Tag: jefferson parish sheriff’s office

Dartanya Spottsville convicted again of Father’s Day 2015 attack that left two dead, one injured

A Jefferson Parish jury on Thursday night (Sept. 7) found Dartanya O. Spottsville guilty of his role in the murders of a pair of cousins who were shot during an apparent ambush inside a West Bank apartment on Father’s Day 2015.

Spottsville, 35, of Marrero, was convicted as charged of two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Johnell Ovide and Trammell Marshall, one count of attempted second-degree murder in the shooting of another man and one count of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

His conviction brings to two the number of times he’s been found guilty of the crimes.

The first time Spottsville was convicted was in September 2019. Jurors in that trial did not return with unanimous verdicts. The following year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in an unrelated case, Ramos v. Louisiana, that non-unanimous verdicts are unconstitutional. As a result of the Ramos decision, Spottsville received a new trial.

About 10 p.m., on June 21, 2015, Spottsville and two friends — Jacobie Green and Johnell Walker, both of whom were armed — arrived unexpected at a small, one-bedroom apartment in the 1600 block of Apache Drive, just off Manhattan Boulevard in Harvey. Spottsville and Walker sat on sofas in the living room. Green stood in the doorway, the only way out of the apartment.

Ovide, Marshall and two other men already were at the apartment. At least two of those men had pistols.

Ovide allowed Spottsville to handle his pistol. After doing so, Spottsville handed the pistol back to Ovide. Spottsville then held the pistol owned by the surviving victim. For unknown reasons and without provocation, Spottsville shot Ovide and then shot the surviving victim. Chaos ensued, with Green and Walker, immediately opening fire and striking the three victims.

The 23-year-old man who rented the apartment fled into his bedroom and dove through a closed window to escape. At the same time, Spottsville ran past Green and out of the apartment, likely in pursuit of the renter who was able to escape. Marshall ran into the kitchen, followed by Green and Walker, and more shots were fired there.

By the time the gunfire ended, Ovide, 23, was shot three times, with one of the bullets piercing both lungs and his heart. Marshall, 21, was shot five times; three of those bullets struck his body from the rear. The surviving victim was shot three times, including once in the face.

Spottsville, Green and Walker fled and were not injured.

Hiding nearby in the apartment complex, the renter who escaped called 911. The first Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy arrived two minutes later to find the three gunshot victims outside the apartment. Ovide lay dead or dying in the grass near Marshall, who died a short while later at a hospital. The third victim sat leaning against the apartment’s entry doorframe.

Detectives immediately identified Spottsville as a suspect and obtained an arrest warrant. Spottsville surrendered the following day.

Spottsville initially denied involvement and told detectives that he was in New Orleans East when the shooting occurred. But detectives refuted the alibi assertion by using his cell phone to show that he was, in fact, near the murder scene when the shooting occurred. His cell phone data showed he went to New Orleans East only after the shooting.

In testimony Thursday, Spottsville admitted he lied to detectives about being in New Orleans East. Explaining why he fired a pistol, he asserted self-defense. He told jurors he was sitting on a sofa looking at his phone when he looked up to find a pistol pointed at him. During a tussle for the pistol, it fired, he testified. He wrestled the pistol away, fired it once at the surviving victim, dropped it and fled, Spottsville told jurors. He heard more gunfire as he ran to his car, he asserted.

Under cross-examination, Spottsville was pressed on why he raised self-defense only after his alibi effort failed. He was questioned about why the pistol he said he dropped in the living room was never found. And he was asked about why his and Green’s cell phone data showed they left the murder scene and went straight to Lake Pontchartrain’s Lincoln Beach in New Orleans East.

In rebuttal, prosecutors provided expert witness testimony to show that three bullet casings were found in the living room that were fired by the pistol that Spottsville said was fired only twice. Further, the location of the ejected bullet casings in the living room was consistent with where two witnesses said Spottsville stood when he shot Ovide and then the surviving victim. The evidence shows that all but one of the bullets that the trio fired in the apartment struck victims; the other bullet struck a wall.

Spottsville, Green and Walker were prosecuted as principals to the murders, meaning they were working in concert with each other in committing the crimes. A look at the convictions shows:

  • Green, 31, of New Orleans, was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted second-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without probation, parole or suspension of sentence in September 2018.
  • Walker, 29, of Marrero, was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted second-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison without probation, parole or suspension of sentence in October 2021. Nine days after he was sentenced, Walker was found unresponsive at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center and was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
  • Archie Hulbert III, 39, of Algiers, pleaded guilty as charged to perjury in February 2018 and received a 7-year prison sentence. He admitted to lying to detectives about the time Green arrived at a Terrytown location after the murders occurred.

The jury that was seated on Monday deliberated almost four hours Thursday before unanimously convicting Spottsville of the murder and attempted murder counts, and for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He was prohibited from possessing guns because of a previous conviction of heroin possession in Jefferson Parish.

Judge Stephen Grefer of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Spottsville on Oct. 11.

Assistant District Attorneys Matthew Clauss and Blaine Moncrief prosecuted the case.

 

Daniel Tenner convicted of murdering Mississippi woman during West Bank armed robbery

A Jefferson Parish jury on Tuesday night (Aug. 15) convicted Daniel Tenner of killing a Mississippi woman while robbing her during a cell phone sale arranged through social media.

Tenner, 21, of Jackson, Miss., is guilty as charged of the first-degree murder of Morgan Tyrone, 24, of Pascagoula, Miss., jurors unanimously decided after three hours of deliberations.

On the evening of April 10, 2022, Tyrone, her 22-year-old partner and their 13-month-old son traveled from Pascagoula to the West Bank so Tyrone could purchase an iPhone 13 for $300. Tyrone and a person she believed was a woman had been discussing the transaction through Facebook Marketplace. It was Tenner using a woman’s Facebook account.

Tenner directed Tyrone to an apartment complex in the 300 block of Friedrichs Road in unincorporated Gretna. There, Tenner approached the Tyrone’s minivan’s driver’s side window. During the ensuing discussion, he showed the phone he purportedly wanted to sell. He asked if they had the money and then asked if they had a tool with which he could remove the phone’s SIM card.

During that time, Tyrone and Tenner were hesitant to exchange the cash and phone. Growing doubtful that the transaction would occur, Tyrone turned away to put the cash on the minivan’s center console. That’s when Tenner brandished the pistol, pointed it at the left rear side of Tyrone’s head and shot her without provocation.

He then pointed the pistol at Tyrone’s partner in the front passenger’s seat and demanded the cash. He reached over Tyrone’s body to grab the cash and then ran away.

Tyrone’s partner called 911, but not knowing where she was, she flagged a passerby who was able to give the 911 operator their location.

Immediately after shooting Tyrone, Tenner fled to a nearby apartment and then to Jackson, Miss. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office received a tip via Crimestoppers identifying Tenner as the killer and giving his location. A U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force found and arrested Tenner in Jackson on May 17, 2022.

Sheriff’s Office detectives confirmed Tenner’s whereabouts, including placing him at the murder scene and fleeing north toward Jackson, by using his cell phone records.

During the 1 ½-hour interview with a detective, Tenner confessed. At its conclusion, the detective left Tenner alone in the room with pen and paper. Tenner penned a statement in which he admitted shooting Tyrone but asserted he did so because she “was grabbing something” or thought she was taking his iPhone. “I was giving the phone to you guys for a cheap price,” he wrote. “Yes, I am truly sorry with what happen [sic]. I am. I didn’t mean for nothing like that to happen.”

Jurors watched a video recording of that interview and read Tenner’s statement.

Tenner’s public defenders argued their client was not guilty. They asserted that he was armed because he was meeting strangers at night. Tenner became fearful when Tyrone turned away from him, the defense asserted. They also described it as “a tragic accident.” They said that Tenner did not have specific intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm, which are necessary elements of proving murder.

In closing argument Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney LaShanda Webb reminded jurors that Tenner threatened to kill Tyrone’s partner if she didn’t give him the cash.

“What more do you need to prove intent?” Webb argued. “If it wasn’t about robbery, why would he even take the money? Why would he reach over Morgan, who he just killed, to take the money?”

In addition to the murder, jurors found Tenner guilty of armed robbery and obstruction of justice – for discarding the firearm he used to kill Tyrone.

Judge Donald “Chick” Foret of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Tenner to a mandatory life sentence in prison on Sept. 15. The District Attorney’s Office did not seek the death penalty.

Assistant District Attorneys LaShanda Webb and Brittany Beckner prosecuted the case.

 

Sean Bennett pleads guilty to vehicular homicide for fatal Metairie collision, gets 17-year sentence

A Jefferson Parish judge on Thursday (Aug. 3) sentenced Sean Bennett to 17 years in prison, after he pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of illegal narcotics when he caused a collision that killed a woman, injured her husband and injured another motorist in Metairie last year.

Bennett, 27, of Poplarville, Miss., pleaded guilty as charged to vehicular homicide for causing the death of Lyn Garnett, 75, of New Orleans.

He separately pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of vehicular negligent injury, and to driving with a suspended driver’s license. Garnett’s 72-year-old husband was injured, as was the 72-year-old driver of another vehicle.

Bennett had been using cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine when he was traveling north on Causeway Boulevard in a 2016 Nissan Altima at 105 mph on the morning of April 16, 2022.

As he approached the vehicles stopped at the red light at West Esplanade Avenue at 10:39 a.m., Bennett drove into Causeway’s dedicated right-turn lane to bypass the congestion.

He proceeded into the eastbound lane of West Esplanade, where his car collided with a 2020 Hyundai Santa Fe driven by a 72-year-old Westwego man.

After that collision, Bennett’s car fishtailed and spun out of control and into the westbound lanes of West Esplanade. His car then collided with the Garnetts’ 2000 Chrysler Voyager.

The event data recorder in Bennett’s vehicle showed his car was moving at 103 mph when it collided with the Garnett’s vehicle. At no time did Bennett apply his brakes as he ran the red light or after the collisions.

The Garnetts’ vehicle struck a traffic signal light post. Bennett’s car struck a tree and then a different traffic signal light post.

Lyn Garnett was rushed to a hospital and underwent emergency surgery. She died from her injuries on June 7, 2022. Her husband also was transported to a hospital for treatment.

The 72-year-old Westwego man was treated on the scene and then traveled to a hospital on his own.

At a hospital, Bennett told Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office investigators that he was hallucinating and thinking that someone was seeking his family to hurt them. So, he was rushing to his family, he asserted. He later pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.

In accepting his guilty pleas Thursday, and after hearing victim-impact testimony from numerous witnesses, 24th Judicial District Judge Shayna Beevers Morvant sentenced Bennett to 17 years in prison for the vehicular homicide and six months for each of the three misdemeanor charges. She ran the sentences concurrently.

Assistant District Attorney Matthew Whitworth prosecuted the case.

 

On parole for ’94 homicide, Shawn Carter convicted of robbing Gretna store using a hammer

A Jefferson Parish jury on Wednesday (July 26) found Shawn Carter guilty of robbing a Gretna convenience store while using a hammer.

Carter, 50, of Avondale, is guilty as charged of the armed robbery of the business. At the time he committed this crime, Carter was on parole for killing a man by beating him to death with a hammer.

About 12:30 a.m., on Feb. 11, 2021, Carter walked into the convenience store in the 900 block of Lafayette Street. He immediately approached the 42-year-old clerk who was seated behind the counter.

Wielding the hammer, Carter demanded the clerk hand over his phone and to refrain from activating a panic alarm. He ordered the clerk to open the cash register and threatened to kill the clerk if he didn’t comply.

In opening the register, the clerk dropped the cash drawer. Carter ordered the clerk to pick up the money. The clerk refused, and so Carter grabbed him by the throat and pushed him to the floor.

Carter pocketed the money, and the clerk fled to a stock room and locked the door. Through a window in the door, the clerk observed Carter taking three bottles of liquor and fleeing on Lafayette Street toward the Mississippi River.

In addition to the cash and liquor, Carter stole the clerk’s iPhone. An hour later, Gretna Police Department detectives tracked the stolen phone to a yard in the 600 block of 6th Street, about six blocks away from the crime scene. Carter’s fingerprint later was found on the phone, leading detectives to identify Carter as their suspect.

As he fled into the residential neighborhood after committing the armed robbery, Carter discarded his Atlanta Falcons cap and shirt in the 400 block of 9th Street. Gretna police recovered that evidence using a canine, Max, which tracked Carter’s scent from the crime scene. While canvassing the area for more evidence, officers found the claw hammer in a storm drain in that same block.

The U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force located and arrested Carter at his Avondale home on March 3, 2021.

A Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab DNA analyst, meanwhile, found Carter’s genetic material on the cap, shirt and hammer.

On June 1, 1994, Carter used a hammer to beat Christian Smith to death. Smith, 20, was found in his home in the 2100 block of Hancock Street in Gretna. The hammer was still embedded in his skull.

Carter fled with the Smith’s car and his property, including a mobile phone. Indicted for first-degree murder, he pleaded guilty in 1996 to manslaughter and was sentenced to 40 years in prison. He was paroled in 2014.

The jury, which heard evidence about the 1994 homicide, deliberated less than 50 minutes in finding Carter guilty as charged of the armed robbery. Judge Ray Steib of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Carter on Aug. 21.

Assistant District Attorneys Laura Schneidau and Blaine Moncrief prosecuted the case.

Convicted of murdering Harvey teen, Ivory Franklin sentenced to life again in ‘Ramos’ retrial

A Jefferson Parish judge on Tuesday (July 18) sentenced Ivory Franklin to life in prison plus 40 years for his convictions of murder and attempted murder.

It brings to two the number of times that Franklin, 25, has been convicted and sentenced for killing Reginald Black, 17, in Harvey seven years ago, and trying to kill Black’s 15-year-old nephew. The trio, who were close friends, were walking to a convenience store about 3 a.m., when Franklin brandished a pistol and shot Black in the back of his head.

In 2018, a non-unanimous Jefferson Parish jury convicted Franklin as charged of second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder for the crimes. However, because of the jury’s non-unanimity, Franklin received a new trial after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in its 2020 decision, Ramos v. Louisiana, that non-unanimous verdicts are unconstitutional.

Franklin was convicted again in March, this time by a unanimous jury. And for a second time, 24th Judicial District Judge Donnie Rowan sentenced Franklin to mandatory life in prison for the second-degree murder of Black, and to 40 years in prison for the attempted second-degree murder of the 15-year-old.

“I don’t know why an individual would kill someone who was like a brother to them,” Judge Rowan told Franklin in handing down the consecutive sentences.

Franklin was 18 years old in May 2016, when he shot Black in the back of his head as they walked along the drainage canal bank in Harvey’s Woodmere subdivision. The 15-year-old ran for his life while Franklin shot at him, too. That teenager was able to alert a nearby homeowner, who called the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Assistant District Attorneys Douglas Rushton and Stephen Downer prosecuted Franklin.

‘Street Butler,’ who led violent West Bank-based narcotics ring, pleads guilty

A Jefferson Parish judge has sentenced Scott Butler to 20 years in prison for his role as the leader of a Jefferson Parish narcotics distribution ring. Butler’s guilty plea on July 13 brings to a close a racketeering case that involved 11 codefendants who engaged in importing pain pills and muscle relaxers from overseas for resale on the streets of the greater New Orleans area.

Butler, 36, of Marrero, known as “Street Butler,” was the central figure in the enterprise, importing thousands of Tramadol and Soma pills from India or Singapore into the area for resale on local streets and distributing the proceeds among the enterprise’s members between November 2015 and April 2021.

Members of the enterprise used threats of violence to protect their distribution ring from those who encroached in their territory or reported them to authorities. Members of the enterprise attempted to kill an Algiers man in 2015. When that failed, they then tried to buy his silence with a bribe. When that failed, they attempted to kill him again. The man and his girlfriend were murdered the following year.

Court documents show Scott Butler wired almost $165,000 in a series of about 85 transactions to sources in India to purchase the pills. As a result of the investigation, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office seized over 80,000 pills, seven firearms and almost $30,000 cash.

All other members of the enterprise also pleaded guilty during the past two years:

  • Christopher Butler, 34, of Marrero, was another supervising member and an enforcer who committed and threatened use of violence to protect the enterprise. He pleaded guilty to racketeering, conspiracy to distribute narcotics, possession with intent to distribute narcotics and public bribery counts on May 1. He received a 20-year prison sentence, with 10 years of that sentence being suspended.
  • Decorian Jefferson, 31, of Marrero, was a “mid-level” dealer who distributed the pills throughout the greater New Orleans area. Jefferson pleaded guilty on Aug. 4, 2021, to racketeering, conspiracy to distribute narcotics, conspiracy to launder money of amounts greater than $100,000 and possession with intent to distribute narcotics. He received a 17-year prison sentence.
  • Dwayne Carter, 30, of Gretna, was a “mid-level” distributor who distributed the pills throughout the greater New Orleans area. He pleaded guilty on Sept. 29, 2021, to racketeering, conspiracy to distribute narcotics, conspiracy to launder money in amounts greater than $100,000 and public bribery. He received a 10-year sentence.
  • April Butler, 41, of Marrero, was a “mid-level facilitator” who provided the site for the imported pills. She pleaded guilty on June 9, 2021 to racketeering, conspiracy to distribute narcotics, conspiracy to launder money of amounts greater than $100,000 and possession with intent to distribute narcotics. She received a suspended 20-year sentence and was ordered to serve three years of active probation.
  • Shirley Carter Butler, 60, of Terrytown, was a “mid-level facilitator” who provided a site for the pills. She pleaded guilty on May 26, 2021 to racketeering, conspiracy to distribute narcotics, conspiracy to launder money in amounts greater than $100,000 and possession with intent to distribute narcotics. She received a suspended 10-year prison sentence and was ordered to serve three years of active probation. She is the mother of Scott Butler, Christopher Butler and April Butler.
  • Jemimah Joseph, 36, of Marrero, was a “mid-level facilitator” who provided storage for the pills. She pleaded guilty on Oct. 11 to racketeering, conspiracy to distribute narcotics, conspiracy to launder money in amounts greater than $100,000 and possession with intent to distribute narcotics. She received a 10-year prison sentence that was suspended and was ordered to serve three years of active probation.
  • Devin Williams, 25, of Gretna, was a “street-level distributor” who sold the pills throughout the greater New Orleans area. He pleaded guilty on Feb. 15 to racketeering, conspiracy to distribute narcotics, conspiracy to launder money in amounts greater than $100,000 and possession with intent to distribute narcotics. He received a suspended 8-year prison sentence and was ordered to serve three years of active probation.
  • Terrell Carter, 25, of Melissa, Texas, was a “street-level distributor” in the enterprise. He pleaded guilty on Oct. 11 to racketeering, conspiracy to distribute narcotics, conspiracy to launder money in amounts greater than $100,000 and possession with intent to distribute narcotics. He received a suspended 5-year sentence and was ordered to serve three years or active probation.
  • Trenise Palmer, 38, of Westwego, was a “street-level facilitator” who provided a site for the importation of pills. She pleaded guilty on Aug. 19, 2021, to racketeering, conspiracy to distribute narcotics, conspiracy to launder money in amounts greater than $100,000 and possession with intent to distribute narcotics. She received three years of active probation.
  • Lauren Jackson, 37, of Westwego, was a “street-level facilitator” who provided a site for the importation of pills. She pleaded guilty on May 27, 2021 to racketeering, conspiracy to distribute narcotics and conspiracy to launder money in amounts greater than $100,000. She received three years of active probation.

Judge Michael Mentz of the 24th Judicial District Court presided over the cases.

Assistant District Attorneys Douglas Rushton, Brittany Beckner, Leo Aaron and former Assistant District Attorney Joshua Vanderhooft prosecuted the case.

 

Stephen Sauer pleads guilty to drugging, molesting 17 men, gets 25-year sentence

A Jefferson Parish judge on Friday (July 7) sentenced Stephen Sauer to 25 years in prison, after he pleaded guilty to being a serial sexual predator who drugged 17 men he met in the French Quarter and drove the unconscious victims to his Metairie home. There, he used mobile devices to obtain images of the victims in various stages of undress; he molested some of the men.

Sauer, 61, admitted to targeting men who appeared to be intoxicated, lost or in need of assistance. Then, in offering to help, he drugged the men. In some cases, he put narcotics in their drinks while at bars or, after they passed out from drinking alcohol, he used an eyedropper to feed them the sleep-inducing substances.

Sauer then drove the victims to his home in the 4700 block of Purdue Drive, where he photographed or videotaped the unconscious men. He molested some of the men and pleasured himself, and the following morning he gave them rides to their hotels or other locations.

He shared his images with others through a website or traded the images with others via email, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office found in its investigation.

Many of the victims were visiting New Orleans from out of state, were separated from friends or simply lost when Sauer approached them and offered help. The crimes for which he was charged occurred over a two-year period beginning in 2019.

Sauer pleaded guilty to 13 counts of sexual battery, nine counts of third-degree rape, 17 counts of video voyeurism and to 16 misdemeanor charges of possessing legend drugs without prescriptions and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Sauer admitted his crimes and pled guilty as charged in 24th Judicial District Judge Shayna Beevers Morvant’s court and was sentenced to a total of 25 years in prison. The judge additionally ordered Sauer to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, and to refrain from contacting 12 of his victims for the rest of his life.

The investigation began in June 2021, after Sauer sent a computer hard drive to an electronics repair company in New York. A data recovery technician found hundreds of images suggesting sexual assaults had taken place. New York law enforcement officials determined the images were taken in Metairie and notified the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Detectives were able to identify many victims in part because Sauer took photographs of their driver’s licenses or other forms of identification.

In Sauer’s home, detectives found prescription pill bottles in the name of a convicted sex offender in Missouri. The narcotics included a common “date rape” drug, Zolpidem.

Detectives believe that more than 50 victims remain unidentified.

Assistant District Attorneys Kellie Rish and Rachel Africk prosecuted the case.

 

 

 

Shawn Chiasson pleads guilty as charged to murdering ex-girlfriend

A Jefferson Parish judge on Wednesday (July 5) sentenced Shawn Chiasson to spend the rest of his life in prison after the defendant abruptly ended his murder trial and pleaded guilty as charged to killing his estranged girlfriend.

Chiasson, 28, of Marrero, pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of Lindsey Williams, 29, by shooting her once in the left side of her head in the bedroom of her home in the 1100 block of Gaudet Drive. He then fled, leaving her 11-year-old son behind with his dying mother on the morning of Aug. 14, 2021.

The jury that was seated last week returned to 24th Judicial District Judge Ray Steib’s courtroom on Wednesday to hear testimony. Jurors heard the state’s opening statement. Jurors heard testimony from Williams’ mother and were midway through the direct examination of Chiasson’s ex-girlfriend when he decided to plead guilty.

In addition to second-degree murder, Chiasson pleaded guilty as charged to being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and to obstruction of justice. He was prohibited from possessing firearms because of a 2021 conviction of possession of heroin. After he shot Williams, Chiasson fled to Westwego, where he dumped the pistol along a canal bank – leading to the obstruction of justice charge.

Judge Steib sentenced Chiasson to the mandatory life sentence for the murder, 20 years for the firearm charge and 40 for the obstruction of justice. He ran the sentences concurrently.

On the night before her death, Williams gathered with friends at a downtown Gretna restaurant and then on the Mississippi River levee. Chiasson arrived and texted her, “I’m looking dead at you.”

Just before 9 a.m., the following morning, her son was in his bedroom when he heard something across the hall in his mother’s bedroom. He opened the door and saw Chiasson with blood on his hands.

Chiasson then used the child’s cell phone to call 911, telling the operator that his name was “Jake,” and saying someone had been shot. Chiasson fled, and the child waited on the front porch for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office to arrive.

Following his arrest two days later, Chiasson told detectives that the pistol accidentally fired as he removed it from his pants’ waistband.

Chiasson’s public defender waived giving an opening statement Wednesday. Chiasson’s ex-girlfriend was the second witness, who was called to testify about a 2017 incident in which he beat her while she was eight months pregnant. She refused to answer a prosecutor’s questions Wednesday and faced a contempt hearing. It was while she was on the witness stand that Chiasson told his public defender that he would plead guilty as charged.

Jurors briefly left the courtroom on Wednesday, unaware that Chiasson was pleading guilty. Judge Steib called the jurors back to his courtroom and told him about the guilty plea. The jurors voluntarily remained in court to hear victim impact testimony and to see Chiasson sentenced.

Assistant District Attorneys Lindsay Truhe and Tommy Block prosecuted the case.

 

Darryl Vinson gets 115-year sentence for brutalizing woman

A Jefferson Parish judge has sentenced Darryl Vinson to 115 years in prison for his conviction of brutalizing and beating a woman he held captive in her Gretna home for three days in 2021.

Vinson, 60, of Marrero, was convicted as charged by a Jefferson Parish jury on May 3 of attempted second-degree murder, second-degree kidnapping, second-degree sexual battery and false imprisonment with a dangerous weapon.

Judge Ray Steib of the 24th Judicial District Court on Thursday (June 15) sentenced Vinson to 50 years for attempted second-degree murder, 40 years for second-degree kidnapping, 15 years for second-degree sexual battery and 10 years for false imprisonment with a dangerous weapon.

Judge Steib ran the sentences consecutively, for a total of 115 years.

The crimes occurred between Jan. 27, 2021 and Jan. 29, 2021, in the 48-year-old woman’s Claire Avenue home.

He hogtied the naked woman, forced her to sleep on the cold tile floor in a closet, made her crawl on all fours when he let her leave the closet, kicked her and inserted the barrel of her pistol into her body. He stabbed her in the forehead and left lacerations from a serrated knife blade just below her neck.

To prevent her from crying aloud, he inserted dirty underwear and socks into her mouth and used duct tape to keep them in place. He forced her to eat cat food and injected methamphetamine into her body. He wouldn’t let her use her phone.

The victim’s injuries included brain bleeding, a fractured eye socket for which she has a titanium plate, fractured ribs, a bruised lung and numerous lacerations and ligature marks on her neck, wrists and ankles. She was hospitalized for 12 days, four of which were spent in an intensive care unit.

The sexual assault nurse examiner who documented the victim’s injuries testified that the case is “one of the most severe that I’ve seen.”

Vinson, who was homeless, met the woman outside a Gretna-area drugstore and befriended her. Their platonic relationship evolved into a romantic one. He moved in with her.

Just days after she had surgery to treat a hernia, on Jan. 27, 2021, the victim accompanied Vinson to his mother’s home in Marrero. Feeling the pain of her surgery, she returned to her Gretna home. Vinson arrived later and began accusing her of having sex with another man – assertions she denied.

The physical abuse began and continued until Jan. 29, 2021. After flashing a pistol at her, Vinson forced the victim to walk to Manhattan Boulevard and the Westbank Expressway in Harvey to panhandle motorists.

Soon after, witnesses began calling 911 to report Vinson beating the victim. In one 911 recording, a caller described the victim as being “black and blue and covered in blood.” Gretna police, which investigated the crimes, found much of her home in disarray, except for the master bedroom that smelled of bleach because of Vinson’s attempt to clean it.

Vinson’s attorney argued that his client and the victim wrangled with substance abuse problems, and that her recollections about what occurred might not be as clear as she now asserts.

Assistant District Attorneys Lindsay Truhe and Tommy Block prosecuted the case.

 

Convicted of killing his children’s mother, Kenny Rojas sentenced to life in prison

A Jefferson Parish judge on Tuesday (May 16) sentenced Kenny Rojas to spend the rest of his life in prison for his conviction of shooting his estranged girlfriend in the chest and fleeing, leaving her to die with their three young children.

Rojas, 38, was convicted as charged Thursday of second-degree murder for killing Lizeth Maldonado, 32, in their home in the 1200 block of Angus Drive in Harvey, on Feb. 27, 2022. He also was convicted of obstruction of justice, for getting rid of the revolver he used to kill her.

Amid an argument over infidelity, Rojas pressed a revolver to Maldonado’s left breast and fired once. Their 12-year-old daughter heard the gunshots, went to her parents’ bedroom and saw her father shooting her mother. “He killed me,” the child heard her mother said.

Rojas fled, leaving behind his daughter and sons, ages seven and eight. His daughter called 911, whose operator instructed the child on life-saving measures until deputies arrived minutes later. Maldonado died on the floor of her bedroom.

Rojas surrendered to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office about six hours later. At trial, he asserted he was trying to prevent Maldonado from shooting herself, and during the struggle over the revolver, it fired.

After denying a defense request for a new trial, 24th Judicial District Judge Nancy Miller noted Rojas’ trial testimony, in which he said his children lied. “You abandoned them as you abandoned your wife as she lay there bleeding on the floor,” she told Rojas.

For second-degree murder, she sentenced Rojas to the mandatory life sentence in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. Judge Miller also sentenced Rojas to the maximum 40 years for obstruction of justice. She ran the sentences concurrently.

Assistant District Attorneys Lindsay Truhe and Leo Aaron prosecuted the case.