Tag: U.S. Marshals Service

Arsenio Adams sentenced to life plus 50 years for East Jefferson shooting that left man dead, two adults and their dog wounded

A Jefferson Parish judge has sentenced Arsenio Adams to life plus 50 years in prison, for his conviction of killing a man and wounding two others and a pet dog during a shooting in an East Jefferson residence. 

Adams, 37, of New Orleans, was convicted by a jury on July 16 of second-degree murder, two counts of attempted second degree murder and simple cruelty to an animal in connection with the May 14, 2019, shooting in the 2800 block of Clermont Street, in the Shrewsbury neighborhood. 

It was just after midnight when Adams, a drug dealer armed with a 7.62-mm assault-style rifle, went to the apartment to collect money he said was owed to him. His argument with a 57-year-old man over money caught the attention of Sterling Woods and his 55-year-old girlfriend, who resided at the apartment and were in their bedroom. 

As they emerged to investigate the argument, Adams opened fire with a 7.62 mm assault-style rifle. Woods, who fired a 9mm pistol once during the incident, was shot in his abdomen, back, a leg and an arm and died later at a hospital. He was 62. 

The surviving woman was shot in a shoulder, and the surviving man was wounded in an arm. Woods’ 2-year-old mixed breed dog, Sweet Pea, was shot in its right hind leg. The dog fled after being shot but returned to the scene after Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived. Animal control officers transported Sweet Pea to an animal hospital for treatment. 

One of the bullets pierced a wall and entered a neighboring apartment, narrowly missing an 85-year-old Navy veteran who resided there. 

Detectives identified Adams as the shooter and obtained an arrest warrant. A U.S. Marshals fugitive task force tracked Adams to Douglasville, Ga., where they arrested him two weeks after the crimes. 

“Arsenio Adams was on a mission for one thing that night: To collect on his drug debt,” Assistant District Attorney Taylor Somerville told jurors in closing argument on July 16. “When they didn’t have it, he lit the house up like a Christmas tree, shooting Mr. Woods eight times. 

“He doesn’t care about the lives he took,” Assistant DA Somerville said. “He doesn’t care about the damage he has caused these families. All he cared about was getting his money and not getting caught.” 

Jurors found Adams guilty of the murder and attempted murders, of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, obstruction of justice and simple cruelty to animals. Jurors acquitted Adams of aggravated criminal damage to property, for the bullet that entered the neighbor’s apartment. 

During the sentencing hearing on Aug. 20, Woods’ daughter and sister provided victim-impact statements. “He was not perfect,” his daughter said. “But he did not deserve to be killed and shot eight times. A loving father, brother, uncle and grandfather. We truly miss him.” 

Woods’ sister described him as “our rock, always laughing and clowning with everyone. And always willing to help. Young man gone too soon.”  

Judge Donnie Rowan of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Adams to: 

  • Life in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence for murdering Woods; 
  • 50 years in prison for the attempted murder of the 55-year-old woman; 
  • 50 years in prison for the attempted murder of the 57-year-old man; 
  • 20 years in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm (he was prohibited from possessing firearms because of previous narcotics-related convictions in Jefferson Parish); 
  • 20 years in prison for obstruction of justice, and; 
  • Six months in the parish jail for injuring Sweet Pea. 

Judge Rowan ran the 50-year sentence for shooting the 57-year-old man consecutive to the life sentence. He ran the remaining sentences current to each other. 

Adams separately pleaded guilty on Aug. 20 to three charges involving his smuggling suboxone into the Jefferson Parish Correction Center in Gretna, where he was held while awaiting the murder trial. Judge Rowan sentenced Woods to two years in prison. 

Two of Adams’ co-conspirators also pleaded guilty to conspiring with Adams to smuggle the narcotic into the parish jail. Christopher M. Thomas, 33, who was a corrections officer at the jail, and Tonisha Poole, 38, were sentenced to two years in prison in October 2024. 

Adams also pleaded guilty on Aug. 20 to aggravated obstruction of a highway and received an 18-month sentence. That incident occurred in 2014. 

Assistant District Attorneys Taylor Somerville and Erich Cathey prosecuted the case. 

Lifer Leon Ruffin Jr. convicted of escaping JPSO custody after faking illness, gets another 32 years in prison

A Jefferson Parish jury on Tuesday (July 14) deliberated about 30 minutes in finding Leon “Mookie Mook” Ruffin Jr. guilty of emptying a canister of pepper spray into the face of a deputy, leaving her incapacitated, before escaping from custody at a West Bank hospital in the deputy’s marked vehicle. 

Ruffin, 53, of Algiers, was convicted as charged of aggravated escape, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and battery on a police officer. 

Separately, he was convicted of conspiring with his wife, Shelita Ruffin, to smuggle a cigarette lighter and cigarettes into the parish jail and of possessing contraband in the facility. 

Ruffin already is serving a life sentence at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola for murdering Gannon Johnson in Avondale three years ago. He was held in the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna awaiting trial for that murder when he escaped on Feb. 25, 2025. 

Immediately following the reading of the verdict on Tuesday morning, Judge Stephen Enright of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Ruffin to 32 years in prison and ordered him returned to Angola. Judge Enright ran Tuesday’s sentences consecutively to the life sentence that he gave Ruffin for the murder almost two years ago. 

“He can go back to Angola just as soon as they can get him there,” Judge Enright announced. He added he would personally call Angola’s warden with the request to “send the van immediately” to retrieve him from Jefferson Parish. 

While awaiting trial for the Avondale murder, Ruffin concocted an escape plan that included his feigning a medical episode in the parish jail.  The episode included faking a seizure, which was documented by deputies’ body-worn cameras. He also stole a canister of pepper spray from a deputy’s untended service belt in the jail’s medical unit. 

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, which operates the parish jail, sent Ruffin to Ochsner’s West Bank campus in unincorporated Gretna in an ambulance for evaluation.  

He was confined to a wheelchair, and because of an immobilizing medical boot on his right foot and leg and bandages on his left wrist, he was not shackled at the ankles and wrists. He likely smuggled the pepper spray canister out of the parish jail by hiding it in his medical boot. 

Several hours after he was hospitalized, he was released and was to be returned to the jail. Two nurses wheeled him out of the hospital and helped place him in the rear seat of a marked Sheriff’s Office vehicle. It was parked outside a non-public entrance to the hospital. 

Moments later, he complained to the transport deputy that his foot was hurting. When the deputy investigated, Ruffin emptied the canister of pepper spray into her face, temporarily blinding her. He removed the medical boot from his leg and discarded it at the scene, ran around the vehicle, got into the driver’s seat and sped away. The deputy fired her service weapon three times at Ruffin in an effort to stop his escape. 

The incident was recorded by the hospital video surveillance system. The evidence clearly implicates Ruffin, Assistant District Attorney Molly Love told jurors Tuesday in closing argument. 

“This isn’t a ‘maybe he did it,’” Assistant DA Love said. “This isn’t ‘possibly he did it.’ It’s him.” 

Ruffin drove the JPSO vehicle to the 3600 block of Gen. de Gaulle Drive in Algiers, where he abandoned it in a business parking lot. He ditched his jail clothing behind the building. He was at large for two days before a U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force located and arrested him at a motel in New Orleans East. 

Ruffin never denied his escape and, in front of jurors on Tuesday morning as closing arguments were about to begin, he loudly proclaimed he would be convicted. His attorney urged jurors to find him not guilty. The attorney assailed the Sheriff’s Office and the deputy who was pepper sprayed because she fired her service weapon twice outside the hospital. 

Assistant District Attorney Piper Didier defended the deputy’s actions in closing argument. 

“He was facing a charge of second-degree murder,” Assistant DA Didier said. “He was awaiting trial for second-degree murder. One of the most violent crimes. Of course she fired her service weapon. … That’s just shifting blame. The defendant is a grown man. He did what he did. He needs to be held accountable for what he did.” 

Ruffin’s repeated outbursts in the courtroom lead Judge Enright to bar him from the courtroom after he proclaimed he would be convicted. Ruffin observed the remainder of the trial from the parish jail via Zoom and did not oppose Judge Enright’s request to announce the sentencing immediately after the verdict was announced. 

“He’s not coming back into this courtroom because of his antics in the past,” Judge Enright said. 

Ruffin’s wife, Shelita Ruffin, 54, of Algiers, pleaded guilty in March 2025 to conspiracy to introduce contraband into the parish jail. She received a 2-year prison sentence. 

Ruffin’s cohort in the escape, Richard R. Robinson, 34, of Harvey, pleaded guilty Monday to accessory after the fact to simple escape and of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He received a 5-year sentence. Robinson drove Ruffin to the New Orleans East motel where he was arrested and provided him with food during his brief stay there.  

On July 9, 2023, Ruffin shot Johnson, 53, several times while Johnson jumped the battery of a rental car Ruffin was using. The shooting occurred in front of Johnson’s home in the 400 block of Federal Drive in Avondale. 

Ruffin pretended to have engine trouble and asked Gannon to use his jumper cables. As Gannon removed the jumper cables from Ruffin’s battery, Ruffin emerged from the driver’s seat of his car and shot Gannon six times, including in the body and head.  

Upon hearing the gunfire, Gannon’s fiancée walked out of the front door of their house. Ruffin shot at her as she fled back inside. Ruffin retrieved his jumper cables and drove away. He later returned to the neighborhood and watched deputies investigate the murder. 

Detectives found surveillance video from Gannon’s home that recorded the shooting. It showed Ruffin touching the hood of Johnson’s car. The Sheriff’s Office lifted one of Ruffin’s fingerprints from the hood, helping identify him as the killer. He was arrested at his Holiday Drive home in Algiers four days after he killed Johnson. 

When questioned by detectives, Ruffin, who grew up with Johnson in the Avondale area, confessed. Ruffin was convicted by a jury in September 2024 of the murder and was later sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. 

He additionally was convicted in that trial of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm (for which he received a 20-year sentence), aggravated assault with a firearm (for which he was sentenced to 10 years in prison), simple criminal damage to property (for which he was sentenced to 15 years in prison), and obstruction of justice (for which he was sentenced to 40 years in prison). 

He was prohibited from possessing firearms because of a 2009 conviction of armed robbery in Pike County, Miss. He was on parole for that crime when he killed Gannon. 

Assistant District Attorneys Piper Didier and Molly Love prosecuted Ruffin in the escape case. Assistant District Attorneys Tommy Block and Piper Didier prosecuted Ruffin in the murder case. 

Jarrell Jones guilty of brutally stabbing grandfather, friend to death in Marrero home

A Jefferson Parish jury on Thursday evening (May 6) found Jarrell Jones guilty of fatally stabbing his grandfather and another man in their Marrero home before setting the residence on fire. 

Jones, 37, is guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his grandfather Larry Brown, 70, and Shelton Martin, 60, who lived in Brown’s residence in the 2000 block of Gladstone Drive. 

Between them, Brown and Martin suffered 68 stab wounds, many of which were defensive in nature. Brown, who just hours before he died called 911 to report that his grandson stole cash from him, suffered 47 of those wounds, including a fatal puncture to his heart. 

“The evidence in this case shows that he brutally and mercilessly attacked two old men in their home because he was mad that he was caught taking money,” Assistant District Attorney Zach Grate told jurors in closing argument Thursday. “That’s what their lives meant to him.” 

“This killing was personally motivated,” Assistant District Attorney Brendan Bowen told jurors Thursday. “That’s how you wind up with 68 stab wounds, because it was domestic.” 

Jones additionally was convicted of simple arson, obstruction of justice and theft of a motor vehicle. 

Jones murdered Brown and Martin and set the fires at some point between the night of June 6, 2020 and the early morning hours of June 7, 2020. Brown’s Chevrolet Trailblazer was missing, the detectives learned. 

The last time anyone had contact with the victims was at about 10 p.m., on June 6, 2020. On the morning of June 7, 2020, a family member of Brown’s contacted the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and asked it to conduct a wellness check at the home. 

Deputies discovered the unlocked front door and evidence of a fire inside. They had to push the front door open because the bodies were on the foyer floor behind it. There was no sign of forced entry. 

Jones set fires at several locations in the house. None spread and were extinguished on their own. Blood was smeared on walls. Jones placed a pocket knife in the hand of a victim, with the blade against the palm, in an apparent attempt to stage the scene. 

Jones stayed at Brown’s residence, and the men often had a contentious relationship. Just hours before the murders, Brown accused Jones of stealing cash and contacted the Sheriff’s Office. Deputies escorted Jones from the residence but did not arrest him.  

When they learned of the murders, family members immediately suspected that Jones was responsible. Detectives watched security video footage from a nearby residence showing Brown’s Trailblazer being driven away. 

The autopsies showed that Brown and Martin had no smoke soot in their lungs, indicating they were dead when Jones set the fires. 

A U.S. Marshal Service fugitive task force arrested Jones on June 10, 2020, having tracked him as a passenger on a New Orleans-based Regional Transit Authority bus in Kenner. 

Jones had lacerations on his hands. These “slippage wounds” are commonly found on assailants’ hands, caused when blood-covered knives slip during the stabbings and cut their fingers or palms. 

Jones was linked to the crimes in part by cell phone geo-location technology, which helped detectives pinpoint his whereabouts. He was in the vicinity of the murders during the time they occurred, the evidence shows. He also was in the vicinity of the cell phone tower in Marrero near where the stolen Trailblazer was recorded by the license plate recognition system shortly after he stole it from Brown’s home. 

And, following the murders, Jones was in the vicinity of the 2900 block of Music Street in New Orleans, near a home owned by an individual with links to Jones and where the Trailblazer was later found. 

Investigators also found evidence of blood being cleaned from the inside of Brown’s Trailblazer. The blood was Brown’s, according to Sheriff’s Office DNA analysts. 

Jones denied killing the men. Concocting an alibi, he told a detective that he was with a woman when the murders occurred. Yet he had no other information to offer, such as her full name or where they met that night. During the trial, he admitted that he drove the Trailblazer away from his grandfather’s home and that he ditched it on Music Street. His attorney argued that the evidence was circumstantial and inadequate to prove he committed the murders. 

Jurors, who heard testimony from 21 state witnesses and from the defendant, deliberated about 1 ½ hours before returning with their unanimous verdict just before 6 p.m. 

Jones faces a mandatory life sentence in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. Judge June Berry Darensburg of the 24th Judicial District Court set sentencing for June 8. 

Assistant District Attorneys Zach Grate, Brendan Bowen and Alexandra Herman prosecuted the case. 

 

Jamal Harris guilty of murdering Marrero woman, her father

A Jefferson Parish judge on Wednesday (April 29) found Jamal Harris guilty of murdering a Marrero woman and her father after her dating app meeting turned bad. 

Harris, 41, who also used the name Jarmaal Harris, is guilty as charged of two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Jessica Troulliet, 35, and her father, Robert Templet, 56, on Oct. 3, 2020. 

A convicted felon who was on parole when he committed the murders, Harris met Troulliet at her Marrero home after they connected through a dating app. Troulliet was not impressed with Harris’ looks, and so she wanted to end the date as soon as it began. 

Templet joined his daughter as she gave Harris a ride to Marrero. From the back seat of Troulliet’s Mercury Mountaineer, Harris shot the woman and her father in the backs of their heads. A driver passing the parked Mercury Moutaineer called 911 believing the people were passed out in the vehicle at Fourth Street and Garden Road. Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies found that the victims had been shot and died. 

“He executed two innocent people because he got his feelings hurt that he isn’t sexy,” Assistant District Attorney Taylor Somerville said in closing argument, turning to Harris. “You took away a mother to three boys, a daughter, a nanny and a granddaughter. And you took away this family’s father, pawpaw, brother and friend.”

Detectives discovered that Troulliet’s cell phone was missing. They tracked the device’s last location to a residence on Mistletoe Street in New Orleans’ Hollygrove neighborhood, where Harris’ relatives lived. The detectives further linked Harris to the murders through his cell phone communications and geo-location technology. 

A U.S. Marshals fugitive task force arrested Harris on Oct. 21, 2020, at his cousin’s residence on Center Street in Avondale. Harris initially refused to leave the residence. When arrested, task force members found an assault-style rifle in the residence. 

In addition to the murders, Harris was convicted of obstruction of justice for taking Troulliet’s cell phone to impede the investigation and two counts of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. Harris was prohibited from possessing firearms because of a 2007 conviction of armed robbery in Jefferson Parish. He was on parole for the armed robbery until October 2022. 

Harris waived a trial by jury, leaving it to 24th Judicial District Judge Donnie Rowan to weigh the evidence. Judge Rowan found Harris guilty of all charges and set the sentencing for May 8. 

Assistant District Attorneys Taylor Somerville and Shannon Swaim 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.

A guilty plea, a jury verdict bring justice for murder victim Shannon Young

A Jefferson Parish judge on Wednesday (Nov. 13) sentenced Jenaj Nijay Johnson to a year of active probation after she admitted she helped her boyfriend avoid arrest when he fatally shot his longtime friend during a dice game in Marrero two years ago.

In pleading guilty as charged to accessory after the fact to second-degree murder, Johnson admitted she drove her boyfriend Larry Junior away from the scene after he fatally shot Shannon K. Young Jr., on Nov. 21, 2022.

A Jefferson Parish jury on July 11 found Junior, 24, of Marrero, guilty as charged of second-degree murder. Just two days before Junior killed him, Young, 22, of Ponchatoula, learned he was going to be a father.

On Sept. 9, Judge Lee Faulkner of the 24th Judicial District Court sentenced Junior to life in prison without probation, parole or suspension of sentence, and to five years in prison for his conviction of obstruction of justice because he removed the murder weapon from the scene to hinder the investigation.

Johnson’s case was unresolved until Wednesday, when the 22-year-old Chalmette resident appeared in Judge Faulkner’s court to plead guilty. Judge Faulkner sentenced Johnson to one year in prison. He suspended the prison term and ordered her to serve one year of active probation.

Junior and Young were among four friends who were helping one of the friends move furniture into a home in the 600 block of Grovewood Drive. During breaks in moving furniture, Junior and Young played dice for money while their two friends played video games.

Young won most of the games and teased Junior about it. That led Junior to make a remark about Young’s younger sister, heightening tensions between the men.

At one point, Junior called his girlfriend, Johnson, asking her to pick him up. Before long, Junior and Young engaged in a physical fight, during which Young, who weighed almost 225 pounds, threw the 140-pound Junior into a wall, damaging the drywall board. One of their friends intervened. The tussle ended.

But Junior then brandished a pistol, told Young they were no longer friends and demanded the money he lost in gambling. Without saying anything, Young walked out of the house and to his car. Junior then fired one shot at Young, missing him.

After hearing the gunshot, Young hid behind his car. Junior returned to the inside of the house and shut the door behind him. But about 20 seconds later, he exited through a side door and climbed atop a fence. Unaware that Junior was atop a fence, Young thought he was in the clear and so stepped out from behind the car.

That’s when Junior fired a second shot. The bullet struck Young in the left side of his neck, killing him.

Junior then got into the car with Johnson, and she drove away. They returned, leading Junior’s two friends to run in fear. Junior and Johnson left again. The two friends called 911.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office obtained a warrant for Junior’s arrest shortly after the murder. A U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force located and arrested Junior and Johnson eight days later at Johnson’s mother’s home in Chalmette.

Johnson was booked and later charged with being an accessory after the fact to second-degree murder.

At his trial, Junior alleged self-defense, saying that Young was arming himself, so he grabbed a pistol as well. He alleged that it was Young who was losing the dice game and wanted to win back his money. But Junior said he wanted to leave, leading to the hostilities.

The state argued that Junior was the aggressor, and as such he could not assert self-defense. Junior could have departed when Johnson responded to his call and arrived at the house. But he remained at the house, belying his assertion that he feared for his safety.

“He brought a gun to a fistfight, and to an argument,” Assistant District Attorney Leo Aaron told jurors during Junior’s trial in July. “That is the essence of being an aggressor.”

Further challenging the self-defense assertion, a crime scene reconstruction expert told jurors that the bullet trajectory through Young’s body shows he was shot by a gunman firing from a high vantage point, and that he was shot from the side.

Jurors deliberated just over four hours in finding Junior guilty as charged.

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

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.

Dennis Sheppard guilty of murdering girlfriend by using zip tie to strangle her

A Jefferson Parish jury has convicted Dennis Sheppard of murdering his girlfriend by using a plastic zip tie around her neck to strangle her.

Sheppard, 60, of Harvey, is guilty as charged of the second-degree murder of Jyra Holmes, the jury unanimously decided during 36 minutes of deliberation on Thursday (Sept. 28).

He killed Holmes, 39, on Nov. 2, 2020, during a domestic dispute outside her apartment the 1500 block of Chelsea Road in Harvey. He put the zip tie around her neck and pushed her to the ground, witnesses told detectives.

“She wanted me dead; now she’s dead,” Sheppard said after killing Holmes, according to two witnesses.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived to find her lifeless body in the driveway with a zip tie around her neck.

A U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force located and arrested Sheppard three days later in Bay St. Louis, Miss.

Through his public defender, Sheppard denied committing a second-degree murder. Rather, the defense attorney asserted that at best, Sheppard was guilty of manslaughter, a lesser homicide committed in the heat of passion that carries a maximum of 40 years in prison.

Judge June Berry Darensburg of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Sheppard on Oct. 30. Second-degree murder carries a mandatory punishment of life in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.

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

Daniel Tenner convicted of murdering Mississippi woman during West Bank armed robbery

A Jefferson Parish jury on Tuesday night (Aug. 15) convicted Daniel Tenner of killing a Mississippi woman while robbing her during a cell phone sale arranged through social media.

Tenner, 21, of Jackson, Miss., is guilty as charged of the first-degree murder of Morgan Tyrone, 24, of Pascagoula, Miss., jurors unanimously decided after three hours of deliberations.

On the evening of April 10, 2022, Tyrone, her 22-year-old partner and their 13-month-old son traveled from Pascagoula to the West Bank so Tyrone could purchase an iPhone 13 for $300. Tyrone and a person she believed was a woman had been discussing the transaction through Facebook Marketplace. It was Tenner using a woman’s Facebook account.

Tenner directed Tyrone to an apartment complex in the 300 block of Friedrichs Road in unincorporated Gretna. There, Tenner approached the Tyrone’s minivan’s driver’s side window. During the ensuing discussion, he showed the phone he purportedly wanted to sell. He asked if they had the money and then asked if they had a tool with which he could remove the phone’s SIM card.

During that time, Tyrone and Tenner were hesitant to exchange the cash and phone. Growing doubtful that the transaction would occur, Tyrone turned away to put the cash on the minivan’s center console. That’s when Tenner brandished the pistol, pointed it at the left rear side of Tyrone’s head and shot her without provocation.

He then pointed the pistol at Tyrone’s partner in the front passenger’s seat and demanded the cash. He reached over Tyrone’s body to grab the cash and then ran away.

Tyrone’s partner called 911, but not knowing where she was, she flagged a passerby who was able to give the 911 operator their location.

Immediately after shooting Tyrone, Tenner fled to a nearby apartment and then to Jackson, Miss. The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office received a tip via Crimestoppers identifying Tenner as the killer and giving his location. A U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force found and arrested Tenner in Jackson on May 17, 2022.

Sheriff’s Office detectives confirmed Tenner’s whereabouts, including placing him at the murder scene and fleeing north toward Jackson, by using his cell phone records.

During the 1 ½-hour interview with a detective, Tenner confessed. At its conclusion, the detective left Tenner alone in the room with pen and paper. Tenner penned a statement in which he admitted shooting Tyrone but asserted he did so because she “was grabbing something” or thought she was taking his iPhone. “I was giving the phone to you guys for a cheap price,” he wrote. “Yes, I am truly sorry with what happen [sic]. I am. I didn’t mean for nothing like that to happen.”

Jurors watched a video recording of that interview and read Tenner’s statement.

Tenner’s public defenders argued their client was not guilty. They asserted that he was armed because he was meeting strangers at night. Tenner became fearful when Tyrone turned away from him, the defense asserted. They also described it as “a tragic accident.” They said that Tenner did not have specific intent to kill or inflict great bodily harm, which are necessary elements of proving murder.

In closing argument Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney LaShanda Webb reminded jurors that Tenner threatened to kill Tyrone’s partner if she didn’t give him the cash.

“What more do you need to prove intent?” Webb argued. “If it wasn’t about robbery, why would he even take the money? Why would he reach over Morgan, who he just killed, to take the money?”

In addition to the murder, jurors found Tenner guilty of armed robbery and obstruction of justice – for discarding the firearm he used to kill Tyrone.

Judge Donald “Chick” Foret of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Tenner to a mandatory life sentence in prison on Sept. 15. The District Attorney’s Office did not seek the death penalty.

Assistant District Attorneys LaShanda Webb and Brittany Beckner prosecuted the case.