleans District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro, center, and investigator Capt. Kevin Smith during the 2016 Metropolitan Crime Commission awards ceremony on Tuesday, Feb. 23. (JPDA photo)

 

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One year, 21 convictions in Harvey Hustlers gang prosecution in Jefferson Parish

Less than a year after a Jefferson Parish grand jury handed up an indictment charging 21 people in connection with the murderous Harvey Hustlers street gang, the last two defendants accused of racketeering and narcotics-related offenses pleaded guilty as charged Tuesday (Feb. 16).

Kerry J. Reynard and Charles D. Gumms face 20 years in prison in connection their roles in the Harvey Hustlers, a gang that trafficked cocaine and heroin from Texas into West Jefferson for resale on area streets.

The gang traces its roots to Harvey’s Scotsdale neighborhood in the 1980s. Its members and affiliated soldiers protected their drug-dealing activities through the gang’s enforcer arm known as the “Murder Squad,” which is linked to numerous homicides.

Federal and local law enforcement agencies and prosecutors joined forces in arresting and convicting 82 people related to the gang since 2009. Of them, 29 were prosecuted in Jefferson Parish’s 24th Judicial District Court, while the remainder were handled in U.S. District Court in New Orleans. The investigation into the Harvey Hustlers is ongoing.

Reynard, 26, of Marrero, pleaded guilty Tuesday to racketeering, conspiracy to distribute cocaine and conspiracy to distribute heroin and marijuana. Judge Henry Sullivan, in accepting the guilty plea, sentenced Reynard to 20 years in prison.

Charles D. Gumms, 22, of Terrytown, pleaded guilty to racketeering, conspiracy to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to distribute heroin and marijuana, possession with intent to distribute marijuana and possession with intent to distribute Tramadol.

His plea agreement calls for a 20-year prison sentence, a punishment that was postponed to March 14.

At the time of his arrest in the Harvey Hustler’s case last year, Gumms was serving three years of probation in connection with his Jan. 17, 2013 plea in New Orleans’ Criminal District Court to possession of a firearm with obliterated serial number, theft of a motor vehicle and resisting an officer, records show.

His probation will be revoked because of his Jefferson Parish charges, and his attorney Steven Lemoine said Tuesday he wants to ensure that his New Orleans sentence is run concurrently with his Jefferson Parish punishment. Judge Sullivan agreed to hold off on the sentencing until after the New Orleans case is resolved.

Two months before Gumms was indicted in the Harvey Hustler case, he was shot several times in December 2014, while in his car in the 2100 block of Esplanade Place in Terrytown. His passenger, Shamyra Plummer, 18, also was shot and died from her injuries, authorities said.

Gumms drove to a convenience store at Terry Parkway and Carol Sue Avenue, ran inside and collapsed. Deputies found Plummer’s body in the back seat.

Gumms and Reynard were among the 21 defendants named in a 30-count indictment prosecutors filed in state court in Gretna on Feb. 26, 2015.

“In all my years in law enforcement, I can safely say the Harvey Hustlers gang was by far one of the most violent, vile criminal organizations that this organization has dealt with,” Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand said during a press conference last year after the indictment was filed.

In the indictment, prosecutors asserted that in addition to narcotics trafficking, gang members were responsible for numerous homicides and saw internal strife in which members even targeted each other. It’s unclear whether Gumms’ 2014 shooting was tied to his involvement in the Harvey Hustlers.

The other 19 people charged in the case were:

  • Charlie Gumms, 20, of Terrytown, pleaded guilty Feb. 12 to racketeering, conspiracy to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to distribute heroin and five counts of attempted second-degree murder. He was sentenced to 25 years on each count, and Sullivan ran the sentences concurrently for a total of 25 years. He is Charles Gumms’ younger brother.
  • Richard Chess, 24, of Harvey, pleaded guilty Feb. 12 to racketeering, conspiracy to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to distribute heroin, distribution of heroin and cruelty to juveniles. He received a 20-year prison sentence.
  • Carnell Pierce, 35, of Harvey, pleaded guilty Feb. 12 to racketeering, conspiracy to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to distribute heroin, distribute of cocaine, possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possession with intent to distribute marijuana. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
  • Bryant Gumms, 24, of Harvey, pleaded guilty Thursday (Jan. 28), to racketeering, conspiracy to distribute cocaine and conspiracy to distribute heroin. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
  • Derrick Gumms, 27, of Harvey, pleaded guilty Thursday (Jan. 28), to racketeering, conspiracy to distribute cocaine and conspiracy to distribute heroin. He, too, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Bryant and Derrick are siblings.
  • Robert C. Williams, 24, of Avondale, was convicted by a Jefferson Parish jury as charged on Nov. 11 of racketeering, two counts of conspiracy to distribute narcotics, two counts of convicted felon in possession of a firearm, illegal possession of a stolen firearm and distribution of cocaine. He was sentenced to 120 years in prison.
  • Alcus Smith, 29, of Harvey, stood trial with Williams and was convicted of racketeering, conspiracy to distribute narcotics and distribution of cocaine. He was sentenced to 65 years in prison on Nov. 17. The jury that handed up the verdict was unable to decide Smith’s charge of second-degree murder, leading to a mistrial on that count only. Smith faces retrial on the murder charge.
  • Willie Thornton, 31, of Harvey, pleaded guilty Jan. 13 to racketeering, two counts of conspiracy to distribute narcotics and two counts of distribution of cocaine. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Jan. 13.
  • Lashawn Davis, 22, of Gretna, pleaded guilty as charged on Nov. 30 to racketeering, five counts of attempted second-degree murder and two counts of conspiracy to distribute narcotics. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
  • Davante D. Robertson, 21, of Gretna, pleaded guilty on Dec. 15 to racketeering and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Prosecutors dismissed five counts of attempted second-degree murder.
  • Ellis C. Landix, 30, of Marrero, pleaded guilty on Jan. 13 to conspiracy to distribute cocaine. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison as a multiple offender.
  • Paul Smith, 26, of Avondale, pleaded guilty Sept. 28, to racketeering, two counts of conspiracy to distribute narcotics, possession with intent to distribute cocaine and possession with intent to distribute oxycodone. He was sentenced to eight years in prison.
  • Brandon J. Motton, 29, of New Orleans, pleaded guilty on Jan. 199, to racketeering, two counts of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, marijuana and heroin, and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
  • Keitrel B. Gumms, 25, of Harvey, pleaded guilty Jan. 13 to racketeering, two counts conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana, respectively, distribution of cocaine, distribution of marijuana and cruelty to juveniles. His sentencing is set for Feb. 29.
  • Stephanie J. Bradley, 44, of Harvey, pleaded guilty to racketeering on Oct. 19. She has been sentenced to five years in prison.
  • Corey H. Trent, 26, of Marrero, pleaded guilty on Aug 17, to racketeering, two counts of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, marijuana and cocaine, distribution of cocaine and cruelty to juveniles. He was sentenced to eight years on prison.
  • Kentaz R. Gayden, 28, of Harahan, pleaded guilty on Dec. 11 to racketeering and two counts of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, marijuana and heroin. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
  • Rasheed Smith, 25, of Westwego, pleaded guilty on Jan. 4 to racketeering and two counts of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, marijuana and heroin. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
  • Nathan Carter, 31, of Gretna, pleaded guilty on Oct. 8 to racketeering and conspiracy to distribute cocaine. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Jefferson Parish Assistant District Attorneys Doug Freese and Seth Shute prosecuted them. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the cases.

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