Tag: murder

Joshua Every pleads guilty to brutally murdering Taylor Friloux while robbing Kenner Raising Cane’s

A Jefferson Parish judge on Thursday (Sept. 18) sentenced Joshua Every to life in prison after he admitted to brutally stabbing Taylor Friloux to death at the Kenner fast food restaurant where she worked as a shift manager nine years ago.

In pleading guilty as charged to first-degree murder, Every, 32, of Laplace, averted a potential death sentence had he been convicted at his trial of killing Friloux, 21, on June 29, 2016.

In a negotiated agreement with the state, Every pleaded guilty as charged in exchange for the state withdrawing its intent to seek the death penalty. In doing so, Every agreed to be sentenced to a mandatory life sentence in prison at hard labor with no chance of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. His trial had been scheduled to begin on Oct. 14.

Every and his codefendants planned to rob the Raising Cane’s in the 3300 block of Williams Boulevard. As employees were discarding the garbage during closing time, Every and his cohort Gregory Donald entered the rear of the business.

Without provocation, Every stabbed Friloux at the rear entrance and then forced her at knifepoint inside the business and to the manager’s office. After forcing her to give him $1,000, she collapsed onto the floor, at which time he brutally and repeatedly stabbed her, causing injuries that ended her life hours later at a hospital intensive care unit.

“She was not yours to take, but you did it anyway,” Friloux’s mother told Every in victim-impact testimony, having carried the urn containing her daughter’s ashes with her to the witness stand. “I will never forgive you.”

She was one of six people to provide victim-impact testimony during the hourlong sentencing hearing. Friloux’s mother’s partner also expressed an unwillingness to forgive Every. “Enjoy your stay in your new gated community of Angola,” she told Every.

Said one of Friloux’s coworkers at Raising Cane’s and a victim of the armed robbery, “The person you took away was a good person who deserved to be here today.” Every had worked at the business previously and knew his victim. The coworker said Every killed her “over a grudge and anger you couldn’t let go.”

Friloux’s cousin was in the ICU when she died and recalled hearing the doctor announce “the words no family should have to hear: ‘Time of death, 8:41 a.m.’”

“You got to hear her last words. What did she say?” the cousin asked Every, who said nothing in return.

“You didn’t just murder her. You robbed the world of a bright, vibrant woman,” a family friend testified.

Every was charged in a separate indictment with two counts of armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, false imprisonment while armed with a weapon, witness intimidation and obstruction of justice.

Judge Lee Faulkner of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Every to 50 years for each of the two armed robbery counts, 25 years for the conspiracy to commit armed robbery, 10 years for false imprisonment, 20 years for witness intimidation and 20 years for obstruction of justice. Judge Falkner ran the sentences concurrently and concurrent with his life sentence.

Every’s codefendants already have pleaded guilty:

  • Mark Crocklen, 33, of Baton Rouge, pleaded guilty in 2018 to manslaughter, two counts of armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, false imprisonment, witness intimidation and obstruction of justice. He received a received a 40-year prison sentence.
  • Gregory Donald, 27, of Kenner, pleaded guilty in 2019 to manslaughter, two counts of armed robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, false imprisonment, witness intimidation and obstruction of justice. He received a received an 89-year prison sentence.
  • Ariana Runner, 31, of Laplace, pleaded guilty in 2018 to conspiracy to commit armed robbery and obstruction of justice. She awaits her sentencing.

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

Michael A. Harris sentenced to two life sentences for murdering couple

A Jefferson Parish judge on Wednesday (Sept. 3) sentenced Michael A. Harris to two back-to-back life sentences for his conviction of shooting a couple from the back seat of a pickup truck parked in a Marrero home’s driveway. 

Harris, 36, of Terrytown, was convicted by a jury on Aug. 1 of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of David Sumera, 36, and Alexxis Eymard, 26. 

Sumera was driving a rented 4-door Ford Ranger that he had borrowed and was delivering heroin to someone in the 2600 block of Bay Adams Drive on the afternoon of Sept. 24, 2022. Eymard sat to his right in the front passenger’s seat. Behind her sat Harris, who was acquainted with the couple. 

Armed with a 9mm semiautomatic pistol and without provocation, Harris shot the Belle Chasse couple in the backs of their heads at about 1:45 p.m., minutes after they pulled into the driveway.  

“Their last moments on Earth were filled with the smell of gun smoke and the sound of gunfire,” Assistant District Attorney Matt Clauss told jurors in opening statements. 

For four hours, their bodies remained in the pickup, its engine running, until the woman who lived at the Bay Adams Drive residence found them and called 911. The woman, who slept through much of the day, did not hear the gunfire. She did notice the pickup in her driveway at one point during the day and assumed Sumera was in the neighborhood. 

Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives canvased the neighborhood in search of residences with video surveillance systems. They found videos showing the pickup being driven into the driveway. 

Minutes later, Harris, concealing his identity with a cloth over his head, got out of the rear passenger’s side door, video shows. He opened the front passenger door, stayed there momentarily, closed it and then walked around to do the same to the driver’s side. 

Surveillance video also shows him walking away into the neighborhood carrying a black bag, similar to one that Sumera owned. Nearby, Harris is seen in surveillance video rummaging through that bag before making his escape.  

Harris walked on and discarded the cloth in the street. Upon seeing this video recording, detectives immediately recovered the cloth. It was a shirt. On it, Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab DNA analysts found genetic material consistent with Harris’s. 

The analysts also found DNA consistent with Harris’s on the rear passenger’s side door handle, where the shooter was seen stepping out of the pickup. 

Detectives learned that Sumera and Harris were acquainted. Days before the murders, a witness socialized with Eymard, Sumera and a man introduced to her as “Mike.” The witness then drove “Mike” to his home in the 800 block of Mystic Avenue in Terrytown – Harris’s home. 

Additionally, geolocation data obtained from the pickup truck’s infotainment system and from a cell phone that Harris used at the time suggested that Harris and Sumera were together in the hours leading up to the murder. Harris stopped using that phone shortly after he committed the murders.  

Armed with an arrest warrant for the murders, a U.S. Marshals fugitive task force located and arrested Harris in Memphis, Tenn., on Feb. 16, 2023. He was armed with a 9mm pistol and apparently was living on the streets. That pistol he had in Memphis was not the murder weapon, which has not been found. 

In addition to the two murders, the jury found Harris guilty of being a convicted felon in possession of the firearm used in the homicides. He was prohibited from possessing firearms because of his convictions of possession of heroin and distribution of heroin, both in Jefferson Parish. 

During the trial, Harris’s attorneys challenged the evidence linking him to the murders, saying there were no eyewitnesses and that Harris’s DNA could have been left on evidence at any time prior to the murders. The attorneys suggested that Sumera might have been targeted by someone other than Harris because of the assistance he had given to law enforcement previously. 

The jury deliberated almost three hours before reaching their verdicts on Aug. 1. 

In victim-impact testimony given during Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, Sumera’s younger sister and the mother of his child to the court that he was not perfect. But he didn’t deserve to be murdered by a man he considered a friend, they said. 

“David was my protector through a traumatic childhood,” his sister testified. “He made me feel safe. He made me feel loved. Now because of the choices made by the man sitting before you, that safety is gone.” 

The mother of his son said he “made a lot of mistakes in his life … but his life mattered.” 

“He was kind,” she said. “He was funny. He was talented. He was loved.” 

“You didn’t just take David’s life. You shattered ours,” she told Harris. 

After denying a defense motion for a new trial, Judge Raymond Steib of the 24th Judicial District Court on Wednesday sentenced Harris to life in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence for each of the two murder counts. He ran the sentences consecutively. 

Judge Steib also sentenced Harris to 20 years for the conviction of being a felon in possession of a firearm. That sentence was run concurrent with the two life sentences. 

Assistant District Attorneys Matt Clauss and Theresa King prosecuted the case.  

 

Curtis Thomas III sentenced to life for Westwego-area murder

A Jefferson Parish judge on Thursday (Aug. 21) sentenced Curtis Thomas III to life in prison for his conviction of shooting two men in a Westwego-area home, killing one and injuring the other. 

Thomas, 33, of Bridge City, was convicted by a jury on July 16 of the second-degree murder of Charles McGehee, 50, and the attempted second-degree murder of a 28-year-old Westwego man. 

Thomas shot the men on the night of Feb. 13, 2022, inside a residence in the 600 block of Emile Avenue. Thomas, his father, the homeowner and the two victims were at the residence in part to watch the Super Bowl. 

The television and a single lightbulb that illuminated the kitchen and living room areas were powered by an extension cord. The electrical flow was briefly cut off, darkening the room. It was then that, without provocation, Thomas opened fire with a .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol. 

A bullet passed through McGehee’s right shoulder and entered his torso, killing him. The other victim was shot in the arm and fled on foot. Thomas’s father later drove that victim to a hospital. 

After shooting the men, Thomas walked out of the house. He was no more than 140 feet away when a Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy responding to the gunshots approached him. Thomas was still carrying the pistol. 

“I know you must be thinking: There must be more to this. There must be something more that we’re missing,” Assistant District Attorney Molly Love told jurors in closing argument on July 16. “You’re thinking this because it is so hard to believe that someone is capable of committing such a terrible and violent act.  

“But no. There’s nothing more to it,” ADA Love said in urging jurors to find Thomas guilty as charged. “It is just that simple. He was caught walking away from the murder scene with the murder weapon and Charles McGehee’s blood on his socks.” 

The surviving gunshot victim later told detectives that Thomas was the shooter. The other witnesses, Thomas’ father and the homeowner died in 2023. 

At trial, Thomas’s attorneys argued that the Sheriff’s Office did not sufficiently investigate the case and asserted that the fact that Thomas had the murder weapon when he was arrested did not mean he was the shooter.  

The jury deliberated almost four hours in convicting Thomas as charged of the three offenses. 

During Thursday’s sentencing hearing, members of McGehee’s family provided victim-impact testimony, telling Thomas of the kind of man McGehee was: a loving, gentle giant. McGehee taught all the children how to ride bikes, they said. When his brother-in-law was dying, McGehee drove to his home in Jacksonville, Fla., packed his apartment and moved him back to Louisiana, where he wanted to die. 

“There was absolutely no reason for you to shoot that gun,” McGehee’s sister told Thomas. “You destroyed a whole family. Charles didn’t deserve it.” 

One of McGehee’s daughters noted their last conversation, hours before he died. “’I love you. See you tomorrow,’” he told her. “There was no tomorrow for him,” she said.  

Thomas was barred from possessing firearms because of his July 15, 2011 conviction of attempted second-degree murder in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court. He received a 10-year prison sentence for that crime, in which he shot a man as he entered a store at North Dorgenois and O’Reilly streets.  

Life in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence is the mandatory punishment for second-degree murder under Louisiana law. Judge Stephen Enright of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Thomas to 50 years for attempted second-degree murder and 20 years for Thomas’s conviction of being a felon in possession of a firearm. He ran the sentences concurrently. 

Assistant District Attorneys Molly Love and Taylor Somerville prosecuted the case. 

 

Irielle Love sentenced to life plus 40 years for murdering 84-year-old woman

A Jefferson Parish judge on Monday (June 30) sentenced Irielle Love to life plus 40 years in prison for her conviction of stabbing a diminutive 84-year-old woman to death in her Metairie apartment. 

Love, 25, of Kenner, is guilty as charged of the second-degree murder of Dory Sierra, a jury decided on June 18 during about 33 minutes of deliberations. Love also was convicted of obstruction of justice for taking Ms. Sierra’s cell phone after murdering her. 

Life in prison without probation, parole or suspension of sentence is mandatory under Louisiana law for second-degree murder. Judge Frank Brindisi of the 24th Judicial District Court also sentenced Love to the maximum 40 years in prison for obstruction of justice. He ran the sentences consecutively. 

“You acted like a monster that day,” Judge Brindisi told Love in announcing the sentences. “You took her life and now we’re stuck with you. It’s not very fair to us.” 

On the morning of Dec. 1, 2020, Ms. Sierra, who stood at 4’8” and weighed 134 pounds, was stabbed 10 times in the bathroom of her apartment in the 3300 block of Edenborn Avenue. She lived in the complex for more than two decades. Her daughter, who resided with Ms. Sierra, found her mother’s body in the bathtub when she returned home from work that afternoon. 

“All evidence points to her. And it does. There is no doubt in this case that the person that is sitting right here in this chair murdered Dory Sierra,” Assistant District Attorney Taylor Somerville told jurors in closing argument on June 18, pointing at Love seated at the defense table beside her attorney. 

Love was at the apartment complex with her mother and grandmother, who was seeking a new apartment because she was being evicted from her rental in Kenner. They went to the complex to look at a rental unit and to submit a lease application. 

When Love’s mother and grandmother temporarily left the complex to get a money order for the deposit, Love meandered around and wandered into Ms. Sierra’s apartment. Evidence shows that Love used pepper spray on Ms. Sierra during the attack. 

It was “a crime of opportunity,” Assistant District Attorney Eric Cusimano told jurors. 

After using paper and cloth towels to clean the blood from her own body, Love walked away with Ms. Sierra’s cell phone and the $280 that she set aside to pay her bills.  

Love left behind the piece of evidence that led the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office to arrest her: A single fingerprint on the interior of the apartment door. 

Armed with a search warrant, detectives went to the Martinique Street apartment that Love shared with her grandmother. They found eviction papers in Love’s grandmother’s name and an order to appear before a justice of the peace in Kenner for an eviction hearing at 11:30 a.m., that day. 

The detectives learned that Love, her mother and grandmother arrived at the Edenborn Avenue apartment complex at about 9:50 a.m. Love’s whereabouts were unknown for about 30 minutes. By the time her mother and grandmother returned with the money order, Love had left the complex. 

Soon after, Love called them, asking them to pick her up at Barnett Street and West Esplanade Avenue. They arrived at the eviction hearing late. That afternoon, Love’s grandmother drove her to a hospital in New Orleans, where Love committed herself to the psychiatric ward. Detectives arrested her there three days later. 

Investigators, meanwhile, found Ms. Sierra’s cell phone at the bottom of a trash can outside an apartment building in the 4400 block of Kent Drive, just off West Esplanade and near where Love wanted her mother and grandmother to pick her up. 

Using geolocation technology, detectives determined that Love’s cell phone and Ms. Sierra’s cell phone were together as Love walked away from the murder scene. The cell phones were tracked together north on Edenborn to West Esplanade, and then west toward Kenner. Ms. Sierra’s cell phone ceased movement at Kent Drive, where Love left it in the garbage can, while Love’s cell phone continued on to the justice of the peace court in Kenner. Love, her mother and grandmother attended the late-morning eviction hearing. 

 “That is a damning piece of evidence,” Assistant DA Cusimano said. 

Love denied killing Ms. Sierra. At trial, her attorney conceded that she entered Ms. Sierra’s apartment and stole the cell phone and $280. But there was no evidence proving that Love killed the woman, he argued. 

During Monday’s sentencing hearing, Judge Brindisi heard victim-impact testimony from Ms. Sierra’s former daughter-in-law and a member of the family for whom Ms. Sierra had been employed as a housekeeper and nanny. 

Ms. Sierra’s former daughter-in-law noted how she remained active in her later years, traveled and attended mass weekly. Ms. Sierra, who stood “barely over four feet,” helped raise her autistic son. Because of his affliction, he does not know why she is no longer with him. 

“All he knows is that he lost her,” Ms. Sierra’s former daughter-in-law testified. “He is not attached to very many people because of his autism, except for his grandmother.” 

As a nanny, Ms. Sierra helped raise three children who today are “young professionals” working in careers out of state, a member of that family told the court. She called Ms. Sierra “a beloved member of our family.” 

“She was part of us,” she testified. “We just cannot fathom how anyone can do this to anyone, especially our Nana.” 

In addition to the prison sentences, Judge Brindisi ordered Love to pay a $100,000 fine. “Ms. Love this was a senseless killing,” the judge told her. “There was no reason to do it. You took a good person from us.” 

Assistant District Attorneys Taylor Somerville and Eric Cusimano prosecuted the case. 

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. 

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.

 

Monica Every, Louis Gordon sentenced to life in prison in murder-for-hire killing

A Jefferson Parish judge on Thursday (May 29) sentenced Monica Every and Louis Gordon to life in prison for their convictions of killing Every’s ex-boyfriend’s new lover.

A jury on April 17 found Every, 52, of LaPlace, guilty as charged of being a principle to second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit second-degree murder and solicitation for second-degree murder for her role in the death of Charlene Jones, 48.

That same jury found the hired gunman, Gordon, 37, of New Orleans, guilty of second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and obstruction of justice.

Click here to read about the trial.

Jones was romantically involved with Every’s ex-boyfriend, who ended their relationship on Christmas 2021. Following the break-up, Every, driven by jealousy, undertook a campaign of harassment to end the new relationship, including anonymously calling Crimestoppers to falsely claim that Jones was in possession of a pistol used in a New Orleans East homicide.

Finally, Every paid Gordon $10,000 to kill Jones, an act he carried out on the morning of Jan. 27, 2022. He shot her three times outside her Metairie apartment, as she prepared to drive to her job.

“You got my mother murdered because you couldn’t handle being unwanted,” one of Jones’ daughters told Every in victim-impact testimony during Thursday’s sentencing hearing. “You were obsessed with (her ex). Obsessed with a man who really didn’t want you. When you saw him move on, when you saw him choose Charlene Jones, a real woman, a woman with strength, love and light, you lost your mind.”

Said another one of Jones’ daughters: “You may have thought your actions would silence my mother forever, but they didn’t. Her strength flows through every tear I cry, every breath I take and every word I speak right now. Now she’s gone, and the pain is unbearable.”

Life in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence is the mandatory punishment for second-degree murder in Louisiana. It was a sentence that both Every and Gordon received from Judge R. Christopher Cox III of the 24th Judicial District Court, who presided over the 9-day trial.

Judge Cox additionally sentenced Every to 30 years for conspiracy to commit second-degree murder and 20 years for solicitation for second-degree murder, the maximum for both crimes. Judge Cox ran the sentences concurrently.

As for Gordon, Judge Cox sentenced him to 30 years for conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, 20 years for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and 40 years for obstruction of justice – again, the maximum for each crime. Judge Cox ran the obstruction count consecutively with the life sentence.

Assistant District Attorneys Matthew Whitworth, Lindsay Truhe and Sarah Helmstetter prosecuted the case.

Bunnak ‘Hannah’ Landon gets life plus 80 years for murdering 6-year-old Bella Fontenelle

A Jefferson Parish judge on Tuesday (May 6) sentenced Bunnak “Hannah” Landon to life In prison plus 80 years for her conviction of murdering Bella Fontenelle, the 6-year-old Harahan child who was beaten and strangled before her body was placed in a bucket and left on her biological mother’s front lawn two years ago.

Landon, whose exact age is unknown, was in a cohabitating relationship with Bella’s father. She was convicted by a jury last week of first-degree murder and two counts of obstruction in connection with the crimes that occurred in Harahan’s Imperial Woods subdivision.

Landon was watching Bella and her older sister on the night of April 25, 2023 while their father worked late. In text messages to their father, Landon assured him that she tucked the girls into their beds, and that the tooth fairy had visited Bella’s older sister.

In truth, she had murdered Bella, likely as her sister slept.

“Someday I will forgive you, because I want to be in heaven to see Bella,” Bella’s 9-year-old sister wrote in impact testimony, a statement that her mother read aloud in court Tuesday before Landon received her punishment.

Click here to read about the trial.

Life in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence is the mandatory punishment for first-degree murder under state law. Judge Nancy Miller of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Landon to the maximum 40 years for each of the obstruction counts and ran them consecutively.

Judge Miller, who has presided over the case since it was allotted to her court in August 2023, indicated that she was aware of the facts in the case leading up to last week’s trial.

“I can honestly say it was worse than I imagined,” Judge Miller said. She added that “evil was on full display” in her courtroom.

“This court never wants you to see the light of day again,” the judge told Landon in defending the consecutive sentences.

Landon was convicted of obstruction for tampering with evidence to hinder the investigation. She removed Bella’s body from the crime scene, which was her father’s Donelon Drive home and the crime scene. After leaving Bella’s body on her mother’s front lawn, Landon buried her cell phone in a vacant lot in the subdivision.

During Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, Judge Miller received seven victim-impact testimony sentences and heard three of them, beginning with Bella’s father. He shared custody of Bella and her older sister with their biological mother, “until Bella was brutally murdered on the night of April 25, 2023, and placed in a bucket like a piece of trash, then dumped on (her mother’s) front yard as if she were to be picked up” by Harahan’s waste disposal contractor.

After reading the statement written by Bella’s sister, her mother testified about the private, simple life she lived before her second-born was taken from her. After the highly publicized crime, she became the target of internet “trolls” who viciously criticized her in social media commentary.

“I did everything in my power to protect my child,” she said in testimony aimed at the trolls.

To Landon, she said, “You made a decision that changed the course of all our lives. Not only did you condemn me and my family to a life sentence of pain and sadness, but you also condemned (Bella’s sister) to a life of not getting to know her sister past the age of six. (Bella’s sister) no longer has a sister to fight with, to share secrets with, to confide in, to share her first kiss, to make matron of honor at her wedding, to become an aunt and Godmother to her children.”

Assistant District Attorneys Rachel Africk, Lindsay Truhe and Alyssa Aleman prosecuted the case.

 

Jury rejects Bunnak Landon’s insanity defense, convicts her of murdering 6-year-old Bella Fontenelle

A Jefferson Parish jury deliberated for 45 minutes in rejecting Bunnak “Hannah” Landon’s insanity defense on Thursday (May 1), convicting her of beating and strangling 6-year-old Bella Fontenelle in her Harahan home before placing the child’s body in a 13-gallon bucket and leaving the remains on her biological mother’s front lawn.  

Landon, whose exact age is unclear, is guilty as charged of first-degree murder and two counts of obstruction of justice in connection with Bella’s death on the night of April 25, 2023, jurors unanimously decided at the end of the 4-day trial. 

Landon had pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. Her lawyers argued she could not be held legally responsible for Bella’s death because a mental defect prevented her from distinguishing right from wrong – an assertion that prosecutors promptly shot down. 

“There is so much evidence that shows she knew right from wrong,” Assistant District Attorney Rachel Africk told jurors Thursday in closing argument. 

“She knew what she did was wrong,” Assistant District Attorney Lindsay Truhe told jurors in closing argument. “She just did not care. She is just evil.” 

A former stripper who performed at venues along the Gulf Coast under the stage name Valentina, Landon met Bella’s father at a Baton Rouge gentleman’s club. A lap dance led to a 4-year-long cohabitating romantic relationship in which Landon often looked after Bella and her older sister at his home in Harahan’s Imperial Woods subdivision. 

Bella and her sister alternated between their parents’ homes under a custody agreement. Bella struggled emotionally with her parents’ split and more so with Landon’s presence in her father’s home. Her pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teachers noted the child’s inner struggle through observing – and documenting — her growing anxiety, frequent crying and declining grades. They associated the child’s behaviors with time she had to spend at her father’s, and particularly with “Miss Hannah.” 

“That little girl would tell anyone who would listen to her that, ‘Miss Hannah is mean to me,’” ADA Africk told jurors in opening statements Tuesday. Bella feared telling her father about it until the day before she died. 

On the evening of April 25, 2023, while Bella’s father worked late at his job as an accountant in Kenner, Landon again watched over the children. The children’s paternal grandmother picked up the girls from school and spent the afternoon with them before dropping them off at their home. 

The grandmother departed at about 7:30 p.m., Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office homicide detectives learned. They developed a timeline of the night’s events based on footage they obtained from numerous residential surveillance systems in the Imperial Woods subdivision. 

Landon killed Bella soon after her grandmother departed. At about 9:30 p.m., according to video surveillance footage at the Donelon Drive home, Landon emerged pulling a blue canvas wagon holding the bucket in which she forced Bella’s 48-pound body.  

Dressed in a pink long sleeve shirt, black tights and white knee-high boots, Landon pulled the wagon less than ¼-mile away to Bella’s biological mother’s home one street over. She placed the bucket on the front lawn at about 9:35 p.m., and returned to the Donelon Drive residence towing the empty wagon. 

She departed the residence at about 9:45 p.m., never to return (at one point during the evening, she told Bella’s sister that she was going to Florida in the morning). Bella’s father arrived home from his job about five minutes after Landon walked away. He went straight to bed without checking on his daughters. He assumed that Landon was sleeping on the sofa. 

Her whereabouts during the following two hours are unknown. Landon walked into the Harahan Police Department headquarters on Jefferson Highway at about 11:45 p.m. She was uncooperative with the officers who questioned her and provided aliases. She agreed to be sent to East Jefferson General Hospital, where she underwent a brief mental examination and was committed but was given no medication. 

When Bella’s father woke up the following morning, he discovered that Bella and Landon were missing. He dressed his older daughter for school and brought her to her mother’s home. He contacted the Harahan Police Department at about 7:30 a.m., triggering an Amber Alert and a large police search that ranged from checking the cabinets in her father’s home to patrolling miles of the nearby Mississippi River batture. 

It was Bella’s maternal grandmother, who rushed from her West Bank home to Harahan amid the frantic search for the missing child, who first noticed the bucket on the lawn at the foot of the driveway when she arrived at about 8:15 a.m. 

Bella’s mother investigated the bucket, saw blood on its exterior. She was unable to unscrew its lid. She instinctively knew it was her second-born. 

She called Bella’s father. He arrived moments later with Harahan police officers. A sergeant removed the bucket’s lid and found Bella’s body, clad in pink pajamas with white polka dots. 

After viewing residential video security footage of Landon leaving the bucket on the lawn the night before, Sheriff’s Office homicide detectives learned that Landon was at East Jefferson General Hospital. They arrested her there later that day.  

Detectives learned that after she killed Bella the night before, Landon called her sister in Alabama about contacting her lawyer. She also told her sister that she sealed her cellphone in a plastic bag and buried it in a vacant corner lot next to a Y-shaped tree in the neighborhood. That lawyer contacted the Sheriff’s Office Homicide Division commander to report it.  

Soon after, detectives recovered the phone. Investigating the phone’s data, the Sheriff’s Office later found that shortly before she killed Bella, Landon video-recorded the child in her bedroom crying, repeating over and over through her tears, “I want my grandma.” In turn, Landon placed a bath towel at the bottom of Bella’s bedroom door to dampen the sound of her cries. 

They found that Landon used a search engine on the cellphone to repeatedly research a criminal defense attorney’s trial preparation services, after seeing his name in an online news story. She did so even as she sent text messages to Bella’ father, telling him the children were tucked in their beds and that the tooth fairy had visited Bella’s older sister.  

She sent text messages to two of her stripper friends after she killed Bella. “Always remember me as Valentina,” and “I’ll always remember the good times we had,” she told them before deleting the text messages in her phone – messages that the Sheriff’s Office Digital Forensic Unit recovered.  

Landon also called her ex-boyfriend’s mother who was raising her two biological children in Florida. “I’m at peace with what I’ve decided to do,” Landon cryptically told the woman shortly before killing Bella. (That ex-boyfriend is not the father of her children). 

The Sheriff’s Office Crime Lab concluded through DNA analysis that it was Landon’s blood was on the bucket.  

The Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office determined that Bella died from asphyxia due to strangulation and blunt-force trauma. The pathologist found numerous bruises on Bella’s head and abrasions on her neck that were indicative of the child’s fingernails scratching against Landon’s hands while she was being strangled. 

The autopsy also revealed that Bella still may have been alive, although unconscious, when Landon folded her little body and stuffed it in the bucket head first. 

At trial, her attorneys argued that because of a mental illness, Landon did not know right from wrong when she killed Bella. They provided testimony from a forensic psychiatrist who evaluated Landon 13 times, with the first meeting occurring three days after Landon killed Bella. The psychiatrist concluded that Landon suffers from mental disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder rooted in her childhood in a Khmer Rouge death camp in her native Cambodia. 

The psychiatrist asserted that Landon was in the throes of “a psychotic episode” when she killed Bella, primarily basing her assessment on her review of reports by Harahan police and the doctors who interacted and evaluated her soon after the murder. Landon claimed to lack memory of what happened, including pulling the wagon with Bella’s remains in the bucket. Landon did claim to recall Bella clawing at her own neck and to holding Bella’s body while listening to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, the defense psychiatrist told jurors. 

However, when asked under cross-examination by ADA Truhe whether the psychiatrist could definitively say Landon could not distinguish right from wrong when she killed Bella, the psychiatrist said, “At that moment, no. I can’t tell that.” 

In rebuttal, ADA Africk provided the testimony of Dr. Gina Manguno-Mire, who was qualified as an expert in forensic psychology. Dr. Manguno-Mire met with Landon for a total of 22 hours, reviewed numerous records and evidence in the criminal case, and interviewed people who knew Landon at the time she killed Bella. 

Landon has a personality disorder, Dr. Manguno-Mire testified, but the legal question is whether that condition left Landon incapable of knowing right from wrong. Her conclusion: Landon was sane when she killed Bella. Based on her actions leading up to and after the murder, she was aware that she knew what she was doing was wrong. 

“It’s my opinion that she understood the consequences of her actions at the time,” Dr. Manguno-Mire testified. 

Dr. Manguno-Mire found that Landon was malingering, meaning she was feigning a mental defect. She diagnosed Landon as having a major depressive disorder and narcissistic, histrionic and borderline personality disorders, which tied into a fear of abandonment. 

Landon felt her relationship with Bella’s father was jeopardized because of Bella, the psychologist opined. Bella, diagnosed with separation disorder because of her parents’ split, was in counseling with a child psychologist in the weeks before she died. Bella disclosed in the sessions that Landon was mean to her. With the help of counseling, Bella worked up the courage to open up to her father about Landon. That in turn led her father to confront Landon. He told her he would “reassess” their relationship if he heard this from his daughter again. 

Landon killed Bella the following day. 

“This isn’t a woman who is outside her faculties,” ADA Africk told jurors Thursday. “This is a woman who is pissed off and evil.” 

In addition to the first-degree murder charge, Landon was convicted of two counts of obstruction of justice, one for removing Bella’s body from the murder scene and the other for burying her cellphone. Both actions were undertaken to hinder the criminal investigation – more evidence showing that Landon knew right from wrong. 

Judge Nancy Miller of the 24th Judicial District Court set Landon’s sentencing for May 6. 

Assistant District Attorneys Rachel Africk, Lindsay Truhe and Alyssa Aleman prosecuted the case. 

Monica Every, Louis Gordon convicted in Metairie murder-for-hire plot

A Jefferson Parish jury on Thursday night (April 17) found Monica Every and Louis Gordon guilty of conspiring to kill her ex-boyfriend’s new lover, a scheme they carried out after Every’s harassment campaign failed to end the relationship.

Their conspiracy culminated on the morning of Jan. 27, 2022, when Gordon fatally shot Every’s romantic rival, Charlene Jones, in Metairie. For that, Every paid Gordon $10,000.

Jones, 48, was shot three times from the back while sitting in her car outside her apartment in the gated complex in the 2500 block of South Interstate 10 Service Road, near Causeway Boulevard.

Every, 52, of LaPlace, was convicted of being a principal to second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit second-degree murder and solicitation for second-degree murder.

Gordon, 37, of New Orleans, was convicted of second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and of obstruction of justice.

Every’s boyfriend broke off their 7-year relationship on Christmas Day 2021 to be with Jones. Every was aware of his involvement with Jones, evidenced by the string of angry text messages she sent to him on the day after Christmas, including one in which she called Jones “that old bitch dog.” During the following weeks, Every began an escalating pattern of harassing Jones.

“If Monica Every can’t have him, no one can. That’s what this case is about. It’s as simple as that,” Assistant District Attorney Lindsay Truhe told jurors on April 11 in opening statements. “(Every) was willing to do what it took to eliminate her.”

“It goes beyond obsession,” Assistant District Attorney Matthew Whitworth told jurors Thursday evening during closing argument.

Determined to end the relationship, Every had Gordon sprinkle “voodoo dust” on Jones’ car. She made harassing phone calls, leading Jones and her ex-boyfriend to change their phone numbers.

At Every’s request, Gordon planted a pistol in Jones’ car. Every then called Crimestoppers, anonymously reporting that the firearm hidden in Jones’ car was linked to a teenager’s homicide in New Orleans East. A New Orleans Police Department homicide detective, assisted by Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies, investigated the Crimestoppers tip. The detective quickly determined that neither Jones nor the pistol was tied in the New Orleans homicide.

Rattled by being questioned in connection with a homicide investigation, Jones immediately told detectives about Every’s ongoing harassment.

Every also hoped that the apartment complex management would bar her ex-boyfriend from the property. She obtained court records from Tangipahoa Parish, where he pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 1997, and anonymously faxed them to the management from a local office supply store. Jefferson Parish detectives later confirmed that Every faxed the court records by viewing security video footage from the office supply store.

Every tried to get an acquaintance who resided in the apartment complex to report her felon ex-boyfriend’s presence on the property. She called that acquaintance seven times in one day in this failed effort.

“When she couldn’t scare Charlene Jones away, the evidence will show she paid this man to kill her,” Truhe told jurors, pointing to Gordon.

It was just before 5 a.m., on Jan. 27, 2022, when Jones slid into her driver’s seat just outside her apartment to prepare to drive to her job. Just as she started the engine and put the transmission in drive, Gordon began shooting.

Jones’ boyfriend was among the residents who heard the gunfire and who called 911. He ran to Jones’ car and opened the driver’s door to find her mortally wounded.

Deputies found her unresponsive in the driver’s seat. Next to the car, they found five spent 9mm bullet casings and bullet damage on the car. The bullet that ended Jones’ life passed through her left arm and entered her torso, where it punctured her lung and severed the aorta.

Detectives obtained video surveillance footage of the shooter’s car passing the momentarily untended guard house at the entrance to the apartment complex. Within five minutes, the car is seen speeding out of the complex.

Although the Ford Fusion had no license plate, detectives were able to identify its owner: Gordon’s girlfriend, a 29-year-old mother of four who lived in New Orleans East.

She was initially viewed as a suspect and booked with second-degree murder. She was jailed while Gordon fled to Florida, where he was later arrested. She allowed Gordon to use her car and one of her daughters’ cell phones on the morning Jones was murdered. She was aware that Gordon did odd tasks for Every, but she was unaware of the murder scheme.

She eventually was charged with and pleaded guilty to money laundering for handling some of the money that Every paid Gordon. She was sentenced to two years of probation and testified about Gordon’s interaction with Every and the money Every gave her boyfriend.

Detectives recovered cell phone communications and financial transactions that linked Every and Gordon to the conspiracy to kill Jones. Two cell phones that Gordon possessed were at the apartment complex when Jones was killed, including the one he borrowed from his girlfriend, detectives learned. Minutes after he shot Jones, Gordon sent a text message to her, “$$$.” Gordon even had his mother cash a $4,000 check that Every provided to him.

As the investigation unfolded, Every learned that detectives encountered Gordon. The next day, Every called the lead case detective, saying she had information to offer. She met detectives at a New Orleans coffee shop and, without being prompted to do so, she provided an alibi showing she was at her home in LaPlace when Jones was killed. Unbeknownst to the detectives, Every recorded their conversation on her cell phone.

Every’s and Gordon’s attorneys denied the charges. They said that Every’s ex-boyfriend or the father of Gordon’s girlfriend’s children could have killed Jones. In defending the money transactions between Every and Gordon, Gordon’s attorney said his client helped Every acquire cabinets for her home. In testimony Thursday, Gordon said he is innocent.

Jurors deliberated almost 2 ½ hours Thursday night before returning with their unanimous guilty verdicts on all counts. Judge R. Christopher Cox of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Every and Gordon on May 29.

Assistant District Attorneys Matthew Whitworth, Lindsay Truhe and Sarah Helmstetter prosecuted the case.