Tag: jefferson parish sheriff’s office

New Orleans man sentenced in Bridge City bicyclist’s hit-and-run death

A New Orleans man was sentenced to serve six years in prison to be followed by two years of probation for his conviction last month of the hit-and-run death of a Bridge City bicyclist.

Taurus C. Hale, 21, was convicted of killing Bruce McJilton, 65. McJilton was riding his bicycle north on Nine Mile Point Road just north of the Westbank Expressway on Feb. 15 2017, when about 10:30 p.m., Hale struck him head-on while driving his 2003 Honda Odyssey.

Hale continued driving without stopping or notifying authorities. About 7 a.m. the following day, a passing motorist spotted McJilton’s body on the grassy shoulder, near his bicycle and debris from Hales’ minivan that was scattered in the northbound lane.

“I cannot imaging smashing into and crushing an animal let alone a person and leaving them to lie on side of the road,” McJilton’s brother Eric McJilton, said in impact testimony. “The cold heartedness one must have is inexplicable.

“I am shocked and appalled that a person could be so callus as to run a person over and not stop,” Eric McJilton testified. Hale “destroyed, obliterated my brother’s existence without as much as a phone call.”

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office was able to identify Hale’s vehicle as being involved later that day and went to his mother’s home. Hale then told investigators that he believed he was involved in a wreck with another vehicle and, holding liability insurance only, he declined to call police to report the incident.

A six-member Jefferson Parish jury on April 19 found Hale guilty as charged of hit and run driving causing death or serious bodily injury. The maximum punishment for the offense is 10 years in prison.

After hearing impact testimony from three of McJilton’s siblings, Judge E. Adrian Adams of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Hale to eight years in prison. Judge Adams suspended two years and ordered the 6-year balance to be served in state prison, followed by two years of supervised release.

Assistant District Attorneys Matt Clauss and Brittany Beckner prosecuted the case.

Man convicted of raping, impregnating 12-year-old girl

A Jefferson Parish jury on Tuesday (May 1) found a man guilty of raping and impregnating a 12-year-old girl in West Jefferson, rejecting the defendant’s assertion that the victim used his discarded condom to cause the pregnancy.

Jose Ivan Moreno Cervantes, 36, who at the time of his arrest resided in Denham Springs, was convicted as charged of first-degree rape of a juvenile under age 13, a crime that carries a mandatory life sentence in prison.

Cervantes raped the girl three times, twice in Westwego and once in his car in Marrero, according to evidence presented during the two-day trial. School officials suspected in late August 2015 that the child was pregnant, a suspicion the mother initially rejected.

However, that same day, a pediatrician confirmed that the victim was 8 ½ months pregnant. She then told authorities that she had been raped by Cervantes, who by this point had vanished from Jefferson Parish. The victim was 12 years old when she gave birth in September 2015.

Police obtained a warrant for Cervantes’ arrest, and a U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force apprehended him in July 2016, when the newborn was nine months old, according to evidence presented during the trial.

DNA testing established that Cervantes is the father. Prior to trial, the victim and her mother signed an affidavit at the behest of Cervantes’ family, asserting that the child obtained one of his used condoms and impregnated herself. She later refuted the assertions spelled out in the affidavit, saying she signed it in hopes her child would have a father.

The jury deliberated less than a half-hour in convicting Cervantes. Judge John Molaison of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Cervantes on Monday (May 7).

Assistant District Attorneys Rachel Africk and Blair Constant prosecuted the case.

 

 

With an apology, Harvey defendant pleads guilty to killing Shamarie Joseph

As jury selection was about to begin in his trial, an apologetic Romalis Levier pleaded guilty Tuesday (April 24) to inadvertently causing the death of a 15-year-old girl while he was shooting at a rival on a Harvey street.

Levier, 20, of Harvey, accepted the maximum 40-year prison sentence in pleading guilty to manslaughter for the Dec. 22, 2015, death of Shamarie Joseph. She was inside an apartment in the 1600 block of Apache Drive, holding a toddler, when a bullet Levier fired at a teenager on the street punched through a wall and struck her in the chest.

Shamarie’s mother gave tearful impact testimony, telling the court that her daughter was an athletic teen who aspired to be a gynecologist or pediatrician. She stood at the witness seat in the courtroom Tuesday and faced Levier as he sat nearby at the defense table. Levier stood and faced her.

“I forgive you,” she told Levier through her weeping. “I don’t hold no grudges in my heart. I forgive you, but I will never forget, because she is never coming back.”

Shamarie’s aunt also provided impact testimony, telling the court about her pain and reiterating that their family carries no grudges. “We just want to know why. Why? Why there?” she said of the shooting.

Levier later read a prepared statement, in which he offered his apologies to Shamarie’s mother. “I hope you forgive me,” he told Shamarie’s mother.

Seated in the audience by this point during the plea hearing, she responded, “I forgive you.”

Levier was involved in an ongoing dispute with another group of individuals when he opened fire on Emmett Garrison IV in retaliation for a Dec. 9, 2015, shooting in Marrero. Garrison, who since has been convicted of a slew of crimes, was struck by one of the bullets.

For that, Levier pleaded guilty as charged Tuesday to attempted second-degree murder and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Levier also pleaded guilty as charged to obstruction of justice, for which he received a 40-year sentence; conspiracy to obstruct justice, for which he received a 30-year sentence; and possession with intent to distribute marijuana and possession of Tramadol, for which he was sentenced to 30 years and five years, respectively.

In accepting the plea, Judge Danyelle Taylor of the 24th Judicial District Court ran the sentences concurrently, for a total of 40 years.

Assistant District Attorneys Doug Freese and Blair Constant prosecuted the case.

 

Man convicted of killing Bridge City bicyclist in hit-and-run case

A New Orleans man was convicted Wednesday night (April 18) of hitting and killing a 65-year-old bicyclist on a Bridge City road.

Taurus C. Hale, 21, who at the time of the incident lived in Marrero, was found guilty as charged of hit-and-run driving causing death or serious bodily injury, in which he killed Bruce McJilton about 10:30 p.m., on Feb. 15, 2017.

Hale was driving his 2003 Honda Odyssey south on Nine Mile Point Road, just north of the Westbank Expressway, when he struck McJilton head-on as he rode his bicycle. The impact caused damage on the front driver’s side of the minivan and its windshield, scattering vehicle debris in the northbound lane.

McJilton, of Bridge City, was thrown onto the side of the road. At about 7 a.m., the following day, a passing motorist spotted McJilton’s body on the grassy shoulder, near his bicycle.

That same day, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office investigators identified Hale’s vehicle as being involved and went to his mother’s home. Hale’s attorney called the Sheriff’s Office, offering to surrender him. The attorney also directed deputies to Hale’s minivan, which was parked in New Orleans.

In a statement to deputies, Hale asserted he thought he was involved in an accident with another vehicle that fled, and he did not report the incident because he had only liability insurance. He said he later saw a report on a news website about a pedestrian being killed on Nine Mile Point Road and suspected that he might have been involved.

The six-member Jefferson Parish jury deliberated for just over an hour before returning its verdict about 8 p.m. Judge E. Adrian Adams of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Hale on May 2.

Assistant District Attorneys Matt Clauss and Brittany Beckner prosecuted the case.

Kenner man convicted of killing, dismembering rival in love triangle

Viusqui J. Perez-Espinosa was convicted Monday night (March 26) of murdering his ex-girlfriend’s new lover in Kenner before dismembering the body and dumping the parts in a St. John the Baptist Parish swamp.

Perez, 45, a Cuban national who had worked as a butcher, was convicted as charged of the second-degree murder of Ives Alexis Portales-Lara, 27. A Honduran immigrant who moved to East Jefferson to be near his young daughter, Portales was murdered Nov. 11, 2016, in the Baylor Place apartment he shared with Perez and the woman who was the third leg in their love triangle.

Perez also was convicted of obstruction of justice, for his efforts to conceal his crime. The day after he killed Portales, Perez disarticulated the body, packed the remains in garbage bags, stuffed them in his car’s trunk and drove to St. John the Baptist Parish, where he threw them off the Interstate 10 bridge over the swamps near the Reserve Canal, according to evidence presented during the trial.

“It was the most brutal possible way to die and be disposed of,” Assistant District Attorney Kellie Rish told jurors in opening statements.

“I’ve never seen a case when a victim is cut into pieces and thrown away like trash,” Assistant District Attorney Richard Olivier told jurors in closing argument.

According to evidence presented at trial, Perez and Portales were friends and co-workers at a scaffolding company who romanced the same woman. Perez was sexually involved with the woman for about 18 months before the relationship ended in September 2016. Portales moved in with her in her Baylor Place apartment, and a secret romantic relationship began.

Perez, who worked as a fisherman and boat captain in Cuba and as a butcher in Honduras before he migrated to the United States, pined for her affections and wanted Portales out of the picture, according to trial evidence.

With Portales’ blessing, his ex-girlfriend who also is a native of Cuba, allowed Perez to move in with them on Nov. 8, 2016, three days before the murder. Perez, aware of rumors of Portales’ relationship, offered his rival money to move into his own apartment.

On the morning of Nov. 11, 2016, after Portales left for work, Perez allegedly sexually assaulted his former girlfriend in her bed. Portales was last seen alive that evening.

The Kenner Police Department was notified, marking the start of a missing persons investigation. Officers responding to the complaint visited the Baylor Place apartment and noticed blood on the floor.

Using luminol, Kenner police later found blood on a wall, the ceiling and on furniture. Blood also was found in the trunk of Perez’s car. In the meantime, police booked Perez based on his ex-girlfriend’s assertion that he sexually assaulted her.

Later in November 2016, amid the missing persons investigation, the blood from the apartment was determined to belong to Portales, Dr. Marcela Zozaya, a forensic DNA analyst with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, testified. Dr. Zozaya likened the process to a paternity test, by matching the genetic material she extracted from the blood to that of Portales’ daughter.

On Dec. 29, 2016, a fisherman found a right arm in the Reserve Canal. On Jan. 12, 2017, pipeline workers dredging the canal found the legs and torso, according to the testimony. Portales’ head and left arm have not been found. The St. John the Baptist Parish Sheriff’s Office joined the investigation.

Through DNA analysis, Dr. Zozaya determined that the body parts belonged to Portales, she testified. Perez was then booked and subsequently charged with Portales’ murder.

Perez’s attorney asserted that Portales attacked Perez thinking that Perez sexually assaulted his girlfriend, an accusation that Perez denied. Testifying on Monday, Perez told jurors that Portales attacked him with a knife, and during the ensuing struggle, Portales cut his own throat and died as a result. The body was too heavy for him to carry to the trunk of his car, he testified. He refused to describe cutting up the body.

After a six-day trial during which more than 1,200 exhibits were presented by the state, the Jefferson Parish jury deliberated 2 ½ hours before delivering its verdicts. Judge Ellen Shirer Kovach of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Perez to a mandatory life sentence in prison on April 26.

Assistant District Attorneys Kellie Rish and Richard Olivier prosecuted the case.

Ronald Gasser sentenced to 30 years in Joe McKnight’s death

Ronald Gasser, the West Jefferson man who killed former John Curtis Christian School and pro-football player Joe McKnight at a Terrytown intersection, was sentenced Thursday (March 15) to 30 years in prison.

A Jefferson Parish jury on Jan. 26 found Gasser, 56, guilty of manslaughter for killing McKnight, 28. Jurors rejected Gasser’s justifiable homicide defense and found he had specific intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm when he fired three .40-caliber bullets at the former pro running back during a fit of road rage on Dec. 1, 2016.

Following the conviction, Judge Ellen Shirer Kovach of the 24th Judicial District Court ordered a pre-sentence investigation to guide her in her decision. On Thursday, after rejecting a defense motion for a new trial and hearing and reading the impact testimony, Judge Kovach said the tragedy could have been easily avoided had both men disengaged.

Assistant District Attorneys Shannon Swaim and Seth Shute prosecuted the case.

Marrero man pleads guilty to social media hook-up armed robbery

With jury selection underway, a Marrero man cut short his trial Tuesday (March 6) and pleaded guilty as charged to robbing a man he met through a social media dating application.

Randell Mason, 27, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for robbing a 21-year-old New Orleans man of his car just before 2 a.m., on March 17, 2016. He also pleaded guilty to being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, for which he received a 15-year sentence.

Using the name “Aaron,” Mason met the victim days prior to the crime through the Badoo dating app, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. They exchanged cell phone numbers and communicated through text messages, eventually agreeing to meet in the 5000 block of Mount Rushmore Drive, according to the Sheriff’s Office incident report.

There, Mason got into the victim’s 2013 Chrysler 200C. They traveled to the 5000 block of Grenoble Court, in Marrero, where the victim believed Mason’s aunt lived. As they walked through an alley, Mason brandished a semiautomatic pistol and ordered the victim to give up the car keys. The victim complied, and Mason drove away.

Within hours, detectives identified Mason as the suspect through his photograph on the Badoo app. The U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force located and arrested Mason on April 9, 2016, in an apartment in the 5000 block of Mount Rushmore Drive.

When confronted with the Badoo account, Mason asserted someone created the fraudulent site by stealing his photograph from social media. He eventually said he planned to meet the victim for a sexual encounter but found the victim to be unattractive and began yelling at him.

The victim, Mason asserted, felt intimidated and simply gave him the keys to his car. He said drove home in the victim’s car and then he gave it to “a crack head” on Mount Rushmore. He also said the cell phone with which he communicated with the victim belonged to the same “crack head.” He also denied having a firearm during the encounter.

Jury selection began Tuesday morning. With prospective jurors selected and the victim waiting to testify against him, Mason offered to plead guilty to the two charges. He also pleaded guilty to being a double offender because of a prior carjacking conviction.

Judge Conn Regan of the 24th Judicial District Court accepted the plea and ran Mason’s sentences concurrently, for a total of 15 years..

Assistant District Attorneys Lynn Schiffman and Zachary Popovich prosecuted the case.

Marrero man convicted of beating woman, 84, during New Year’s Eve burglary

A Marrero man was convicted as charged Tuesday night (Feb. 27) of forcing his way into an 84-year-old woman’s home in search of money on New Year’s Eve 2016 and beating her until she lost consciousness.

Brandon Pike, 39, was found guilty of aggravated burglary and second-degree battery in connection with the crimes in the 6600 block of 16th Street in Marrero. Pike, a 5’10”, 250-pound man, walked past the woman’s Christmas decorations that adorned her front yard and kicked open the front door about 1:30 p.m., according to testimony presented during the daylong trial.

Once inside, he ordered the woman to give him her money. When she said she had no money, he repeatedly punched her in her head, knocking her unconscious, before rummaging through her bedroom. He left the home with the woman’s television, according to testimony.

“He beat her, all for a little television. That’s what he got out of it,” Assistant District Attorney Andrew DeCoste, who prosecuted with Lynn Schiffman, told jurors in opening statements.

At some point later, the woman regained consciousness and called a family member, who in turn notified a neighbor and asked him to check on her. The neighbor found her on the living room floor, near the Christmas tree that still had gifts under it, according to testimony.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies found her with her left eye swollen shut, swelling on the left side of her face and dried blood in and around her left ear, Detective Carl Koppeis testified.

The victim recognized Pike by his first name, because she had seen him working at a local commodity store, according to testimony. With the assistance of the victim’s family, Detective Koppeis was able to fully identify Pike, leading to his arrest outside a Marrero bingo hall.

Pike denied committing the crime. His public defender argued there was no physical evidence connecting her client to the crime and that the case was based on the identification of an elderly woman who was roused from her bed without her eye glasses when she was attacked.

The Jefferson Parish jury deliberated about 1 ½ hours before returning with its verdict. Judge Donnie Rowan of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Pike on March 16.

Assistant District Attorneys Andrew DeCoste and Lynn Schiffman prosecuted the case.

Terrytown many sentenced to life for Marrero murder that left child injured

A Terrytown man was sentenced Tuesday (Feb. 20) to a mandatory life sentence in prison for his involvement in a Marrero shooting that left a man dead and an 8-year-old girl injured.

Kendell Ellis, 29, was convicted by a Jefferson Parish jury on Feb. 2 of second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

Anderson “CJ” Massey, 29, was killed outside his apartment in the 1100 block of Dimarco Drive on Oct. 23, 2014, as he attempted to avoid being the victim of an armed robbery, according to testimony presented during the trial.

The child, meanwhile, was playing outside her cousin’s apartment when she was struck in the back by a bullet meant for Massey. The child survived, and surgeons left the bullet in her body, according to trial testimony.

In impact testimony Tuesday, Massey’s father told the court that closure is defined as resolution of conclusion, “but not when it comes to my family losing CJ to murder.” He further testified that “as much as I want to hate you for taking my son,” he could not hate Ellis.

“Hating you would not bring CJ back,” he testified. “It would only add stress to my life.”

After denying a defense motion for a new trial, 24th Judicial District Judge Henry Sullivan sentenced Ellis to life for the murder, 50 years for the attempted murder of the child and 49 1/2 years for the conspiracy to commit armed robbery. He ran the sentences concurrently.

Assistant District Attorneys Zachary Popovich and Lynn Schiffman prosecuted the case.

Terrytown man convicted in Marrero fatal shooting that injured a child

A Jefferson Parish jury on Friday (Feb. 2), returned a guilty verdict against Kendell Ellis, convicting him in the shooting death of a man during an armed robbery attempt on a Marrero street and of wounding of an 8-year-old girl who was playing outside her cousin’s home.

Ellis, 29, of Terrytown, was convicted as charged of second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

Anderson “CJ” Massey, 29, was fatally shot while in the 1100 block of Dimarco Drive on Oct. 3, 2014. The child, an innocent bystander, survived a bullet wound to her back, according to evidence presented during the trial this week.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office built a case against Ellis around DNA and cellphone call history and cell tower transmission data.

Ellis faces a mandatory life sentence in prison. Judge Henry Sullivan of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Ellis on Feb. 20.

Assistant District Attorneys Lynn Schiffman and Zachary Popovich prosecuted the case.