On Wednesday, an 18-year-old Baton Rouge man was indicted for the shooting of another man in an Oriole Street incident back in May. The indictment, issued by the East Baton Rouge Parish grand jury, charged the young man with second degree murder in the killing of the 25-year-old victim.
The victim was reportedly shot multiple times at the time in the incident while driving his car, causing him to crash into a house. According to an affidavit of probable cause, the two had been in an argument prior to the killing.
In Louisiana, a conviction of second-degree murder carries an automatic sentence of life in prison. For a young man to face these kinds of charges, there must be an incredible amount of trepidation.
Another indictment was issued on Wednesday against a 16-year-old boy for the July 24th shooting death of a 42-year-old man on Thomas Delpit Drive. He has also been charged with second-degree murder, as well as attempted second-degree murder stemming from the wounding of another man during the incident.
The charges in the latter case carry a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison without probate, parole or sentence suspension. The key with that case, though, is that he U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that states cannot automatically impose life terms without the possibility of parole when it comes to juvenile murder cases.
The Supreme Court said, in its decision, that judges must consider the defendant’s youthfulness and the nature of the crime before putting them in prison without hope of parole.
In our next post, we’ll continue looking at these stories and the topic of juvenile crime.
Source: The Advocate, “BR man indicted in Oriole Street slaying,” September 20, 2012
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