Tag: jefferson parish sheriff’s office

Former Terrytown resident convicted of raping girl on 10th birthday

A former Jefferson Parish resident faces spending the rest of his life in prison, for his conviction on Tuesday night (Feb. 7) of raping a girl on her 10th birthday five years ago.

Brian Banks, 52, was convicted as charged of the aggravated rape of the child in his West Bank apartment in February 2012. The victim, now age 14, is not being identified.

She testified that during a visit to his apartment in Terrytown, Banks ordered her to go to his bedroom, where he forced himself upon her. She recounted the abuse for a jury and to forensic interviewer Brittany Bergeron of the Jefferson Children’s Advocacy Center. “If you tell anybody, you’re going to hell,” the victim told Bergeron in repeating what Banks told her.

The victim testified that she was too embarrassed to report what happened, and she did not understand that she was raped until later in life, when she took sex education at her school. She said nothing about the rape for three years, until her mother, concerned about her daughter’s trouble in school, asked her to speak with a member of their church congregation who worked in the criminal justice field.

The crime still was not immediately reported. In April 2015, however, the victim and a classmate passed a note back and forth in class, in which they shared their stories of being sexually abused, according to testimony. Their teacher intercepted the note and alerted a school counselor, who in turn notified police.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office opened its investigation. The victim consistently recounted the crime to detectives, a doctor at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans, a forensic interviewer at the Jefferson Children’s Advocacy Center and to staff at the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office.

Banks lived in Houston, Texas, at the time he was arrested on July 7, 2015, as a result of the victim’s disclosure. In testimony, he denied raping the child. He asserted he was playing golf with a friend at the time the victim was raped, and in doing so, he contradicted a statement he made during a previous court proceeding.

The jury deliberated 2 ½ hours before reaching its unanimous decision. Life in prison is the mandatory punishment for aggravated rape under Louisiana law. Judge Nancy Miller of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Banks on Monday (Feb. 13).

Assistant District Attorneys Thomas Sanderson and Lindsay Truhe prosecuted the case.

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Grand jury indicts Ronald Gasser with 2nd-degree murder of Joseph McKnight

Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul D. Connick, Jr. announced today that the grand jury has returned an indictment against Ronald Gasser, Jr.

Gasser, 55, was indicted for the second-degree murder of Joseph N. McKnight, Jr., on Dec. 1, 2016. Based upon the evidence available at the time, Gasser was arrested on Dec. 5, 2016 for the crime of manslaughter. Subsequent to that arrest, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office continued working together in a collaborative effort to develop additional evidence regarding the case. Today’s indictment comes as a result of that joint effort.

If convicted as charged, Gasser would face a sentence of life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.

As a result of the indictment, Gasser’s bond was increased to $750,000 by Judge June Darensburg of the 24th Judicial District Court.

In keeping with office policy, there will be no further comment by this office.

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Bridge City man convicted of sexually abusing young girl

A Bridge City man was convicted Thursday night (Jan. 26) of sexually abusing a young girl over a period of five years, ending with her mother’s discovering his deeds when the victim was 14 years old.

Trevor Clifton, 37, faces 25 years to 99 years in prison for his conviction of two counts of sexual battery in connection with the abuse he meted out to the child with whom he was acquainted. The victim is not being identified.

The victim’s mother caught Clifton abusing her daughter on Oct. 2, 2015. After confessing to committing only one sexual act, he obtained a knife and threatened to cut his own throat.

The mother called the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office to report the crime, leading Clifton to flee with the knife. Deputies conducted a manhunt that involved searches by electronic means involving his cell phone and license plate recognition cameras.

Two days later, Detectives Donald Zanotelli and Gabe Faucetta tracked Clifton to a woman’s home in the 400 block of MacArthur Boulevard in Harvey.

The woman, with whom Clifton fathered a child and had an ongoing relationship, initially would not let deputies into her home. After gaining entry, the deputies found Clifton hiding behind a refrigerator, still holding a knife.

During the manhunt, detectives spoke with Clifton’s sister, who said her brother told her that the victim raped him and that the entire incident was a misunderstanding.

However, on the day the abuse was discovered, the victim was taken to Children’s Hospital in New Orleans. No sign of physical abuse was discovered, as is often the case in child sexual abuse cases.

But the child disclosed the abuse to hospital staff, and DNA belonging to a male was recovered from the victim’s genitals. While the donor’s gender was determined, the amount of genetic material was insufficient for DNA analysts to identify a specific person.

The victim initially only partially disclosed the extent of the abuse. Through interviews with JPSO Personal Violence Detective Kay Horne and to a forensic interviewer at the Jefferson Children’s Advocacy Center, the victim disclosed that Clifton began abusing her when she was about 9 years old and that Clifton threatened her to get her to submit to the acts. The jury heard expert testimony on how young sexual abuse victims delay in reporting the crimes.

Through his attorneys, Clifton denied the accusations. His attorneys argued that witnesses lied about the crimes, and that detectives were sloppy and rushed the investigation.

Judge E. Adrian Adams of the 24th Judicial District Court set Clifton’s sentencing hearing for Feb. 9.

Assistant District Attorneys Matt Clauss and Josh Vanderhooft prosecuted the case.

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Metairie man nabbed in heroin distribution case convicted of narcotics, firearms offenses

A Metairie man who sold heroin to an undercover informant in New Orleans during a multi-jurisdictional investigation that led to Jefferson Parish was convicted Thursday night (Jan. 19) of possessing and distributing the illegal narcotic and of illegally possessing four firearms.

Julius Hankton, 27, is guilty of possession with intent to distribute heroin, possession of oxycodone and four counts of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

A Jefferson Parish jury deliberated for 40 minutes before unanimously convicting him as charged of all counts. Judge Donnie Rowan of the 24th Judicial District Court set Hankton’s sentencing for Feb. 17.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation New Orleans Violent Crime Task Force investigated Hankton beginning in 2014, using an undercover informant to purchase small quantities of heroin on four occasions, according to testimony. The task force comprises members of the FBI and local law enforcement agencies, including the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Louisiana State Police.

Hankton, who lived in New Orleans when the investigation began, moved into an apartment with his girlfriend in the 1600 block of Clearview Parkway. As such, task force members obtained a warrant from a Jefferson Parish magistrate commissioner to search the apartment.

About 6 a.m., on March 19, 2015, FBI SWAT members and sheriff’s deputies served the warrant, surprising Hankton, his 4-year-old son and his girlfriend as they slept.

During the search agents found more than 21 grams of heroin, eight tablets of oxycodone and the firearms. They also seized more than $20,000 in cash.

The firearms included a fully loaded 9mm pistol with extended magazine, which was set on a dresser, a 10mm pistol on the floor next to his bed, a .45-caliber pistol found in the dresser drawer and a fully loaded AK-47 assault rifle in a duffle bag under the bed.

Hankton is barred from possessing firearms because of his prior convictions in New Orleans of aggravated battery, possession of cocaine, carrying a firearm while in possession of a controlled dangerous substance and illegal possession of stolen firearms.

Hankton, who did not testify, denied the crimes. His attorneys argued there was no evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the drugs and guns belonged to him.

Assistant District Attorneys Andrew DeCoste and Douglas Rushton prosecuted the case.

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DA’s statement on refusal of rape charge against man who killed wife, Westwego officer

Statement from Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul D. Connick, Jr.:

First and foremost, at this time of horrible tragedy, my thoughts and prayers are with the family of Officer Michael Louviere, the family of Simone Veal, and the entire law enforcement community.

Sylvester Holt, Jr. (DOB 8/3/1984) was booked in Jefferson Parish with first-degree rape last year (under JPSO Item No. E-02768-16). The victim who made the rape allegation told authorities that she met the unknown suspect on May 4, 2016, while she was on a street near a bar in New Orleans and willingly got into his vehicle with him believing they were going to his home in Metairie.  However, the victim said he stopped at a location in Metairie and raped her at gunpoint in his car.  After being identified as the suspect and subsequently arrested, Holt denied raping the victim and claimed the sexual encounter was consensual.

In December, JPSO detectives and DA’s Office investigators attempted to locate the victim in New Orleans, to no avail, and the victim did not respond to voice messages left on her cell phone. On the night of Dec. 20, 2016, the victim left a voicemail with, and later sent text messages to a DA’s Office investigator, saying she did not wish to pursue charges.  She was subsequently located and brought to the DA’s Office.  During the course of the interview, she said for the first time she had met Holt on a previous occasion.  She claimed she saw him again on the night of the incident and reiterated the rape allegation, but again insisted that she did not wish to pursue the charges.

A follow-up meeting was scheduled, but she continued to be uncooperative. With assistance from the JPSO, the victim was located and transported to the DA’s Office for the follow-up interview on Dec. 29, 2016.  At that time she remained uncooperative and insisted that charges be dropped.  She requested and signed an affidavit saying she wished to withdraw the charges.

On Jan. 5, 2017, she left a voicemail with a DA’s Office investigator, inquiring about the status of the investigation and reiterated her desire not to pursue charges against Holt. She once again requested that the charges be dropped.

Therefore, after reviewing the evidence, and in light of the victim’s unwillingness to cooperate with the prosecution, the DA’s Office determined there was insufficient evidence to proceed without her participation. As such, the charge was refused two weeks ago, on Jan. 6, 2017.

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Waggaman man sentenced to 50 years for shooting that wounded toddler

A Waggaman man who was convicted last month for his role in a Marrero shooting that left a toddler critically injured was sentenced Tuesday (Jan. 17) to 50 years in prison.

Kedrick “KK” Anderson, 24, was convicted as charged of two counts of second-degree murder for his role in the July 13, 2013 shooting in the 2800 block of Mount Kennedy Drive. Anderson and several other gunman targeted a woman and her 2-year-old son because of a violent, ongoing dispute with the toddler’s father.

In announcing the sentence Tuesday, Judge Stephen Enright of the 24th Judicial District Court noted that one of the victims was “a very small child.” He sentenced Anderson to 50 years in prison for each attempted second-degree murder count, the maximum for each crime, and ran the sentences concurrently. Anything less, Enright noted, would “denigrate the seriousness” of the crimes.

Although Anderson turned down Judge Enright’s invitation to speak to the court before the sentence, the judge found him in contempt of court after he refused to be quiet. The contempt of court hearing, and a multiple bill hearing, is set for Feb. 13.

A Jefferson Parish jury convicted Anderson of the attempted murder counts on Dec. 15. Anderson testified during the trial, denying he was involved in the shooting and asserting that he was misidentified as a shooter. Two co-defendants accused of involvement in the shooting await their trials.

Assistant District Attorneys Angad Ghai and Douglas Rushton prosecuted Anderson.

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Waggaman man guilty in Marrero shooting that wounded toddler

A Waggaman man was convicted Thursday night (Dec. 15) for his involvement in a retaliatory ambush-style shooting of a Marrero woman and her 2-year-old son, who was struck in his chest by a bullet as he walked with his mother to their apartment.

Kedrick “KK” Anderson, 24, faces up to 50 years in prison for each of the two counts of attempted second-degree murder. A Jefferson Parish jury returned with its guilty-as-charged verdicts at 10:30 p.m., Thursday.

The 25-year-old woman and her toddler were walking between buildings at an apartment complex in the 2800 block of Mount Kennedy Drive, about 11 p.m. on July 13, 2013, when three gunmen opened fire in an ambush. Bullets struck buildings and a shed, as the woman dropped to the ground.

One bullet struck the child in the chest and exited his back, as his mother crawled through the grass to the toddler. She picked up her son and ran around a building to escape to her nearby apartment, according to testimony.

As the woman ran away from the gunfire, she heard more gunshots. She emerged from between two buildings and noticed Anderson, holding a rifle and standing near large garbage bins behind the apartment complex. Anderson fired the rifle but not the bullet that injured the child.

The woman escaped to her apartment, where 911 was called. EMS was dispatched. Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chris Lewis arrived at the apartment, picked up the wounded child and rushed him to paramedics outside, likely saving his life, according to testimony.

The shooting was one in a chain of violent crimes in 2013 involving a dispute between two groups of people who targeted one-another in seeking street justice. The woman and her child were fired upon because of their connection to the child’s father, Antoine Payne, whom his rivals suspected cooperated with police in a 2010 armed robbery case.

Based upon the spent bullet casings recovered at the scene, investigators determined that four firearms were used in the shooting. Two were 9mm pistols, one was a .45-caliber pistol and the fourth was an AK-47 assault rifle, based on the 7.62 by 39mm caliber casings. Those casings were the only ones that could be fired from a rifle, Sheriff’s Office firearms examiner Jené Rauch testified.

The AK-47 casings were recovered from near the garbage bins, where Anderson stood with a rifle during the shooting.

One of the 9mm pistols also was used in two homicides, in Marrero and Metairie, and a shoot-out that continued across the Crescent City Connection to the elevated Westbank Expressway in Gretna on July 16, 2013, detective Sgt. Gary Barteet testified.

The investigation of the shooting of the mother and son continued without results for three months, until Deputy Joseph Ragas spoke with the victim’s family. Ragas knew the victim’s family, an association that provided him with the opportunity to meet with the woman in October 2013. The woman eventually identified the men who shot at her and her son.

“She was afraid,” Ragas testified. “She was afraid to come forward.”

The dispute which led to her son getting shot stemmed from a 2010 armed robbery case, in which Payne pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact and received a three-year prison sentence. His co-defendant pleaded guilty to armed robbery and received a 20-year prison sentence. Payne’s plea to a lesser charge led acquaintances to suspect that he cooperated with law enforcement in order to get less prison time.

As such, Payne became a target for violent acts. The victim of the Mount Kennedy shooting testified she was unaware of the ongoing problems her children’s father was having with his rivals. In testimony on Wednesday, she blamed Payne for her son getting shot.

A month after the Mount Kennedy shooting, on Aug. 12, 2013, Payne fired three gunshots from a distance at a car driven by the 22-year-old mother of Anderson’s children as she drove in the 900 block of Beechgrove Boulevard in Bridge City. The woman’s 1-year-old son was in the car with her.

No one was injured, but the woman identified Payne as the gunman. She also said she believed she was targeted in retaliation for the Mount Kennedy shooting, in which Payne’s son was wounded.

For that crime, Payne pleaded guilty last year to aggravated assault and received a 2-year prison sentence followed by three years of probation, the first year of which is to be spent in home incarceration.

Anderson, in testifying on Thursday, denied involvement in the shooting and testified that the woman wrongly identified him. Judge Stephen Enright of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Anderson on Jan. 17.

Assistant District Attorneys Angad Ghai and Douglas Rushton prosecuted the case.

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Marrero man convicted of raping young girl, faces life in prison

A Marrero man will spend the rest of his life in prison for his conviction of raping an autistic young girl.

Timmy W. Doucet, 40, was convicted as charged by a Jefferson Parish jury on Thursday afternoon (Dec. 1) of one count of aggravated rape. He was charged with raping a girl here beginning when she was 8 years old.

Doucet is acquainted with the victim, whose identity is not being released. The victim, who is now age 13, disclosed the abuse to her mother in August 2015, years after the abuse ended.

The victim said that Doucet raped her at least once at a Marrero residence beginning in 2011, starting with an incident in which he forced her into a backyard shed to sexually abuse her.

The victim said that the rape hurt and caused her to cry out, so he held his hand over his mouth. Afterward, he threatened to beat her up if she told anyone. The victim also reported that Doucet raped her multiple times at a Mississippi location.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation, leading to Doucet’s indictment and conviction. Doucet also awaits his trial in Pearl River County, Miss., on charges of sexually abusing the girl.

The Jefferson Parish jury deliberated about four hours before returning with its verdict just after 4 p.m., on Thursday afternoon. Judge Nancy Miller of the 24th Judicial District Court, who presided over the three-day trial, is scheduled to sentence Doucet on Monday (Dec. 5).

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

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Marrero man who ran over ex-girlfriend’s mother with SUV sentenced to life in prison

A Marrero man was sentenced Thursday (Dec. 1) to life in prison as a habitual offender, for a criminal history capped by his recent conviction of running over his ex-girlfriend’s 61-year-old mother with his large sports-utility vehicle on a Harvey sidewalk last year.

Earl Harris, 43, was convicted by a Jefferson Parish jury on Aug. 26 of aggravated second-degree battery. That case stems from the Sept. 15, 2015 incident in the 1100 block of Clydesbank Drive, in the Scotsdale neighborhood.

The victim, who is the grandmother of several of Harris’ children, testified during the trial that she had walked to a cousin’s home on Clydesbank Drive to borrow diapers for one of her grandchildren. She was returning to her nearby home from that errand about 11 p.m., accompanied by a friend, when she noticed the headlights and heard the engine of the SUV being driven up from behind her on the sidewalk, she testified.

Harris used the SUV to strike her before he circled around across lawns for a second strike. He ran over her on the second pass, crushing her left leg. He circled around a third time and stopped, and the victim then noticed that Harris was the driver.

“He looked over at me on the ground and smiled,” she testified during the trial.

Harris circled again a fourth time, aiming at the victim’s friend, who was not injured. The victim’s friend and a nearby resident, meanwhile, called 911.

For the conviction of aggravated second-degree battery, Judge Conn Regan of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Harris on Thursday to the maximum 15 years in prison at hard labor. “I think you were lucky they didn’t charge you with attempted second-degree murder,” Judge Regan told Harris.

The court then proceeded into a multiple bill hearing, with the state seeking an enhanced sentence under the state’s habitual offender law. Four of Harris’ prior felony convictions were used:

  • In 1999, Harris was convicted of distribution of cocaine, for which he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
  • In 1997, Harris was convicted of distribution of a false controlled dangerous substance, or fake cocaine, and was sentenced to three years in prison.
  • In 1995, Harris was convicted of second-degree battery and was sentenced to three years in prison.
  • In 1991, Harris was convicted of armed robbery and was sentenced to five years in prison.

After hearing testimony from a Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office latent fingerprint examiner, Kortni Sinon, Judge Regan ruled that prosecutors met their burden in proving that Harris is the same person who was convicted of the previous crimes.

Judge Regan then vacated the 15-year sentence he gave for the aggravated second-degree battery and resentenced Harris to mandatory life sentence in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.

Harris had been scheduled to be sentenced for the aggravated second-degree battery conviction in September, but the hearing was postponed to October after he told the judge in arguing a pro se motion for a new trial that his constitutional rights were violated. He alleged he was not allowed to cross-examine the victim during the trial, a request he made before his trial but one he did not revive as the victim began testifying. Harris was represented by a public defender who aggressively conducted the cross-examination.

Judge Regan denied Harris’ new-trial request and re-set the sentencing and multiple-bill hearings for Thursday. In multiple bill hearings, fingerprint experts match newly obtained prints to those obtained in the prior criminal cases. The intent is to prove that the defendant is the same person who was convicted of the previous offenses listed in the multiple bill.

On Thursday, Harris, who is 6’7” tall, refused to be fingerprinted voluntarily in court for this process, asserting that doing so would violate his constitutional right against self-incrimination. So Judge Regan ordered corrections officers to escort Harris back to the parish jail to be printed. Deputies escorted him back to court peacefully shortly after for the sentencing hearing.

In August, Harris disrupted his trial in front of the jury by creating a disturbance moments after the victim began testifying against him. That led Judge Regan to grant the defense request for a mistrial. Prosecutors prevailed in having that mistrial order overturned at the state 5th Circuit Court of Appeal. The trial resumed with the victim’s testimony, and Harris was convicted the following day.

Assistant District Attorneys Brittany Beckner and Andrew DeCoste prosecuted the aggravated second-degree battery case.

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Convicted Marrero bank robber sentenced to 50 years in prison

A Marrero man who was convicted last month of robbing the same West Jefferson bank branch twice, about one year apart, has been sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Brandon Gray, 40, was convicted as charged by a Jefferson Parish jury on Sept. 22 of five counts of armed robbery, aggravated flight and two counts of aggravated assault. The five armed robbery counts represent the five bank employees he victimized during the two bank robberies.

With three of the victims sitting and the case detective Marc Macaluso seated in the front row of her courtroom, Judge Danyelle Taylor of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Gray on Wednesday (Oct. 19) to 50 years for each of the robbery victims, five years for the aggravated assault and six months for each of the aggravated flight charges.

The 50-year sentences are to be served without benefit of probation, parole or suspended sentence. Judge Taylor ran the sentences concurrently and told Gray that his “actions were malevolent in nature.”

One of the victims wrote a letter to the court as impact testimony, urging the judge to sentence Gray to the maximum punishment allowable. She noted “the tremendous impact” Gray’s crimes had on her and her coworkers, and that he had not been rehabilitated after serving prison time for a 1997 armed robbery, involving the carjacking of a 64-year-old Westwego man in front of his home.

The victim said she and coworkers twice had to endure Gray entering their workplace, leaving in his wake anxiety that employees continue to suffer despite knowing that he has been incarcerated. One employee no longer works in banks because of the robbery experience.

“Mr. Gray held a gun to my ribs and threatened to kill me,” the victim wrote.

Gray robbed the Iberia Bank branch on Barataria Boulevard in Marrero on Sept. 30, 2013 and got away with it until he returned to the bank a second time on Oct. 9, 2014, to rob it again, according to trial testimony.

As Gray entered the bank, using vulgar and threatening language and pointing a pistol at employees, a banker happened to be speaking on the phone with her husband, a Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office lieutenant. He immediately began broadcasting the robbery in progress over the police radio system, relaying to his fellow deputies details about the robber as soon as his wife relayed the details to him, according to testimony.

With that information, a deputy spotted Gray in his sports-utility vehicle stopped at a red light at a Marrero intersection. Noticing the deputy behind him, Gray became nervous and accelerated through the red light, leading deputies on a pursuit through Marrero, according to testimony.

Gray drove into the Lincolnshire subdivision, where he wrecked his SUV into a house on Constantine Street. He jumped out of the driver’s seat and ran around the rear of his SUV. The plastic grocery bag in which he carried the stolen cash snagged the rear bumper, ripping it open and spilling the bills on the lawn.

He then climbed over a side fence into the house’s back yard, where he turned and faced two deputies. He pointed a pistol at the deputies, one of whom opened fire, striking Gray once in his right leg, according to trial testimony.

Gray fled but was caught nearby. The two deputies are the victims in the aggravated flight and aggravated assault charges.

The weapon Gray used during the 2014 robbery was an air gun pellet pistol, leading his attorney to argue at trial that, among other things, he could not be convicted of armed robbery.

Judge Taylor noted Gray’s use of the pellet pistol. “No one should have to experience that,” Judge Taylor said, noting the victims’ testimony.

Gray, seated in a wheel chair because of the gunshot wound, said nothing during the sentencing hearing. His attorney’s requests for a new trial and post-verdict judgment of acquittal were denied.

Assistant District Attorneys Blair Constant and Thomas Sanderson prosecuted the case.

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