Tag: Louisiana State Police

Sean Barrette sentenced to three life sentences plus 180 years in prison

A Jefferson Parish judge on Wednesday (June 18) sentenced Sean Barrette to three back-to-back life sentences plus another 180 years in prison for his conviction of targeting strangers in four unrelating shootings on East Jefferson roadways in June 2019, killing three men. 

Barrette, 28, of Metairie, was convicted Friday night of eight charges in connection with four separate shootings in East Jefferson. 

Click here to read about the trial. 

Judge Jacqueline Maloney of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Barrette on the sixth anniversary of his killing the last two of his victims and on his arrest by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. 

  • Count 1, the first-degree murder of Manuel Caronia, 45, of Metairie, who was driving a 2008 Chevrolet Escalade east in the 8600 block of West Metairie Avenue on June 18, 2019, when Barrette shot him. Caronia was struck by two bullets and died at the scene. Barrette received a life sentence for killing Caronia, without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. 
  • Count 2, the first-degree murder of Nicky Robeau, 57, of Harahan, who was Caronia’s passenger. He also was shot twice and died at the scene. Barrette received a life sentence for killing Robeau, without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. 
  • Count 3, the second-degree murder of Isia Francisco Cadalzo-Sevilla, 22, of Metairie, who was driving a 2014 Chevrolet Cruze east on West Metairie Avenue near Henry Landry Drive on June 17, 2019. Cadalzo-Sevilla was wounded and drove off the roadway and into a tree. Barrette stopped, got out of his vehicle and continued shooting Cadalzo-Sevilla. Barrette received a life sentence for killing Cadalzo-Sevilla, without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. 
  • Count 4, the attempted first-degree murder of a 37-year-old Harvey man who was driving his 1998 Mercury Grand Marquis in Kenner on June 5, 2019, when Barrette shot at him, striking his car with eight bullets. He escaped unharmed. Barrette received a 50-year prison sentence for this charge. 
  • Count 5, the attempted first-degree murder of a 34-year-old Mississippi woman, who was a passenger in the Harvey man’s Grand Marquis. She escaped unharmed. Barrette received a 50-year sentence for this charge. 
  • Count 6, the attempted second-degree murder of a 24-year-old Algiers woman who on June 17, 2019, was returning home in her 2018 Toyota Camry from having dinner with friends at a Metairie restaurant when Barrette shot at her on Interstate 10 near the Orleans Parish line. Barrette received a 50-year sentence for this charge. 
  • Count 7, aggravated criminal damage to the Harvey man’s 1998 Mercury Grand Marquis. Barrette received a 15-year sentence for this charge. Judge Maloney ordered Barrette to pay a $10,000 fine. 
  • Count 8, aggravated criminal damage to the Algiers woman’s 2018 Toyota Camry. Barrette received a 15-year sentence for this charge. Judge Maloney ordered Barrette to pay a $10,000 fine. 

Life in prison is mandatory in Louisiana for first-degree and second-degree murder. Judge Maloney also gave Barrette the maximum punishment for the three attempted murder charges and criminal damage charges. She ordered that all sentences be served consecutively. 

After denying a defense motion for a new trial, Judge Maloney heard impact testimony from members of the family of the three slain men. 

Cadalzo-Sevilla’s mother and brother said he emigrated from Honduras at a young age, “full of dreams and aspiration” to become a paramedic in the United States. Neither attended the trial and sentencing, they said, because they did not want to “see Barrette’s face.” 

Robeau’s three daughters described him as a dedicated father, husband and grandfather to seven. “Sean, you cowardly hunted people down like they were prey,” one of them testified. 

Two of Caronia’s sisters described their youngest sibling as having a “sweet soul,” a man who at age 17 married a woman who had seven children and proceeded to have six children of his own. “When you took my brother, you took my family,” one of his sisters testified. 

Assistant District Attorneys Zach Grate and Kristen Landrieu prosecuted the case. 

Former Grand Isle councilman Elgene Gary Sr. gets 45-year sentence for molesting girls

A Jefferson Parish judge on Monday (June 16) sentenced former Grand Isle town councilman Elgene Gary Sr. to 45 years in prison for his conviction of molesting two juvenile girls on the barrier island. He abused one of the victims decades ago, when she was a child.

Gary, 81, who also was a Grand Isle policeman and member of the port commission, was convicted by a jury on May 29 of three counts of sexual battery. Two of the counts involve the same victim, one for before her 13th birthday and one after.

Click here to read about the trial.

Louisiana State Police opened the investigation in October 2021, after one of the victims, then 16, reported that Gary began molesting her beginning when she was 7 years old.

The investigation led a 40-year-old woman to come forward in January 2022, saying Gary abused her, too, on one occasion when she was between 7 and 10 years old. Additionally, the jurors who convicted Gary at trial heard testimony from another adult woman who said he abused her, too, in Michigan when she was a child.

The victim whose complaint led to Gary’s conviction told the court in victim-impact testimony on Monday that, “I’ve lived not even 20 years, and so much of them have been filled with a lot of difficulties.”

“It’s still hard to look into the mirror, because if I look too long, I see someone who was very young and didn’t know what was happening,” she said of being sexually abused as a child. “I’m so sorry for her and sorry for everyone else who has ever met him. It’s going to take a long time to not hate myself for not knowing sooner. It wasn’t my fault, I know that.”

She asked that Gary received the maximum punishment.

Judge Ellen Shirer Kovach of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Gary to 25 years for sexual battery of a juvenile under age 13 and 10 years for each of the two sexual battery charges. She ran the sentences consecutively, for a total of 45 years.

To the victim who provided impact testimony Monday, Judge Kovach said she’s “an extremely brave woman” who “put an end to what other women have experienced.”

The judge acknowledged that the victim asked for the maximum sentence. “Given that he is (81) years old and has numerous health issues, I believe this is a life sentence,” Judge Kovach told her.

Gary also must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. He also is barred from having any contact with his victims for 100 years.

Assistant District Attorneys Erich Cathey and Brooke Harris prosecuted the case.

Sean Barrette convicted in East Jefferson shooting spree that left 3 dead

A Jefferson Parish jury deliberated for 1 ½ hours on Friday night (June 13) in finding Sean Barrette guilty of shooting at the occupants of four vehicles traveling on East Jefferson roadways during a 2-week period in June 2019, killing three men.

Barrette, 28, of Metairie, is guilty as charged of two counts of first-degree murder, one count of second-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, one count of attempted second-degree murder and two counts of aggravated criminal damage to property.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges, as well as not guilty by reason of insanity. In addition to finding him guilty, jurors rejected his attorneys’ argument that a mental illness left him unable to distinguish right from wrong during his crime spree.

“He wanted to be remembered for being a serial killer,” Assistant District Attorney Zach Grate told jurors in closing argument Friday evening. “He doesn’t think he’s going to be convicted for it.”

He urged jurors to never mention Barrette’s name again after leaving the courtroom. Notoriety, Assistant DA Grate said, “is the only thing he’s cared about from the start.”

Driving his family’s tan 2005 Nissan Pathfinder sports-utility vehicle, Barrette stalked motorists and all of his victims were strangers. He fired numerous bullets at them using the Smith & Wesson .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol that he purchased from a Metairie sporting goods store less than one month before he used it to shoot at motorists.

It was the ballistics evidence that he left behind, from the bullets recovered at autopsy, to those found in the victims’ vehicles, to the cartridge casings left at crime scenes, that helped investigators identify Barrette as the gunman. He also dropped his cell phone at one of the murder scenes.

Aided by its SWAT team, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives arrested Barrette at his home on June 18, 2019, just hours after he killed two men. As SWAT deputies converged on his home, Barrette hid the .40-caliber pistol and a bullet magazine in a clothes hamper in his bedroom. In his vehicle, the detectives found two .40-caliber cartridge casings.

“Every single one of these incidents link up, because the same exact gun was fired at every one of these scenes,” Assistant District Attorney Kristen Landrieu told jurors in opening statements Wednesday. “That gun belongs to Sean Barrette.”

Here’s the timeline of Barrette’s crime spree:

June 5, 2019, 11:19 p.m.

A 37-year-old Harvey man and a 34-year-old Mississippi woman were traveling on Airline Drive near Elm Street in his 1998 Mercury Grand Marquis when they noticed they were being followed by the driver of a light color SUV.

The man drove onto westbound Interstate 10 and then exited at Loyola Drive in Kenner. The SUV driver continued to follow them. The gunman began shooting at them in the 3100 block of Loyola, possibly wearing a mask. “Somebody was trying to kill us,” the woman testified, her voice wavering above a cry.

Several nearby residents called 911 to report hearing gunfire. The driver made a U-turn and raced back to I-10 west to escape. As the man drove north on Interstate 55, the woman called 911, reporting that someone had been shooting at them in Kenner and that their tires were blown out by bullets.

Fearing the shooter was still following him, the man exited I-55 at Manchac and hid underneath the elevated interstate. Louisiana State Police responded and notified the Kenner Police Department. His car had been struck by eight bullets, including the rear window and bumper. The victims returned to Kenner, to where the car was towed. Officers found .40-caliber cartridge casings near the shooting scene the following day.

The Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab entered ballistics data from the cartridge casings into the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive’s National Integrated Ballistics Information Network. NIBIN, as the network is known, helps detectives determine whether firearms are used in multiple crimes.

For shooting at the couple, Barrette was convicted of two counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count of aggravated criminal damage to property.

June 17, 8:15 p.m.

A 24-year-old Algiers woman who had dined with friends at a Veterans Memorial Boulevard restaurant in Metairie was returning home. She merged onto I-10 from Causeway Boulevard and was driving eastbound near the Orleans Parish line when she heard popping on her car. Thinking it was hail from the storm she was driving through, she called her father on her cell phone and continued to the West Bank.

Once at home, she and her father inspected the car and determined the rear window was shot, and the car’s rear end had bullet holes. She returned to Metairie and filed a complaint at the Sheriff’s Office’s 1st District station.

Her father later took the car to a body shop for repairs from the gunfire. A service technician found that bullets not only pierced the car’s body, but they had also lodged in the spare tire in the trunk.

The Sheriff’s Office gathered the ballistics material from the car. The bullets were linked to the Kenner shooting.

For shooting at the Algiers woman, Barrette was convicted of attempted second-degree murder and aggravated criminal damage to property.

June 17, 2019, 11:12 p.m.

Isia Franciso Cadalzo-Sevilla, 22, of Metairie, was driving a 2014 Chevrolet Cruze east on West Metairie Avenue when Barrette shot at him from his SUV. The car Cadalzo-Sevilla was driving left the roadway and struck a tree at Henry Landry Drive.

His face hidden behind a mask, Barrette stopped in the roadway, got out of his SUV, reloaded his pistol and shot Cadalzo-Sevilla – and in the process, he dropped his cell phone. Caldalzo-Sevilla suffered 12 gunshot wounds and later died at a hospital.

An expert in crime scene reconstruction testified that Barrette’s first gunshots, fired from within his SUV, likely led Cadalzo-Sevilla to drive off the roadway and into the tree.

While at the homicide scene, detectives heard music rising from the West Metairie drainage canal bank. It was the cell phone. The Sheriff’s Office’s Digital Forensic Unit later determined that the mobile device belonged to Barrette.

The Digital Forensic Unit investigators also discovered that in the early morning of June 17, Barrette made an entry in his cell phone memo app: “June 17-grimest day of 2019.”

The ballistics data gathered by the Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab was entered in the NIBIN database, with the results linking Barrette’s pistol to this shooting.

For killing Caldalzo-Sevilla, Barrette was convicted of second-degree murder.

June 18, 2019, 4:16 p.m.

Manuel Caronia, 45, of Metairie, and Nicky Robeau, 57, of Harahan, were traveling in a 2008 Chevrolet Escalade east in the 8600 block of West Metairie Avenue when Barrette. drove alongside them. Caronia was driving.

Barrette extended his pistol out of his passenger’s window and began shooting. A witness frantically called 911, reporting that the SUV driver was shooting at another vehicle.

Deputies found the Escalade stopped in the eastbound lanes, its driver’s side riddled with bullet holes. Both Caronia and Robeau were shot twice and died at the scene.

Ballistics data the Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab obtained from a bullet removed from Caronia’s body was entered in the NIBIN database. That bullet was fired by Barrette’s .40-caliber pistol, investigators determined.

For killing Caronia and Robeau, Barrette was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder.

Insanity Defense

At trial, Barrette’s attorneys argued that he has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and twice involuntarily committed for mental illness before his crime spree. The attorneys suggested that his behavioral changes, which his family noticed later in his life, could be rooted in the blows to his head he experienced playing football in high school and at the handful of colleges he attended.

To find Barrette not guilty by reason of insanity, the jury first had to find that he has a mental disease or defect, and second, that the disease or defect hindered his ability to determine right from wrong.

In rebuttal, the prosecution provided the testimony of Dr. Gina Manguno-Mire, a forensic psychologist. She found that Barrette has mental illness, but not a qualifying mental disease or defect as required under state law.

“It was more along the lines of a serious personality disorder and a substance abuse disorder,” Dr. Manguno-Mire testified Friday. “Neither of those things I diagnosed Mr. Barrette with would interfere with his ability to determine that what he was doing was wrong.”

As part of her evaluation, Dr. Manguno-Mire reviewed numerous records related to his mental health. These include “progress notes” written by staffers who interacted with Barrette during his pre-trial commitment at the Eastern Louisiana Mental Health System hospital in East Feliciana Parish. Jurors were shown the notes.

While there, Barrette indicated he was aware that what he did was wrong but would game the criminal justice system so he could be released. On one occasion, a staffer noted a discussion with Barrette during which he said he would intentionally fail a mental evaluation test “so I can get NGBRI” (not guilty by reason of insanity). He said he would be sent to a group home “and then home.”

“I know that killing those people was wrong but I’m to [sic] young to go to prison. I wouldn’t make it,” the hospital staffer quoted Barrette as saying.

Dr. Manguno-Mire discounted the two involuntary commitments in 2018 and 2019 and highlighted that most of the information contained in the records from those hospital stays were from statements made by Barrette’s family members and not from symptoms observed by medical professionals.

“Not one, and I mean one, psychotic symptom was ever noted by any professional observing Barrette. Not a lone, solitary one,” Assistant DA Grate told jurors.

To help her reach her conclusions that Barrette knew right from wrong, Dr. Manguno-Mire looked at evidence of his behavior at the time of his crime spree.

During the period of the shootings, his family noted nothing was amiss. He fled the scenes of the crimes. After the Kenner shooting, he used back streets to return to his home instead of using I-10 to avoid being seen. He kept his crimes quiet, returning to his home afterward as though nothing had happened. On the day he killed the two men, he chatted with his sister about his new hair style.

On the night of his arrest, Barrette spent almost two hours in an interview room at the Sheriff’s Office. He was alone for most of that time in that room, which was equipped with video cameras. He exhibited no signs of psychosis, Dr. Manguno-Mire noted after watching the video recording.

“He was calm,” Dr. Manguno-Mire testified. “He was seated throughout the entire time he was in the room. He was well-dressed. He was well-groomed. … During that time, he engaged in no bizarre behavior.”

The jury that was seated on Wednesday returned with its verdicts at 9:30 p.m.

Judge Jacqueline Maloney of the 24th Judicial District Court set sentencing for Wednesday (June 18).

Assistant District Attorneys Zach Grate and Kristen Landrieu prosecuted the case.

 

Elgene Gary Sr., Grand Isle politico and ex-cop, convicted of molesting 2 girls on the barrier island

A Jefferson Parish jury on Thursday night (May 29) found Elgene Gary Sr. guilty of molesting two juveniles on Grand Isle, including a woman he abused when she was a child almost four decades ago.

Gary, 81, a former elected member of the Grand Isle town council, a former member of its police department and a former member of the Grand Isle Port Commission, was convicted as charged of three counts of sexual battery. In addition to hearing testimony from the two victims, jurors heard from a woman who said he abused her as a child in Michigan more than three decades ago.

“Elgene Gary’s decades of deviant destruction are over,” Assistant District Attorney Erich Cathey told jurors in closing argument Thursday in urging them to find the defendant guilty.

Two of the sexual battery charges for which Gary was convicted involve the same victim, one for before she was 13 years of age and one after her 13th birthday (under Louisiana law, abusing a victim under age 13 carries more severe penalties).

That victim initially confided in her childhood best friend, who encouraged her to report it. That led her to then tell a caretaker.

She felt safe to report the abuse to law enforcement only after she was forced to leave Grand Isle when Hurricane Ida devastated the barrier island in August 2021. She reported it in Baton Rouge to the Louisiana State Police, whose Special Victims Unit opened the investigation in October 2021.

Then aged 16, the victim disclosed that Gary molested her beginning when she was 7 years old and continued to do so until she was 15. He told her to “be quiet,” and “this is our secret” as he abused her. When she resisted, he’d tell her, “Don’t you love me?” At times, she hid when Gary was near.

She underwent forensic interviews at the Audrey Hepburn CARE Center at Children’s Hospital New Orleans (renamed the Morgan Rae Center for Hope at Manning Family Children’s hospital), and the Children’s Advocacy Services in Denham Springs.

The State Police investigation led to a 40-year-old woman coming forward in January 2022. She disclosed that Gary molested her on one occasion when she was between the ages of 7 and 10, between 1988 and 1991. Gary stopped only because her brother woke up. For that, Gary was convicted of the third count of sexual battery.

Jurors also heard testimony from a woman who said Gary abused her in Michigan in 1993, when she was 10 years old. Gary was visiting Michigan on a hunting trip at the time. Gary has not been charged in Michigan. Her testimony was allowed to be presented to the Jefferson Parish jury to show Gary’s lustful disposition toward children.

“They deserved to be believed, and they deserve justice,” Assistant District Attorney Brooke Harris told jurors Thursday in closing argument.

Gary denied the charges. His attorney argued that the state’s witnesses gave inconsistent testimony. The attorney also told jurors that detectives did not thoroughly investigate the accusations.

Rebutting the defense argument, Assistant DA Cathey told jurors that any perceived inconsistencies were “minor.” The victims “were consistent each and every time on what this man, Elgene Gary Sr., did to both of them,” he said.

The jury deliberated just over five hours to find Gary guilty of all three charges.

Judge Ellen Shirer Kovach of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Gary on June 16.

Assistant District Attorneys Erich Cathey and Brooke Harris prosecuted the case.

 

Myron Lee, mastermind behind botched Terrytown armed robbery, convicted of murder

A Jefferson Parish jury on Thursday evening (Sept. 5) found Myron Lee guilty of his role as the mastermind behind an armed robbery that left his victim – a fellow Louisiana National Guardsman – shot to death.

Lee, 22, of Gonzales, is guilty as charged of the second-degree murder of Jemond Cador, 21, who was shot seven times in his Terrytown apartment on Dec. 6, 2021, the jury unanimously found.

Lee and Cador were acquainted through the Army National Guard unit to which they were assigned. A week before the homicide, Lee visited Cador at his apartment in the 200 block of Wright Avenue. Shortly after, Lee conceived the plan to rob Cador.

“In his own words, he was tired of being broke,” Assistant District Attorney Zach Grate told jurors Wednesday morning in opening statements.

Lee recruited four others to help in the robbery. Without receiving permission, he took two semiautomatic pistols from his stepfather. Lee also obtained from his stepfather an AR-15-style rifle, which was unloaded but used as an intimidation tactic. He supplied masks to his cohorts and drove them to Cador’s apartment complex.

Lee kicked in the apartment door. Just inside, Cador resisted, leading to a physical fight with Lee. Armed with one of the pistols that Lee provided, one of Lee’s cohorts, Gerald Little, opened fire. Cador died almost immediately. Little was the only perpetrator to discharge a weapon.

The five men fled. Driving a black 2008 GMC Yukon, one of Lee’s cohorts was traveling at more than 20 mph over the speed limit on Interstate 10 just west of Kenner when a Louisiana State Police trooper pulled him over.

Unaware of their involvement in the homicide, the trooper ordered the five men out of the SUV. The trooper found the firearms, ordered background checks on the weapons, and learned they were not reported stolen. Neither Lee nor his cohorts were wanted. The trooper issued speeding citation, and the suspects drove on.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office obtained surveillance video from Cador’s apartment complex and saw four of the five suspects going to the apartment (one of the suspects remained in the SUV). Unable to clearly see the SUV’s license plate in the video, but seeing that the vehicle had damage, detectives used the license plate recognition system cameras to identify the suspects’ vehicle, leading to arrests.

Following his arrest at his Gonzales residence on Dec. 13, 2021, Lee confessed to planning the robbery, recruiting cohorts and executing the plan. Detectives also recovered evidence from Lee’s cell phone that tied him to the murder scene.

Lee is the last of five codefendants who have been convicted or pleaded guilty for their roles in Cador’s death. A look at Lee’s codefendants shows:

  • Little, 21, of Loranger, who was the only shooter, was convicted as charged of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit armed robbery by a jury on Oct. 18, 2023. He was sentenced to life in prison.
  • Isaiah White, 22, of Covington, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and conspiracy to commit armed robbery on July 18, 2023 and has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. White was armed with a firearm that Lee provided.
  • Kewane K. Edwards, 24, of Harvey, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and conspiracy to commit armed robbery on Aug. 16, 2023 and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
  • Matthew Kerry Smith, 22, of Covington, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and conspiracy to commit armed robbery on Nov. 20, 2023 and was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Lee’s attorneys said he never intended for Cador to be killed. They told jurors that Lee conceived a “flawed plan fueled by youthful ignorance and foolish decisions.” Cador was killed because Little “panicked” and opened fire. They urged jurors to find Lee not guilty.

Jurors who were seated on Tuesday and began hearing evidence Wednesday deliberated about 1 hour and 45 minutes before returning to the courtroom with their verdicts just before 6 p.m., Thursday.

In addition to second-degree murder, the jurors convicted Lee of obstruction of justice for eliminating evidence connecting him and his cohorts to the crime, and of conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

Judge Jacqueline Maloney of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Lee on Sept. 16.

Assistant District Attorneys Zach Grate and Alyssa Aleman prosecuted Lee’s and Little’s cases.

Gerald McKnight pleads guilty to Gretna drunk-driving death, gets 5-year sentence

A Jefferson Parish judge on Monday (Aug. 12) sentenced Gerald McKnight to five years in prison, after he pleaded guilty to causing the death of a woman while driving under the influence on the West Bank.

McKnight, 42, pleaded guilty as charged to vehicular homicide in the Dec. 15, 2022 death of Tricia Cook. The 72-year-old woman was a passenger in the rear seat of a taxicab that was traveling west on the elevated Westbank Expressway near Lafayette Street.

At about 11:45 p.m., the 66-year-old taxi driver, Eliot Theophile, stopped in his Ford Crown Victoria in the right lane because of traffic congestion, as he was attempting to take the Lafayette exit.

McKnight, driving an Acura MDX, rear-ended the taxicab. The taxicab struck another vehicle, whose driver fled the scene.

The impact sent Cook, who was not restrained, over the front seat and into the driver’s compartment. She was killed. Theophile was injured.

The Louisiana State Police observed McKnight exhibiting signs of intoxication. He performed poorly in a field sobriety test. A breath test showed his blood-alcohol content was .098 percent.

In addition to the vehicular homicide charge, McKnight pleaded guilty to vehicular negligent injury and failing to wear a seatbelt, both misdemeanors.

After hearing victim-impact testimony, 24th Judicial District Court Judge Jacqueline Maloney sentenced McKnight to five years for vehicular homicide and six months for the vehicular negligent injury. She ran the sentences concurrently. Judge Maloney also fined McKnight $50 for the seatbelt offense.

Assistant District Attorney Alyssa Aleman prosecuted the case.

Charles Ross convicted of first-degree murder for killing his ex-girlfriend in Metairie

A Jefferson Parish jury on Thursday (Nov. 2) found Charles Ross guilty of murdering his ex-girlfriend in her Metairie apartment while her special needs daughter watched.

Ross, 45, robbed a man of his pickup truck in Baton Rouge and drove to the 100 block of Houma Boulevard, where at about 3 a.m., on June 3, 2021, he kicked open Nygia Lambert’s apartment door and shot her eight times as she hid under her bed pleading for her life.

Lambert’s 24-year-old daughter locked herself in the bathroom and called 911, telling the operator, “Mr. Ross killed my mom.” Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies found Lambert’s lifeless, naked body. She was 47, the mother of five daughters and the grandmother of one child.

For that, he was convicted as charged of first-degree murder. The District Attorney’s Office did not seek the death penalty, meaning life in prison is the mandatory punishment. Jurors also found Ross guilty of attempted obstruction of justice, for fleeing with the murder weapon.

A convicted felon who served time in prison for beating a previous girlfriend and was legally barred from possessing firearms, Ross armed himself with a 9mm semiautomatic pistol and carjacked a man in Baton Rouge. He succeeded in eluding police officers who pursued him.

In testimony Thursday, Ross told jurors that upon learning Lambert ended their relationship, he went on a cocaine binge. From the witness stand, he openly admitted he killed Lambert. His attorneys asked jurors to consider convicting him of manslaughter, a lesser homicide that carries a punishment of up to 40 years in prison and involves a killing “committed in sudden passion or heat of blood immediately caused by provocation sufficient to deprive an average person of his self-control and cool reflection.”

However, the state argued that Ross’ actions bely that of manslaughter. His text messages show that a full 12 hours before he killed Lambert, Ross told another woman that, “I’m going to f— this girl up.”

When Louisiana State Police arrested Ross in Baton Rouge, he was in possession of the murder weapon and the keys to the pickup truck he stole.

The jury that was selected on Tuesday deliberated about 1 ½ hours Thursday before returning with its verdicts. Judge Stephen Grefer of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Ross on Nov. 13.

Assistant District Attorneys Rachel Africk and Blaine Moncrief prosecuted the case.

Wendell Lachney pleads guilty to killing 9-year-old girl in drunk driving crash

A Jefferson Parish judge on Tuesday (Sept. 20) sentenced Wendell Lachney to 30 years in prison, after the defendant admitted that he was highly intoxicated when he crashed his car into a minivan at high speed on a West Bank highway, causing the death of a 9-year-old girl and injuring her mother.

Lachney, 58, of Belle Chasse, pleaded guilty as charged to vehicular homicide, first-degree vehicular negligent injury and other offenses in the Oct. 22, 2021, wreck on Belle Chasse Highway near its intersection with Lapalco Boulevard.

At the time that his blood was drawn more than 2 ½ hours after the crash, Lachney’s blood-alcohol content was .22 percent, more than double the .08 percent legal limit to drive under Louisiana law. Lachney was driving upwards of 60 mph when he drove into the rear of the minivan.

Lachney, who already had two prior DWI convictions, had been drinking whiskey and smoking marijuana hours before he drove into the minivan. In his car, Louisiana State Police troopers found an opened bottle of whiskey, wine, a cup of beer, marijuana and a pipe he used to smoke the marijuana.

Before announcing the sentence Tuesday, Judge Stephen Grefer of the 24th Judicial District Court heard impact testimony from five family members, including the child’s parents. Her mother recalled being stopped at a red light when she saw Lachney closing in from behind and then slam into her minivan.

“I watched strangers performing CPR on my 9-year-old on the cold cement road,” she testified. “I fell to my knees as I grabbed a man by his legs and begged him to save my daughter. I screamed to God and to the helpers to kill me instead. Take me, so my daughter can live. I prayed. I begged. I bartered with my soul. Did you hear my screams that night, Wendell?”

Said her father: “I miss our jam sessions in the car and our trips to get coffee. I miss holding you in my arms when you need someone to be strong for you. I am so sad that I will never get to walk you down the aisle or see what an amazing parent you would have been.  Your mom, your brothers and I miss you dearly, and life will never be the same without you here.  We love you to the moon and back.”

Following the crash, Lachney was booked and then released from jail on bond. He then entered an inpatient substance abuse program in St. Tammany Parish. Following the child’s death two days after the crash, Louisiana State Police arrested him there after obtaining an arrest warrant. Lachney’s bond was then set at $1 million.

He also pleaded guilty to reckless operation of a motor vehicle, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of an open alcoholic beverage in a motor vehicle and for not wearing a seatbelt.

Judge Grefer sentenced Lachney to 30 years in prison for vehicular homicide and five years suspended for first-degree vehicular negligent injury, to be served on home incarceration after he’s released from prison. The vehicular homicide charge was designated as a crime of violence.

Additionally, Judge Grefer sentenced Lachney to 90 days for reckless operation of a motor vehicle, and 15 days for possession of drug paraphernalia. He ran the sentences concurrent.

Assistant District Attorneys Brittany Beckner and Matthew Whitworth prosecuted the case.

Antonio Key guilty of planning, participating in Metairie aggravated burglary

A Jefferson Parish jury on Wednesday night (April 27) found Antonio Key guilty of planning and participating in an aggravated burglary of a Metairie home in which a 67-year-old woman was severely beaten.

Key, 25, of Harvey, was convicted as charged of aggravated burglary with a firearm enhancement for his role in the April 30, 2019, crime in the 4600 block of Southshore Drive.

Key had been inside the home previously because of his job with an air conditioning company. As such, he was familiar with its complex floor plan. Key used his mobile phone to take photographs, including jewelry, and he began planning to return to commit the burglary.

Just before midnight on the night of the crime, Key and his cohorts, Rodgers Hart and Darius Daleo, arrived after traveling from the West Bank in a car that Key borrowed. Key and Hart, who wore masks, broke in through a back door while Daleo remained with the car. The residents, a 67-year-old woman and her 38-year-old daughter, were in their bedrooms when the men broke in. The daughter triggered the panic alarm.

The two men went upstairs and confronted the daughter. The mother, meanwhile, confronted the burglars, both of whom beat her. The burglars eventually fled, and the victims barricaded themselves in a bedroom until Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived, according to trial evidence.

A Louisiana State Police trooper spotted the suspects’ car on North Causeway Boulevard near Interstate 10 and attempted a traffic stop. The burglars led the trooper on a pursuit that ended near North Turnbull Drive and Johnson Street, where the driver lost control of the car and wrecked it. The three men fled on foot.

Daleo was the first to be caught. His arrest led to that of Hart, who got away that night by stealing a pizza deliverer’s car. Through their investigation, detectives identified Key as the third burglar. They arrested him days later, as he arrived at his job with the air conditioning company.

The Sheriff’s Office Digital Forensics Unit obtained incriminating evidence from cellular devices, including text messages and images that showed Key’s planning for the crime. And although Key denied involvement, his cell phone showed he was at the Southshore location when the crime unfolded, as well as in the vicinity of the wreck at North Turnbull and Johnson.

In testimony Wednesday, Key played up his service in the Marine Corps and asserted that he only had the idea of burglarizing the victims’ home. On the night of the crime, he only planned to drive to Southshore but had no intention of following through with it. He testified that he remained in the car while Daleo and Hart entered the home – an assertion directly contradicted by other evidence.

Daleo, 24, of Marrero, said he was the driver and asserted that it was Key who entered the home with Hart. Daleo pleaded guilty on Nov. 3, 2021, to aggravated burglary and was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Hart, 26, of Marrero, pleaded guilty on Dec. 15, 2021, to the aggravated burglary, being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. He was sentenced to 18 years for the burglary, 10 years for the firearm offense and six months for the unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. The sentences were run concurrently, for a total of 18 years.

The jury in Key’s trial deliberated just over two hours before returning with its unanimous verdict. Judge E. Adrian Adams of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Key on May 17.

Assistant District Attorneys Thomas Sanderson and Zachary Grate prosecuted the case.

 

Todd Williams gets 21 years for killing 3 Good Samaritans in DWI crash

A Jefferson Parish judge on Monday (Dec. 9) sentenced Todd Williams to a total of 21 years in prison for killing three Good Samaritans and injuring two others while driving under the influence of alcohol.

Williams, 40, of New Orleans, pleaded guily as charged guilty to three felony counts of vehicular homicide for the deaths of the Rev. Claude Luther Williams, Jr., 40, of Gretna; his friend Williams J. Leinart, 49, of Gretna; and Joseph Chopin, 66, of Marrero.

About 10:30 p.m., on June 16, a motorist was traveling east on the elevated Westbank Expressway near MacArthur Boulevard when one of the tires of her 2017 Hyundai Accent blew out. That caused her car to strike the concrete rail and come to a rest facing oncoming traffic in the left and center lanes, according to Louisiana State Police.

The Rev. Williams and his passenger Leinart stopped to assist the motorist, as did Chopin, who was driving separately. The three men and passengers from the Hyundai stood outside their vehicles.

Todd Williams, driving a 2015 Chevrolet Impala in the left lane, struck the Hyundai, which in turn struck another vehicle and pedestrians. Claude Williams, who was on the phone with a 911 operator when the crash occurred, Leinart and Chopin were thrown over the side and fell 30 feet to their deaths. Other motorists were injured.

Williams blood-alcohol content was .11 percent, above the .08-percent legal limit to drive.

On Monday, after hearing a letter of forgiveness written by the Rev. Williams’ wife and read aloud by a prosecutor, and hearing Todd Williams express sorrow and remorse, Judge Nancy Miller of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced the defendant to seven years in prison for each count of vehicular homicide. Judge Miller ran the sentences consecutively, for a total of 21 years.

Todd Williams also pleaded guilty as charged to two misdemeanor counts of vehicular negligent inuring, for which he received two six-month sentences. Judge Miller ran those sentences concurrent to the 21-year sentence.

Assistant District Attorney Joshua Vanderhooft prosecuted the case.