Tag: murder

Kintez ‘Kutta’ Johnson convicted of murdering Reginel Golman in Marrero

A Jefferson Parish jury on Wednesday (Oct. 2) found Kintez “Kutta” Johnson guilty of shooting a man as he sat in a car outside a Marrero convenience store two years ago, killing him.

Johnson, 23, of Harvey, was convicted as charged of the second-degree murder of Reginel Golman, 30.

On the evening of Sept. 23, 2022, Golman and his girlfriend were seated in a vehicle parked outside a business at Fourth Street and Ames Boulevard when Johnson, wearing a mask, approached. He and Golman spoke for a moment. Johnson then brandished a semiautomatic pistol and shot Golman as he sat in the front passenger’s seat.

Johnson’s girlfriend tried to drive away but then sought refuge inside the store – its owners rushed to lock the doors after hearing gunfire. She returned to the car. Golman was still alive.

“Take me home by my momma,” Golman told her. She sped to his mother’s home on nearby Silver Lilly Lane, where 911 was called. Golman died there, slumped over in the front passenger’s seat.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives quickly identified Johnson as the suspect, through witnesses and through the convenience store’s video security system. Johnson was arrested days later at a motel in New Orleans East.

About an hour before the homicide, Golman and his girlfriend were at a home in Marrero when Johnson appeared at the home. It was during that time that Golman’s brother happened to call their niece from the north Louisiana prison where he is incarcerated. Golman then got on the phone with his brother.

Prison phone calls are recorded, so jurors were able to hear Golman tell his brother that Johnson told him that there was “a bag on my head,” meaning someone wanted him dead. Golman’s family urged him to not leave with Johnson, whose identity was acknowledged during the recorded phone call.

Nonetheless, Golman and his girlfriend drove to the convenience store, with Johnson in the back seat. Golman got out of the car and went inside. He asked his girlfriend to drive Johnson to a nearby apartment complex. She did so and returned to the store, where Golman got into the front passenger’s seat.

That’s when Johnson walked up, spoke with Golman and began shooting. Johnson then fled on foot. In total, 10 spent bullet casings were recovered that were tied to Johnson’s pistol. Golman suffered from 15 bullet wounds, some caused by the same bullets that entered his body, exited and entered other body parts.

In addition to second-degree murder, jurors found Johnson guilty of three other charges:

  • Aggravated assault with a firearm. The victim was Golman’s girlfriend, who was seated in the driver’s seat when Johnson opened fire but was not physically injured.
  • Convicted felon in possession of a firearm. Johnson was prohibited from possessing firearms because of a prior felony conviction. In 2020, he pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm while possessing heroin and to six counts of illegal discharge of a firearm.
  • Obstruction of justice. Johnson hindered the investigation into Golman’s death by tampering with evidence — getting rid of the firearm. The firearm turned up in a bar in Kenner on Oct. 7, 2022. Police were summoned to the bar because an intoxicated customer passed out. That customer had a duffle bag that contained a firearm. Ballistics experts determined that the firearm was used in Golman’s killing. The intoxicated man had no connection to Golman’s homicide and no known connection to Johnson.

Suggesting self-defense, Johnson’s attorney told jurors that Golman had a gun in the vehicle with him when he was shot; a gun was never found. The attorney said witnesses lied, and there was no forensic evidence tying Johnson to Golman’s death. He urged jurors to acquit Johnson.

The jury, which was seated on Monday, deliberated about 2 1/2 hours before returning with its unanimous verdicts.

Judge Shayna Beevers Morvant of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Johnson on Oct. 29.

Assistant District Attorneys Matt Whitworth and LaShanda Webb prosecuted the case.

Jerry Gelpi convicted in brutal stabbing death of 68-year-old neighbor Charles Davis

A Jefferson Parish jury deliberated 24 minutes Wednesday night (Oct. 2) in finding Jerry Gelpi guilty of fatally stabbing his neighbor in an Old Jefferson apartment, rejecting his assertion that a mental defect prevented him from knowing right from wrong when he murdered the man.

Gelpi, 42, was convicted as charged of the first-degree murder of Charles Davis, 68, who died in the bathtub of his second-floor apartment in the 400 block of Highway Drive in February 2021.

In his final months of life, Davis struggled with Covid-19 and its lingering effects. A forklift driver who rode his bicycle to work several miles from his home each day, Davis became infected with Covid-19 in April 2020 and was hospitalized for three months. The virus killed his live-in girlfriend while he was hospitalized. Although he survived, he was severely weakened, having lost 70 pounds. He required auxiliary oxygen and was undergoing long-term rehabilitation.

Gelpi, who lived in the apartment beneath Davis’s, gained access to Davis’s apartment. According to the crime scene reconstruction, Gelpi attacked Davis in the entrance to his bathroom. During the struggle, Gelpi stabbed Davis in the neck. Davis’s sink was knocked off the wall. Davis was either pushed or fell into the bathtub, where Gelpi continued to stab him – in all, at least 16 times. Davis’s wounds included cuts to his right hand, showing that he was trying to defend himself.

Gelpi then went to the kitchen sink to clean the blood from his hands and returned to his apartment seven minutes after he walked up to Davis’s apartment.

Davis’s daughter found his body on the morning of Feb. 9, 2021, when she investigated why he was not responding to phone calls. She found the front door unlocked and discovered his clothed body curled in the fetal position in the bathtub. His wallet was missing.

In the early stages of the investigation, Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives questioned neighbors and looked at surveillance videos to determine who went to Davis’s apartment. Someone was seen walking from Gelpi’s apartment at 1:27 a.m., and then returning to Gelpi’s apartment at 1:34 a.m., carrying a bag.

When questioned by detectives, Gelpi denied knowledge of the homicide. He initially denied ever being in Davis’s apartment. He gave detectives the name of a local homeless man as a suspect. He presented no hint of mental illness.

Detectives investigating Gelpi’s background then found two criminal matters that involved his use of knives in crime:

  • On Sept. 11, 2020, Gelpi got into an altercation with two young men of Middle Eastern descent who were browsing video games at a Walmart in Kenner. Gelpi stood close to the men without wearing a mask, leading the men to ask Gelpi to step back because of their concerns about Covid-19. Gelpi then asked them about their language and struck one of the men in the head without provocation, leading to a physical altercation where Gelpi brandished a knife and began to threaten the men. One of the men pulled out his mobile device and began videotaping the encounter. Once Gelpi saw he was being recorded, he put the knife away and fled. Kenner police arrested Gelpi.
  • On Nov. 8, 2013, Gelpi was in Springfield, Ohio, where he was caught shoplifting at a pharmacy store. He used a knife to cut open packaging for teeth whitening strips before pocketing them. When confronted by the loss-prevention officer, Gelpi brandished the knife, threatened to stab the man and ran out with the stolen goods. Gelpi later was convicted of felony robbery, and as such, his DNA profile was entered into a national database.

Later in February 2021, detectives got a hit from the national DNA database that linked Gelpi to Davis’s apartment. Gelpi’s DNA was under Davis’s fingernails and on the kitchen faucet he used to wash the blood from his hands. They obtained an arrest warrant and returned to the apartment building in time to find Gelpi arriving on a bicycle. He was carrying a knife.

They searched his apartment and found five tactical knives. The Sheriff’s Office’s Digital Forensic Unit searched Gelpi’s computer browser history and found searches for information about knife fighting and about stabbing people in their kidneys, hearts and lungs.

It was only after his arrest that Gelpi began asserting mental illness. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

At trial, Gelpi testified Wednesday that he is “the son of God,” that he was not in control of himself when he killed Davis, and that he did so because he believed that Davis was “the strongest demon in my experience.” He pointed to detectives seated in the courtroom and said they were demons. Gelpi’s attorney argued that he was insane at the time he stabbed Davis and so could not be held criminally responsible for Davis’s death.

In rebuttal, prosecutors presented evidence about Gelpi’s pretrial stint in the state mental hospital in Jackson, La., to where he was sent for the sole purpose of determining whether he was mentally competent to stand trial.

While in the hospital, Gelpi alleged there were demons present but otherwise exhibited no true signs of mental illness. The doctors concluded that Gelpi was malingering, or fabricating mental illness symptoms to achieve his needs.

A separate doctor evaluated Gelpi to determine whether he was criminally insane when he killed Davis. That doctor also concluded Gelpi is malingering and found that Gelpi’s behaviors when killing Davis and afterwards show he knew right from wrong. For instance, he waited until late at night when no one was around to kill Davis, and he cleaned up the blood afterwards to conceal his involvement in the crime. Further, he disposed of his bloody clothing and the murder weapon, which he threw in the Mississippi River.

Prior to his arrest, Gelpi was never diagnosed with or treated for a psychotic disorder. However, he had a history of such feigning disorders.

After enlisting in the Navy to avoid punishment for a criminal matter, Gelpi faked a mental illness so he could be discharged in 2004. After his arrest for killing Davis, the Sheriff’s Office’s Digital Forensic Unit discovered an email Gelpi sent to an acquaintance in which he boasted about lying to the judge overseeing the Ohio robbery case. Gelpi told the judge he had a substance abuse problem in order to get leniency, “and the judge bought it,” he told the acquaintance.

The jury that was seated on Monday returned with its unanimous verdicts at 9:15 p.m. The District Attorney’s Office did not seek the death penalty, meaning life without parole, probation or suspension of sentence is mandatory for the murder.

Gelpi also was found guilty as charged of obstruction of justice, for eliminating evidence.

Judge Frank Brindisi of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Gelpi on Wednesday (Oct. 9).

Assistant District Attorneys Tommy Block and Lindsay Truhe 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.

Lam Thach guilty of murdering Ngoc Bich Nguyen in domestic violence stabbing

A Jefferson Parish jury on Thursday (May 9) found Lam Thach guilty of killing his girlfriend by plunging a knife into her neck in Marrero.

Thach, 43, is guilty as charged of the second-degree murder of Ngoc Bich Nguyen, 41, in Marrero on Aug. 1, 2021, jurors unanimously decided.

A native of Vietnam, Nguyen was the oldest of six children who immigrated to the United States in 1990, first to Dallas, Texas, and then Metairie two years later. At the time of her death, she was living in Algiers with an uncle and had been dating Thach about three years.

In the months prior to her death, she twice called New Orleans police to her Joycelyn Drive home to report that Thach had physically abused her. He strangled her, threatened to not let her leave and was armed with a knife, she told police, who arrested him. Just four days after he was released from his bond obligations in the last arrest, he killed her.

On Aug. 1, 2021, after Thach sent Nguyen messages in which he maligned her family and called her derogatory names, Nguyen asked her mother to speak with Thach’s father, with whom she was acquainted.

Nguyen, her mother and her mother’s boyfriend drove to the Ames Boulevard trailer park in Marrero where Thach lived with his father. They spoke with Thach’s father, who in turn wanted his son to apologize.

Without apparent provocation, Thach entered the room and slapped Nguyen as she sat on the sofa. He then locked the front door to prevent anyone from leaving. He threatened to kill Nguyen and then went to the kitchen. Nguyen’s mother called 911.

Thach’s father unlocked the door, and Nguyen’s mother’s boyfriend walked out. Her mother was following him. Nguyen remained behind, sending a text message to her uncle and telling him that Thach slapped her. Her mother was near the front door when Thach reappeared from the kitchen, telling Nguyen, “You cannot leave.”

Nguyen called out: Thach had a knife and was trying to kill her. Her mother turned back toward her daughter. She saw Thach pulling the knife out of her first-born’s neck.

Nguyen’s mother held her hand and walked her out of the trailer, fearing that Thach would harm her, too. They called 911 again. Nguyen then lay on the ground. Cradling her daughter’s head and trying to stop the bleeding, her mother cried, “Don’t leave me.” Nguyen died there in her mother’s arms.

Thach casually walked away, removing his shirt and discarding it in a nearby garbage bin. A Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputy responding to the 911 call spotted and arrested him five minutes after he killed Nguyen. Questioned later by a detective, Thach said, “I will take my lick,” street talk for taking the punishment for his actions.

At trial, his attorneys laid blame on Nguyen and her family because they went to the trailer to initiate a confrontation. They asked jurors to consider manslaughter, a lesser homicide offense. And they painted Thach as a sympathetic person who immigrated to the United States about a decade ago, is illiterate, worked as a fisher and is unable to speak clearly because of a cleft lip.

Jurors who were seated Tuesday deliberated about 40 minutes before returning their verdicts. In addition to the murder, Thach was convicted as charged of obstruction of justice for discarding the shirt, which was evidence.

Judge Ellen Shirer Kovach of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Thach on May 22.

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

 

Jerman Neveaux pleads guilty, gets life for murdering JPSO Detective David Michel Jr.

A Jefferson Parish judge on Wednesday (April 24) sentenced Jerman Neveaux to spend the rest of his life in prison, after Neveaux pleaded guilty to murdering Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office Detective David Michel Jr. during an investigative stop in Harvey eight years ago.

Neveaux, 27, of New Orleans, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in exchange for avoiding a possible first-degree murder conviction and death sentence had his case gone to trial. His trial was scheduled to begin next week.

Detective Michel, assigned to the Sheriff’s Office Project Star Team, was driving to meet fellow officers for lunch on June 22, 2016, when he spotted Neveaux, then age 19, suspiciously following a man who was walking on Manhattan Boulevard during his lunch break.

Detective Michel stopped Neveaux at Manhattan Boulevard and Ascot Road. A physical altercation followed, and Neveaux shot Detective Michel three times in the back and fled. Detective Michel called out on the police radio, “I’m shot.” He died at a hospital later that day.

Just three weeks before he killed Detective Michel, Neveaux pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of illegal possession of stolen things in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court, after police found he had a stolen pistol. He received probation for the misdemeanor conviction.

Then, on June 22, 2016, Neveaux was in possession of a stolen .38-caliber revolver when Detective Michel stopped him. He used that pistol to murder Detective Michel.

Evidence would have been presented during the trial that would have allowed the jury to conclude that Neveaux was going to use that pistol to commit an armed robbery of a pedestrian when he encountered Detective Michel.

Ascot Road has since been renamed Det. David Michel Jr. Drive.

On Wednesday, Judge June Berry Darensburg of the 24th Judicial District Court accepted Neveaux’s plea and sentenced him to life in prison without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.

Former Jefferson Parish Assistant District Attorney Doug Freese, now Chief of the Criminal Division for District Attorney Collin Sims’ Office, and Jefferson Parish Assistant District Attorneys Kristen Landrieu and Darren Allemand prosecuted the case.

Ronald Newton convicted of the first-degree murder of Earl Ellsworth in Metairie

A Jefferson Parish jury on Tuesday night (March 19) convicted Ronald Newton of a first-degree murder he committed almost three hours after learning his girlfriend and mother were involved in a senseless brawl outside his Marrero home.

Newton, 30, shot and killed Earl Ellsworth, 23, as he and two friends hid in the bathroom of a Metairie apartment on the evening of Aug. 25, 2022.

The killing was the end result of an argument between women earlier that day and spilled over into social media. It escalated to a brawl between four women in the street and on the lawn in front of Newton’s home in the 6400 block of Millender Drive in Marrero.

“He was going there to get vengeance. He was going there to get blood. And he got what he wanted.”Assistant District Attorney Brendan Bowan

Newton’s girlfriend and mother were involved in the brawl. Newton’s cousin was among the women who went to the home. As an untended toddler stood in the street watching the brawl, Newton’s cousin’s boyfriend punched Newton’s girlfriend in her head as she stood over Newton’s cousin, punching her.

Ellsworth was present at the fight but did not participate in it. He only video recorded it. He was shot and killed two hours and 45 minutes later.

Newton was at his job during the fight. His girlfriend called him to tell him about it. When his shift ended about 6:30 p.m., he went home. His arrival and departure were recorded by his doorbell video camera.

“Come on, come on,” he was recorded saying as he walked out the front door holding a rifle in his left hand, heading to Metairie. The doorbell camera also recorded Newton’s mother on the phone with him after he drove away, pleading with him to calm down.

Newton crossed the Huey P. Long Bridge, enroute to the 2400 block of Pasadena Avenue, where his cousin lived with her boyfriend – the man who punched Newton’s girlfriend. Two witnesses followed Newton to Metairie, hoping to stop him. His arrival, at about 7:30 p.m., was recorded by an apartment building’s video surveillance camera. Two women followed him into the building.

Ellsworth was in the apartment visiting the couple, who almost three hours after the fight were hanging out and playing video games. When Newton arrived, his cousin looked through the front door peephole and saw him holding a gun. They retreated to a bathroom in the apartment, with Newton’s cousin hiding in the linen closet.

Newton kicked in the front door, defeating the deadbolt lock. One of his friends who followed him to Metairie went so far as to throw her cell phone at him in hopes of stopping him. Newton then kicked open the locked bedroom and bathroom doors. Ellsworth was attempting to insert a magazine into a pistol that Newton’s cousin owned in preparing to defend himself and his friends.

Armed with a Glock 9mm semiautomatic pistol he brought to Metairie, Newton shot Ellsworth once in the chest. In his last words before he died on the bathroom floor, Ellsworth told his friends, “Call police.” He never loaded or fired the pistol.

“Earl Ellsworth got his hands on that gun to protect himself and the ones he loved. And Ronald Newton killed him for it,” Assistant District Attorney Brendan Bowen told jurors in closing argument, saying Ellsworth was within his legal right under Louisiana’s stand-your-ground law to arm himself in the face of Newton’s aggression.

Newton also pistol-whipped his cousin’s boyfriend. Newton’s hurried departure was recorded by the apartment’s video surveillance camera, less than two minutes after he arrived.

Newton’s cousin called 911, frantically requesting help and repeatedly crying, “Please!” Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived to find Newton’s cousin’s boyfriend with his hands up at the front door. Newton’s cousin was still screaming. Ellsworth was slumped over against the bathtub on the floor, the unloaded pistol next to his body.

Back on Millender Drive, seven minutes after 911 was called, the doorbell camera recorded Newton’s mother receiving a phone call and then wailing, “Ronald done killed that boy.” Not long after, the doorbell camera recorded Newton arriving and then departing with his girlfriend, carrying clothing and other items.

Detectives immediately identified Newton as the killer and obtained a warrant for his arrest within hours of Ellsworth’s murder. A U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force located and arrested Newton on Aug. 30, 2022, in a fourth-floor room at a New Orleans hotel on Magazine Street at Canal Street.

At trial, Newton’s defense attorney argued there was no evidence that his client was armed when he went into the apartment. The attorney told jurors in closing argument that Newton’s cousin’s boyfriend was armed, and during a tussle, the pistol fired and Ellsworth was fatally shot. The attorney also said Ellsworth was armed.

In rebuttal, Bowen told jurors that Newton had no “blank check” to drive to Metairie two hours and 45 minutes after the fight “and murder someone who never threw a punch.”

“He was going there to get vengeance. He was going there to get blood. And he got what he wanted,” Bowen told jurors.

Newton was charged with first-degree murder, with the aggravating factor being aggravated burglary because he forced his way into the apartment while armed with a pistol. The District Attorney’s Office did not seek the death penalty.

He additionally was convicted of obstruction of justice because he intentionally removed the Glock 9mm pistol he used to kill Ellsworth to obstruct the investigation. That pistol still has not been recovered (nor has the rifle Newton carried out of his home when going to Metairie).

And he was found guilty of two counts of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He was barred from possessing firearms because of a 2015 conviction of two counts of distributing marijuana in Jefferson Parish. In addition to possessing the murder weapon, Newton is seen in the doorbell camera video leaving his home carrying a rifle and additionally is seen in his social media posing with four rifles.

The jury that was seated on Monday deliberated 1 hour and 15 minutes before returning with its unanimous verdicts.

Judge Lee Faulkner of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Newton on April 3.

Assistant District Attorneys Rachel Africk and Brendan Bowen prosecuted the case.

 

Cade Fuxan gets life in prison for murdering roommate in Kenner

A Jefferson Parish judge on Wednesday (March 13) sentenced Cade Fuxan to life in prison for his conviction of killing his roommate James Parker in their Kenner apartment.

Fuxan, 26, shot Parker five times in the hallway of their 2-bedroom apartment in the 4500 block of Williams Boulevard on June 2, 2022, including once in the back of his head. Fuxan then asserted to Kenner police and to the jury he was defending himself. Parker was 24.

Fuxan and Parker’s sister were dating. The couple, Parker and Parker’s brother shared the apartment. The shooting followed months of friction between the men and a physical fight in which Parker got the best of Fuxan. They were alone in the apartment when Fuxan shot Parker

A Jefferson Parish jury on Feb. 1 rejected Fuxan’s self-defense assertions and convicted him as charged of second=degree murder.

Click here to read about the crime.

During Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, 24th Judicial District Court Judge Stephen Enright denied Fuxan’s post-verdict motions for a new trial and to reject the jury’s unanimous conclusion that Fuxan committed a second-degree murder.

Prior to sentencing, Judge Enright heard victim-impact testimony from Parker’s sisters, including from Fuxan’s ex-girlfriend. She said she is “shattered” by her brother’s death and described him as a creative and caring young man.

She also blames herself for her brother’s death because she dated Fuxan. “I regret every moment of us,” she testified. “I regret giving you my love.”

Parker’s other sister described him as peaceful and non-confrontational. “You are the scum on the bottom of my shoe,” she told Fuxan.

Fuxan read from a prepared statement, directing criticism at the prosecutors, expressing sorrow for Parker’s family’s pain but maintaining it was a justifiable homicide. “I did what I had to do,” he said of shooting Parker. He also described the life sentence term as unjust.

Judge Enright then sentenced Fuxan to the mandatory punishment, to be served without parole, probation or suspension of sentence.

Assistant District Attorneys Piper Didier and Douglas Rushton prosecuted the case.

 

Arnold Magee gets life sentence for fatally shooting his estranged girlfriend

A Jefferson Parish judge on Friday (March 8) sentenced Arnold Magee to life in prison for his conviction of firing a military-style rifle at his estranged girlfriend outside his Metairie apartment building, killing her.

Magee, 37, fired two .223-caliber bullets at Kawana Tibbit on July, 2, 2020, while she was in the driver’s seat of her car in the apartment complex parking lot in the 4100 block of Hessmer Avenue, an area of Metairie with a high population density given the number of apartment complexes.

His first bullet struck a van parked nearby. The second bullet struck her in the right arm, causing massive internal damage.

Mortally wounded, Tibbit drove her car forward through the parking lot and crossed Hessmer Avenue to an apartment building. Her car struck a parked vehicle, where she died. She was 27.

A Jefferson Parish jury on Feb. 22 found Magee guilty as charged of second-degree murder.

Click here to read about the crime.

Magee appeared before 24th Judicial District Court Judge Donnie Rowan on Friday for the sentencing hearing, during which Tibbit’s cousin said in impact testimony that “domestic violence is serious.”

“I want you to know that I forgive you, because if I don’t, I know I will not have peace in my heart,” Tibbit’s cousin testified.

Judge Rowan denied Magee’s attorneys’ requests for a new trial, which included arguments that he was defending himself when shot Tibbit. Video surveillance evidence refutes Magee’s self-defense assertions. The judge also noted how the videos show Magee walking around his apartment complex after shooting Tibbit with the military-style rifle.

“I watched you walk around like this was Beirut, like this was a war-torn country,” Judge Rowan told Magee before sending him to the mandatory life sentence in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.

Assistant District Attorneys Taylor Somerville and Rachel Africk prosecuted the case.

Raymond Lee sentenced to life in prison for murdering Alonzo ‘Zo’ Wiley on the West Bank

A Jefferson Parish judge on Thursday (March 7) sentenced Raymond Lee of New Orleans to a mandatory life sentence in prison for his conviction of killing an entrepreneurial barbershop owner in a West Bank motel room.

Lee, 38, shot Alonzo “Zo” Wiley five times during an armed robbery on Dec. 5, 2021. At that time, in the wake of Hurricane Ida, Lee and Wiley were residents at the motel in the 2200 block of the Westbank Expressway.

Wiley, 35, who owned The Grooming Gallery barber shop in the Gretna area and had one previously on Tulane Avenue in New Orleans, dressed well and was known to carry cash. He aspired to expand his Grooming Gallery business.

Lee tricked Wiley into letting him into the motel room. Once inside, however, Lee attempted to rob Wiley. Wiley resisted and attempted to get away but was shot three times. Lee then placed a pillow over Wiley’s head and shot him twice more in the face before fleeing with the victim’s belongings.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives built a circumstantial case in tying Lee to the crime through cell phone technology, physical evidence and statements.

A Jefferson Parish jury on Feb. 2 found Lee guilty as charged of second-degree murder, obstruction of justice and of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

Click here to read more about the crime.

During Thursday’s sentencing hearing, Judge Michael Mentz of the 24th Judicial District Court denied defense requests for a new trial and heard victim impact testimony from family and friends of Wiley, including a letter written by a cousin that a prosecutor read aloud for the court.

“Our family hasn’t been the same since he’s been gone, as he was the one to light up every party and every conversation,” the cousin wrote. “To everyone on the outside looking in, he was a barber and a businessman or even just another name on the docket. But to us he was a protective cousin, a fun uncle, a supportive brother and a loving son.”

“There (were) a lot of people that depended on Alonzo,” the cousin wrote. “We need him. He made us happy. He made us laugh. He made us better. He did not deserve to be a victim of such a senseless, heinous crime. … Our lives are forever changed from the good times that we had with Alonzo, but we are also still feeling the emptiness from his murder.”

In addition to the life sentence, to be served without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence, Judge Mentz sentenced Lee to 40 years for the obstruction charge and 20 for the firearm charge. Judge Mentz ordered the sentenced to be served concurrently.

Assistant District Attorneys Leo Aaron and Tommy Block prosecuted the case.

Arnold Magee guilty of murdering his estranged girlfriend in Metairie

A Jefferson Parish jury on Thursday (Feb. 22) found Arnold Magee guilty of fatally shooting his estranged girlfriend outside his Metairie apartment.

Magee, 37, is guilty as charged of the second-degree murder of Kawana Tibbit, 27, whom he killed in the 4100 block of Hessmer Avenue on the morning of July 2, 2020, following the end of their 5-year relationship.

Tibbit, who previously lived at the apartment, returned there just after 7 a.m., to retrieve belongings. An argument ensued, during which Tibbit received a phone call from new boyfriend. He could hear commotion in the background. Magee grabbed the phone and told him, “You’re not going to f— with her anymore.”

In a state of panic, the boyfriend told Magee he was on his way over. After the call was disconnected, she fled, and her boyfriend ran to the apartment on foot. By the time he arrived, she was dead.

Magee had armed himself with his Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle and went to the apartment building’s parking lot after she fled. He fired two .223-caliber rounds at Tibbit’s car.

The second round struck Tibbit in the upper right arm and traveled into her chest, causing massive tissue damage to her right lung. The trajectory was consistent with Magee shooting Tibbit while her hands were on her car’s steering wheel.

Struggling to breath and bleeding to death, Tibbit drove on but crashed her car into a vehicle parked outside an apartment building across Hessmer Avenue. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies who responded to the 911 calls found her slumped over in the driver’s seat. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

Magee was among the 911 callers. In his 7:26 a.m., call, Magee told the operator that Tibbit tried to run him over in her car, and so he fired his rifle in self-defense. He returned his rifle to a closet in his apartment and waited for deputies to arrive.

Detectives recovered surveillance video footage and an audio recording of the shooting that refute Magee’s self-defense assertions.

Video shows that after Tibbet ran out of Magee’s apartment carrying her shoes, he casually walked out carrying the military-style rifle while speaking on his cell phone. He then stood outside the apartment building, holding the rifle.

Shortly after, Magee and Tibbit appeared to be conversing outside the apartment building. She stood beside her car, while he remained at the entrance to an entry gate to his building, holding the rifle. She got into her car and accelerated away. Magee fired the first bullet. It struck a parked van.

Tibbit then put her car into reverse and veered toward Magee before crashing into the building. After Tibbit’s car came to a stop, Magee fired a second time, striking her. She screamed and accelerated away again, eventually crashing into a parked vehicle across Hessmer.

Magee, meanwhile, casually walked through his apartment building, peering out to where Tibbit’s car crashed across the street. He hid the rifle under his clothing, walked across Hessmer and looked into Tibbit’s car.

He walked back to his apartment and, with the rifle still hidden under his clothing, he called 911. He remained at the scene and voluntarily spoke with detectives.

A deputy recovered the rifle from Magee’s apartment. Its safety selector switch was still in the fire position, and there was a round in the chamber, meaning it was ready to be fired. A full, 30-round magazine was inserted in the rifle.

In addition to maintaining Magee’s self-defense assertions, his attorneys argued that he suffered from alcohol addiction withdrawals and, explaining the rifle, also was fearful of Tibbit’s new boyfriend. The attorneys also suggested that jurors consider returning with a verdict of manslaughter, a lesser degree of homicide committed in the heat of passion that carries a sentence of up to 40 years in prison.

The jury that was seated on Monday deliberated about 1 ½ hours on Thursday before returning with its verdict.

Judge Donnie Rowan of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Magee on March 8.

Assistant District Attorneys Rachel Africk and Taylor Somerville prosecuted the case.