Concerned citizens in our community took a stand and commissioned 4 of these billboards around town. The Judge on the case sentenced our son's murderer to 3 years hard labor with all but 13 months suspended. Since manslaughter is a crime of violence, it is illegal in Louisiana to suspend any portion of the sentence. One would expect the Judge to know this beforehand, right? The thought that a judge who has been on the bench for 23 years would not know the laws governing sentencing is frightening. We are quite sure he knew, because he did the exact same thing with the exact same conviction (manslaughter) and the exact same defense attorney in 2011. We are going back to court for resentencing this week, which apparently is also illegal.
Some people have questioned calling out the Judge by name. He was solely responsible for the illegal sentence. Its no secret it was his case. It is no secret that his sentence was far below the 10 to 20 year minimum spelled out in Article 893.3. But because the DA's office didn't ask him to use 893.3, he is not required to follow the law.
Really? We have to ASK a judge to follow the law?
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