Tag: narcotics

Byron Spottsville convicted of murdering man in Westwego playground

A Jefferson Parish jury on Thursday night (July 9) found Byron Spottsville guilty of gunning down a 26-year-old man at a Westwego playground while trying to rob him. 

Spottsville, 23, of Westwego, was convicted as charged of the second-degree murder of Zashaun Espinoza. He also was convicted of obstruction of justice for hindering the investigation: He hid the clothing he wore during the killing and his Smith & Wesson 9mm semiautomatic pistol, along with property he took from the victim in a nearby wooded area. 

Espinoza, of Marrero,  was shot seven times on April 30, 2025, while in Fred Dorsey Playground, at 38 Norton St. Spottsville, who had a history of opioid addiction, lived next to the playground with his grandparents. After texting people that day in an unsuccessful quest to find narcotics, Spottsville targeted Espinoza believing he had the opioids that his body craved. 

In his final moments of life, Espinoza was seated on the bleachers, his ear buds in his hands, while waiting for his girlfriend to pick him up. The couple had been exchanging text messages. Spottsville, dressed in black and carrying a black ski mask, approached Espinoza, believing he had illegal narcotics. Evidence suggests that when Spottsville brandished his pistol, Espinoza tried to run. Spottsville opened fire and continued to shoot while moving toward his victim. 

Of the eight bullets he fired, seven struck Espinoza in a tight grouping, Dr. Timothy Scanlan, who was qualified as an expert in crime scene reconstruction, blood stain pattern analysis and firearms and toolmark examination, noted in testimony. One of the bullets struck Espinoza in the back of his thigh, breaking his femur and leaving him unable to run. He fell to the ground. 

Spottsville then fired his final bullets.  “He stood over that man and shot him at least twice while he was helpless and incapacitated on the ground,” Assistant District Attorney Tommy Block told jurors Thursday in closing argument. 

“Byron Spottsville walked out of his house that day with a ski mask and a gun to get those pills no matter what it took,” Assistant District Attorney Sarah Helmstetter told jurors in opening statements this week. “Byron Spottsville walked out of that house that day and pulled that trigger eight times. Eight. He missed once. One time. He walked up to Zashaun Espinoza, and he took his life.” 

Before fleeing, Spottsville ripped from Espinoza’s dying body the shoulder bag he believed contained narcotics, which he wanted for himself. When police located it later, Espinoza’s bag contained only a bottle of cologne and a bracelet. 

Forensic evidence showed the bag had Espinoza’s blood on it and on both sides of the zipper, consistent with Spottsville rifling through the stolen property. Espinoza’s Louisiana Purchase Card was located along a fence line, confirming that Spottsville had gone through the victim’s bag before discarding it in a nearby vacant lot that was covered with overgrown brush and trees. 

Spottsville also stripped off the clothing and mask he wore during the homicide and hid the items in the underbrush. He wrapped the murder weapon in his hoody before secreting it in a 55-gallon oil drum in the lot. All of it was found in proximity to Espinoza’s property.   

Having removed his clothing, Spottsville then stole a blue bath towel from the back porch of a nearby residence and wrapped it around his waist. He walked back to his grandparents’ home in full view of the Westwego Police Department officers who were responding to the shooting scene. 

In doing so, he drew extraordinary attention to himself, leading police to seek him out for questioning in connection with the murder. The police initially inquired as to why he wore nothing but a bath towel. Spottsville immediately denied knowledge of the shooting. 

“Westwego police weren’t asking him about it,” Assistant DA Helmstetter said of the murder. “They were asking him why he was walking around the neighborhood in a bath towel. He told his grandmother that he was showering at his girlfriend’s house, then told police he went to a vacant house to shower. It made no sense. … He leaves his house with running water to go to an abandoned house to shower?” 

Eventually, Spottsville confessed that he shot Espinoza asserting self-defense, but only after a detective raised self-defense when asking why he shot Espinoza. Police found no firearms in Espinoza’s possession when investigating the murder.  

Espinoza suffered gunshot wounds to his forehead, his cheek, his neck, his torso and his left thigh. The bullet that struck him in the neck traveled through his skull and exited the top of his head. That trajectory is consistent with Espinoza lying on his back when that bullet entered his body, Dr. Scanlan, the crime scene reconstruction expert, testified. 

“These wounds are not consistent with self-defense at all,” Assistant DA Helmstetter told jurors. 

While held in the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna a year after his arrest and only weeks before his trial, Spottsville told a family member in a recorded telephone conversation that he and Espinoza had an altercation in the park and that he shot Espinoza only after he reached for Spottsville’s pistol when he brandished it. Spottsville then claimed self-defense. Dr. Scanlan provided testimony at trial that rebutted Spottsville’s claim of self-defense as being inconsistent with the physical and forensic evidence found on the crime scene. 

At trial and during closing arguments to the jury, Spottsville’s attorneys did not dispute that he shot and killed Espinoza. They attempted to put forth a hybrid defense of self-defense while also describing Spottsville’s actions as manslaughter, a lesser grade of homicide that carries a sentence of up to 40 years in prison. Second-degree murder, with which Spottsville was indicted, carries a mandatory life sentence in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. 

The defense pointed out that there were no eyewitnesses to the shooting, and the only evidence the police had to identify the shooter was the statement that Spottsville gave. The defense attorneys argued that Spottsville legally purchased the pistol from a pawn shop (the receipt was still in his wallet), and that he did so for protection. And they said that Spottsville directed police to where he stashed his clothes, the pistol and Espinoza’s bag. 

Defense attorneys portrayed Spottsville as having been hospitalized for “severe depression,” in part because of the deaths of his mother and an uncle who overdosed on drugs claiming Spottsville’s drug addiction was a result of him self-medicating with opioids to treat his depression.  

Assistant DA Block said Spottsville was guilty of second-degree murder, whether because he had the specific intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm upon Espinoza, or that he killed Espinoza while trying to rob him – known as felony-murder.  

“He’s not sorry for what he did,” Assistant DA Block told jurors. “He’s sorry he got caught. He’s sorry for himself.” 

“What the defense wants you to do is give Byron Spottsville a break,” Assistant DA Helmstetter told jurors in closing argument. “But I submit to you that Byron Spottsville doesn’t deserve a break.” 

Jurors deliberated about 1 ½ hours before returning with their unanimous verdicts. 

Judge R. Christopher Cox of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Spottsville on Aug. 17. 

Assistant District Attorneys Sarah Helmstetter and Tommy Block prosecuted the case. 

 

Lucien Bazley, convicted in Marrero manslaughter, sentenced to 60 years in prison

A Jefferson Parish judge on Thursday (Feb. 5) sentenced Lucien Bazley to 60 years in prison in finding that the Marrero man is a habitual offender. 

In his most recent felony conviction, Bazley, 50, was convicted by a jury in October of manslaughter in the Sept. 25, 2022, shooting of Wayne Martin. 

Martin was celebrating his 30th birthday at an Ames Boulevard lounge on the night he died. He was walking behind Bazley in an auto parts store parking lot across the street from the lounge when Bazley turned and shot him once in the right eye. Martin collapsed and died at the scene. 

Click here to read about the trial. 

Bazley, who asserted self-defense, had been charged with second-degree murder and of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm in connection with Martin’s death. At the time he killed Martin, Bazley was on parole for a 2008 conviction of possession of cocaine. As such, he was legally barred from possessing firearms. 

During his first trial in June 2025, a jury was unable to reach a verdict on the murder charge, leading to a mistrial on that count. However, jurors found him guilty of the illegal possession of a firearm, for which he later was sentenced to 20 years in prison. 

He was retried on the murder charge in October. That second jury found him guilty of the lesser offense of manslaughter. 

Judge R. Christopher Cox III of the 24th Judicial District Court on Dec. 8, 2025 sentenced Bazley to the maximum 40 years in prison for manslaughter. On Thursday, Judge Cox vacated that sentence and resentenced Bazley to 60 years in prison in finding that the convict is a career criminal. Bazley’s prior felony convictions were for narcotics, in 2004 and 2008.  

Judge Cox ran the 60-year sentence concurrent with the 20 years Bazley received last year for the illegal possession of a firearm conviction. 

Former Assistant District Attorney Matthew Whitworth as well as Assistant District Attorneys Sarah Helmstetter and Rachel Warren 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. 

 

Gerald Barker sentenced to back-to-back life sentences for double-murder

A Jefferson Parish judge on Wednesday (Dec. 18) sentenced Gerald “Bird” Barker to back-to-back life sentences in prison for executing two people in a Westwego residence from where he sometimes sold crack cocaine.

Barker, 37, will serve the life sentences for the second-degree murders of Linda Turner, 68, and Curtis Thomas, 51, who were shot inside Turner’s home in the 600 block of Emile Avenue on Jan. 17, 2023.

A Jefferson Parish jury on Dec. 4 deliberated about 20 minutes in finding Barker guilty as charged of killing Turner and Thomas, in addition to convicting him of obstruction of justice, possession of cocaine and of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

Turner owned the home in which she died. She allowed Barker to sell narcotics from the home, and Barker later confessed to a Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detective that he helped her pay her bills because of this arrangement.

At about 9 p.m. Jan. 17, 2023, an acquaintance of theirs went to the home, discovered the bodies and called 911. Deputies found Thomas lying in a pool of his blood on the living room floor just inside the front door. He was pronounced dead at the scene. They found Turner seated on her sofa in the living room suffering from gunshot wounds. She died shortly after at a hospital.

The physical evidence shows that Thomas was standing just inside the front door when Barker, standing in the doorway, shot him in the back of his head, according to an expert in crime scene reconstruction. Thomas fell to the ground, and Barker stood over him and shot him in the face. Barker then entered the living room and shot Turner in her face, arm and head, according to the expert.

Detectives developed Barker as a suspect almost immediately. They also obtained surveillance video from a nearby residence showing that immediately after the murders, Barker ran from the house.

The detectives learned that Barker ran to his friend Lee Wings’ home less than a mile away, on Gwen Street.

Armed with an arrest warrant, members of the U.S. Marshals Service Gulf Coast Fugitive Task Force located Barker at an addiction treatment facility in New Orleans in March 2023 and took him into custody.

During his interview with the Sheriff’s Office, Barker admitted he sold crack cocaine from the Turner’s home and occasionally resided there. But he said he was at Wing’s home when Turner and Thomas were slain. He eventually confessed to shooting the two people.

“I hope and pray that you never see the streets again. Ever,” Thomas’s ex-wife told the court Wednesday in victim-impact testimony. “It was uncalled for. It was totally uncalled for. I know your family can see you again. We can never see him again. It’s never.”

Before announcing the sentences, Judge Frank Brindisi of the 24th Judicial District Court told Barker he is “incorrigible,” citing his numerous convictions of possession of cocaine since 2007.

“I don’t think you’ll ever go straight,” Judge Brindisi told him. “I think you’re a one-man crime wave.”

For the murders, he sentenced Barker to the mandatory life sentences, to be served without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. He ran the sentences consecutively.

Judge Brindisi separately sentenced Barker to 40 years for obstruction of justice and fined him $100,000, for eliminating the murder weapon; two years for possession of cocaine; and, 20 years for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Barker was prohibited from possessing firearms because of a 2018 conviction of possession of cocaine.

“Mr. Barker, you’re going where you need to be,” Judge Brindisi told him. “Good luck.”

Separately, Barker’s co-defendant, Wings, 59, pleaded guilty Wednesday to accessory after the fact to second-degree murder and was sentenced to three years of active probation. After Barker committed the murders, Wings drove Barker to the east bank of Jefferson Parish, stopping on the Crescent City Connection along the way so that Barker could toss the murder weapon into the Mississippi River. After returning to the West Bank, Wings left Barker at a motel.

Assistant District Attorneys Lindsay Truhe and Tommy Block 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.

District Attorney’s Office will not seek charges against JPSO detectives in 2019 fatal shooting of Chris Joseph and Daviri Robertson

GRETNA, La. – Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul D. Connick Jr. announced today that his office will not seek criminal charges against JPSO narcotics Detectives Paul Carmouche and Mike Wibble. This matter arises out of a narcotics investigation conducted by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office that resulted in the deaths of Chris Joseph and Daviri Robertson.

“The role of the District Attorney in all criminal cases is to seek justice,” D.A. Connick said. “This is done by pursuing the evidence and law according to the highest standards of ethics and integrity, and by determining the facts from an independent, objective and neutral perspective.

“While a homicide is the killing of one person by another, not every homicide is a crime,” D.A. Connick said. “As in all cases, our review must focus upon the elements of proof as well as any legal justifications or defenses that may apply.”

Upon receipt of the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office’s report, in which homicide detectives concluded that lethal force was justified, this office began a comprehensive and independent review of this matter without regard to costs, resources or the time required to reach a fair and just decision. As part of our initial review, this office consulted with use-of-force expert, JPSO Lt. Benny Griffin.  Additionally, this office retained independent use-of-force expert Sheriff Ken Katsaris (retired) to provide an opinion on the detectives’ actions in this case.

Both experts agree that the application of deadly force in this situation was reasonable and comports with recognized, accepted and law enforcement training practices.

In light of the evidence reviewed in this matter, the State cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the actions of the detectives rise to the level of criminal conduct.

The D.A.’s Office has published on its website, www.jpda.us, its final report on the matter, outlining the details of its review, analysis of this case and reasons for the decision. Click here to read the District Attorney’s report.

Alonzo Ford convicted of two Marrero murders and other crimes

A Jefferson Parish jury on Thursday night (Nov. 30) found Alonzo Ford guilty as charged of fatally shooting two men in Marrero over a two-day period in 2019.

Ford, 48, of Marrero, was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of obstruction of justice and two counts of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He was acquitted of one count of attempted second-degree murder.

About 2:40 a.m., on March 30, 2019, Ford approached a sports-utility vehicle that was parked in the 6200 block of 2nd Avenue, in which Martin Hatten sat in the front passenger’s seat. Ford brandished a .38-caliber revolver and shot Hatten in the right side of his head.

The bullet passed through Hatten’s skull and struck a 51-year-old man in the neck, causing a superficial injury. This victim was the basis for the attempted murder charge for which Ford was acquitted.

Hatten died in a hospital on April 5, 2019. He was 50. Ford was seen arguing with Hatten at a neighborhood bar in Marrero on the night before the shooting.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office detectives quickly identified Ford as the suspect in that shooting and obtained a warrant for his arrest. A detective was able to speak with Ford on a cell phone, and Ford said he would surrender. He failed to do so.

About 36 hours after Ford shot Hatten, on April 1, 2019, the detectives tracked Ford to the 6300 block of Acre Road.

A detective driving an unmarked police vehicle spotted Ford standing with another man in a bay of an Acre Road car wash business at Buccola Avenue. As the detective circled the block, he radioed other deputies who already were converging on the area.

But before the deputies arrived, Ford shot that man in the head. Amid calls placed to 911, the deputies found Laurence Hensley slumped over in the car wash bay and noted passers-by using their cell phones to take photographs of the fatally wounded man.

Hensley died the following day. He was 55. Detectives later determined that Hensley witnessed Ford shooting Hatten.

Ford, meanwhile, fled that scene in a pickup truck but was caught moments later several blocks away on Cohen Street, where he attempted to elude deputies on foot. As he ran, he tossed the revolver and the brown hooded jacket he was wearing when he shot Hensley. A police canine located the revolver in overgrown grass next to a Cohen Street fence.

Ford was prohibited from possessing guns because of his criminal history that includes convictions of attempted second-degree murder and narcotics offenses. He finished serving parole in 2018, a year before he killed Hatten and Hensley.

His convictions of obstruction of justice are based on his discarding the murder weapon and jacket. From the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna after his arrest, Ford had a telephone conversation with someone in which he asked that person to retrieve the revolver, unaware that the Sheriff’s Office already found it.

Ford denied committing the killings. His defense attorney argued that drug dealers framed Ford and that another man who cooperated with detectives and prosecutors in identifying Ford was the actual killer.

The jury that was seated Monday night deliberated for more than three hours before returning with its verdict at about 11 p.m., Thursday. Judge June Berry Darensburg of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Ford on Jan. 11.

Assistant District Attorneys Kristen Landrieu and Leo Aaron prosecuted the case.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Ferriday man convicted of armed robbery over a drug debt

A Jefferson Parish jury on Wednesday (Jan. 18) found Landon Rogers guilty of robbing a Metairie man at gunpoint to collect on a drug debt.

Rogers, 29, of Ferriday, was convicted of armed robbery. The jury, which deliberated for 3 ½ hours, acquitted Rogers of second-degree kidnapping and aggravated burglary charges in connection with the Nov. 15, 2019 incident.

About a month before the crime, the victim, then 19 and preparing to attend a local music festival, used counterfeit cash used as movie props to purchase about $1,000 of ecstasy from a drug dealer, Jhon Da-Sliver Ferreira, 25, of Harvey.

In response, Rogers and Ferreira went to the victim’s workplace, an Uptown New Orleans bar, and eventually followed him home to his Metairie apartment in the 1500 block of Chickasaw Avenue early the following morning.

Minutes after the victim got into his bed to sleep, Rogers and Ferreira knocked on the door. When the victim answered, Rogers, who was armed with a semiautomatic pistol, and Ferreira forced their way inside and demanded money. They covered the victim’s mouth with duct tape to keep him quiet and they searched the apartment.

The victim offered various belongings, including his marijuana. Unsatisfied, Rogers and Ferreira forced the victim to drive his car to his bank’s ATM in New Orleans’ Lakeview neighborhood. Once there, the victim realized he left his ATM card at his apartment. He offered to give the robbers prescription medication, which was at his mother’s apartment less than two miles away in Metairie. At the mother’s home, the suspects also stole a laptop computer belonging to the victim’s brother.

These latter events led to the kidnapping and burglary charges, for which Rogers was acquitted.

After leaving the victim’s mother’s home, Rogers and Ferreira accompanied the victim back to his apartment to retrieve his ATM card to return to the bank, where the victim withdrew $500. Back at the victim’s apartment, they ordered the victim to strip of his clothing and warned him to say nothing about what transpired.

Following the crimes, the victim called his parents, who in turn called 911. Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office robbery detectives tracked the crimes to Rogers and Ferreira, including using the license plate recognition camera system to show that the suspects followed the victim into Metairie from New Orleans.

The detectives determined that the suspect Toyota 4Runner belonged to Rogers. Shown a photographic lineup, the victim identified Rogers as one of the perpetrators.

The U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force found and arrested Rogers three days after the incident, while he sat in his SUV on Spain Street in the Faubourg Marigny. Detectives found the pistol and property that was taken in the crimes in the SUV, including marijuana taken from the victim’s apartment.

Rogers’ attorney denied crimes were committed, saying his client was helping to collect a debt and that the victim willingly provided the property.

The victim pleaded guilty last year to possession of marijuana less than 14 grams, a misdemeanor. The charge stems from the marijuana taken from his apartment, which was found in Rogers’ SUV. He received a deferred sentence.

In June 2021, meanwhile, Ferreira pleaded guilty as charged to the armed robbery, second-degree kidnapping and aggravated burglary offenses, and to seven narcotics offenses. Judge Frank Brindisi of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Ferreira to 20 years in prison. Judge Brindisi separately sentenced Ferreira to six months in jail after finding him in contempt of court for refusing to answer questions on Tuesday, while testifying in Rogers’ trial.

Judge Brindisi is scheduled to sentence Rogers on Friday (Jan. 27).

Assistant District Attorneys Kristen Landrieu and Carolyn Chkautovich prosecuted the case.