DA Collin Sims reports that on May 2 a St. Tammany Parish jury found 34 YO Jules “Pop” Johnson of Slidell, guilty of the revenge murder of 43 YO Melvin Webb.
The jury also convicted Johnson of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.
Assistant District Attorneys Jay Adair and Christina Fisher prosecuted the case. District Judge Richard Swartz presided over the three-day trial. Former St Tammany Sheriff Detective Tim Crabtree, now a Special Agent with Homeland Security, spearheaded the investigation on behalf of the sheriff’s office.
Trial testimony established that on May 19, 2019, at approximately 1:30 a.m., the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office was dispatched to Gloria’s Bayou Lounge on Salmen Street in Slidell in reference to a shooting in the parking lot of the bar. Upon arrival, deputies discovered a black male, identified as Melvin Webb, lying in the parking lot with a gunshot wound to the head. He was transported to Slidell Memorial Hospital but was pronounced deceased shortly after his arrival. Investigators reviewed video footage from an exterior camera at the lounge which captured the murder as it unfolded in the lounge’s parking lot. Seconds prior to the shooting, the victim was speaking with a black male when another black male approached them, fired a handgun toward the victim and immediately fled the scene. Detectives identified several individuals still on the scene who had witnessed the killing. Among those eyewitnesses was the victim’s wife. She identified the shooter as “Pop Johnson.”
Sentencing is scheduled for June 10, 2024.
The defendant faces mandatory life in prison on the murder charge. He is a 5-time convicted felon.
