Tag: second-degree murder

Saleh ‘Sam’ Omar sentenced to maximum 40 years for Terrytown duct tape killing

A Jefferson Parish judge on Wednesday (June 25) sentenced Saleh “Sam” Omar to 40 years in prison for his conviction of killing a man by tightly wrapping his face and torso with duct tape, leaving him unable to free himself to breathe.

A jury on April 24 found Omar, 47, guilty of manslaughter in the death of Mohamed “Mo” Mezlini, 29. Omar was indicted with second-degree murder, but the jury found him guilty of the lesser offense.

In sentencing Omar to the maximum punishment for manslaughter, Judge Lee Faulkner of the 24th Judicial District Court noted Wednesday that Omar’s use of duct tape to kill Mezlini was “particularly heinous.”

“I believe the defendant got a windfall from the jury,” Judge Faulkner noted, when it found Omar guilty of the lesser offense. Second-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.

Click here to read about the trial.

Omar owned a cell phone repair business in a strip mall on Terry Parkway. He previously employed Mezlini. The men had unspecified animosity that culminated in a vacant suite in that strip mall on Sept. 8, 2018.

With the help of his half-brother Yazan Omar, then aged 17, Omar lured Mezlini to that vacant suite. A fight ensued and ended with Omar binding Mezlini with duct tape. He left Mezlini in the locked suite and fled from the strip mall.

Seventeen minutes after Omar fled, Yazan Omar and two of Omar’s employees broke into the vacant suite and found Mezlini bound in duct tape. They removed the tape, attempted chest compressions and called 911. Mezlini died the following day. The Jefferson Parish Coroner’s Office said Mezlini died from asphyxia due to strangulation and smothering. His hyoid bone, in his throat, was also broken, indicating strangulation.

Omar fled to Central America, where he was arrested two weeks later in Panama and was returned to Jefferson Parish to face charges.

In December 2021, Yazan Omar, now 24, pleaded guilty to false imprisonment with a dangerous weapon and obstruction of justice in exchange for a 15-year prison sentence.

During Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, Omar’s attorney provided the testimony of character witnesses and arguments in seeking leniency.

On the state’s side, more than two-dozen people provided victim-impact statements to the court seeking justice for Mezlini and the maximum punishment for Omar.

“He had his whole life ahead of him,” Mezlini’s widow testified. She will never forgive Omar, she told the court. She noted that the coldness of how he used duct tape to kill her husband “demonstrates a level of violence and depravity beyond comprehension.”

Mezlini’s mother called him “the epitome of good character and ethics.” His father added, “My son did nothing to deserve what happened to him.”

Assistant District Attorneys Kristen Landrieu and Brendan Bowen prosecuted the case. They were assisted by Assistant District Attorneys Mallory Grefer and Darren Allemand.

Winston Bartholomew convicted of beating man to death over a rumor

A Jefferson Parish jury on Wednesday night (April 2) found Winston Bartholomew guilty of beating a man to death inside his Metairie apartment, fueled with anger over allegations that the victim had spread salacious rumors about his girlfriend.

Bartholomew, 62, is guilty as charged of the second-degree murder of Gary Olver, 62, and of obstruction of justice, the jurors unanimously found.

Olver lived in a second-floor apartment above a tavern in the 2700 block of Mississippi Street, just off Veterans Memorial Boulevard. It was there that Bartholomew confronted Olver over the rumors that Olver was suspected of spreading about Bartholomew’s girlfriend.

On May 14, 2024, Bartholomew and his girlfriend saw Olver’s car parked at the building, and they decided to visit. Once inside, Olver allegedly brushed against the woman. Bartholomew then lashed out physically.

“He wasn’t attacked. He wasn’t threatened. He wasn’t hit in any way. He threw the first punch,” Assistant District Attorney Leo Aaron told jurors Tuesday in opening statements.

In a neighboring apartment, a man heard the ruckus and a woman yelling, “Stop it, stop it. You’re going to kill him.” Following a short while of silence, the man next door heard the ruckus resume.

He then heard a final thump: “Gary Olver being dealt the fatal blow that would end his life,” Aaron told jurors.

The woman had left the apartment. Seeing Olver lying unconscious on the floor, Bartholomew sprinkled some water on the victim and wiped his face with a towel.

Bartholomew then walked to the tavern downstairs, ordered a beer and drank it. Upstairs, a neighbor asked the property manager to check on Olver. The manager entered the apartment and found the  on the victim floor, bleeding.

From the barstool, Bartholomew witnessed the arrival of Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies and an ambulance crew. He saw Olver being taken away to a hospital. In addition to a traumatic brain injury that was determined to be fatal, Olver suffered broken ribs on both sides of his torso and a laceration to the back of his head.

Olver later was transferred to hospice care and died on May 28, 2024 after his family had him removed from life support.

Through witnesses and surveillance video, detectives had identified Bartholomew as the suspect and sought his arrest. They arrested Bartholomew on May 31, 2024.

When questioned, Bartholomew recounted confronting Olver over the rumors. Bartholomew disclosed that he destroyed his own cell phone so that detectives could not use its signals to track him. At trial, his attorneys argued that Olver was the aggressor and that their client was defending himself.

The state refuted the self-defense assertions, saying neither Bartholomew nor his girlfriend was in danger of losing their lives. “They had multiple opportunities to just turn away and leave. But he didn’t, and he beat a 62-year-old man to death with his own hands,” Aaron told jurors.

The jury that was seated Monday deliberated less than two hours in finding Bartholomew guilty of second-degree murder and obstruction of justice – for destroying the cell phone.

Judge Nancy Miller of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Bartholomew on Wednesday (April 9).

UPDATE:

Judge Miller on April 16 sentenced Bartholomew to life in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence, which is the mandatory punishment for second-degree murder under Louisiana law. Judge Miller also sentenced Bartholomew to the maximum 40 years for obstruction of justice.

“In your statement to the police officer after you were arrested, you stated you were friends. Friends don’t beat the pulp out of a friend because of something that might have been said,” one of Olver’s sisters told the court in victim-impact testimony, citing Bartholomew’s assertion that Olver spread a rumor about his girlfriend.

Before receiving his sentence, Bartholomew expressed his sorrow for what happened. “I would do anything to change the course of events that occurred on that fateful day,” he told the court, maintaining that Olver was his friend. But he said he is a victim, too.

In response to his comment, Judge Miller told Bartholomew that Olver’s sister, sitting in the courtroom, is the victim, not Bartholomew. “Don’t ever confuse the two,” she told him.

Assistant District Attorneys Leo Aaron and Molly Love prosecuted the case.

 

Myron Lee sentenced to life plus 89 1/2 years in prison in the murder of fellow National Guardsman

A Jefferson Parish judge on Thursday (Sept. 19) sentenced Myron Lee to life plus 89 ½ years in prison for his conviction in the death of a fellow citizen soldier who was shot during a botched armed robbery attempt.

Lee, 22, of Gonzales, was convicted as charged this month in the death of Jemond Cador, 21, who was shot seven times in his Terrytown apartment on Dec. 6, 2021, after he fought back against the armed intruders.

Click here to read about the verdict.

Lee and Cador were members of the same Louisiana Army National Guard unit. Lee recruited cohorts to rob Cador, providing them with firearms and transportation to the West Bank from the Baton Rouge area to carry out the crime.

Lee kicked in the apartment entry door and immediately was met with physical resistance by Cador. In response, one of Lee’s cohorts, Gerald Little, shot Cador, killing him. Little was the only person to discharge a weapon.

A Jefferson Parish jury on Sept. 5 found Lee guilty as charged of second-degree murder, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.

Calling the crime “egregious,” 24th Judicial District Judge Jacqueline Maloney on Thursday sentenced Lee to the mandatory life sentence for the murder, 40 years for obstruction of justice and 49 1/2 years for the conspiracy – the maximum sentences for the latter charges. She ran the sentences consecutively.

“I hope you’re ashamed of yourself every day for the rest of your life,” Judge Maloney told Lee before ordering him to “sit down” in concluding the sentencing hearing.

A look at Lee’s codefendants’ cases shows:

  • Little, 21, of Loranger, who shot Cador, 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.
  • 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.

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

 

Convicted of killing girlfriend with zip tie, Dennis Sheppard sentenced to life in prison

A Jefferson Parish judge on Monday (Oct. 30) sentenced Dennis Sheppard to life in prison for killing his girlfriend by tightening a zip tie around her neck and suffocating her.

Sheppard, 60, of Harvey, killed Jyra Holmes on Nov. 2, 2020, during a domestic dispute outside her apartment in the 1500 block of Chelsea Road in Harvey. After pulling the zip tie tightly, Sheppard pushed Holmes to the ground in full view of witnesses.

“She wanted me dead; now she’s dead,” Sheppard said as he killed her. A U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force arrested Sheppard three days later in Bay St. Louis, Miss.

A Jefferson Parish jury on Sept. 28 deliberated just over one-half hour in convicting Sheppard as charged of second-degree murder. Life in prison with no probation, parole or suspension of sentence is the mandatory punishment for the crime in Louisiana.

On Monday, Holmes’ twin sister provided victim-impact testimony, describing Sheppard’s behavior as “an evil act,” and saying, “I hope the only mercy you get for the rest of your life is the mercy you showed my sister.”

After denying defense motions for a new trial and post-verdict judgment of acquittal, Judge June Berry Darensburg of the 24th Judicial District Court noted how Sheppard fled the state after killing Holmes.

“She had a full life ahead of her; she was very young,” Judge Darensburg said. “To take someone’s life, I would have to agree with the impact testimony: It was an evil act.”

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