DA Warren Montgomery reports a 12-person Washington Parish jury deliberated for 2 hours before handing down a verdict, finding 19 YO Aaron Little, Jr. and 17 YO Willie Cherry, Jr. guilty of second-degree murder and armed robbery of Larmond “LG” Godbold.
District Judge Ellen Creel presided over the case.
In February of 2021, at around 8 P.M., Our Lady of the Angel’s Hospital reported to Bogalusa Police that there was a gunshot victim in the emergency room.
By the time officers arrived, the victim had succumbed to his injuries.
The victim’s girlfriend, who was at the hospital with the victim, stated that she drove the victim to a house to meet an acquaintance who wished to purchase marijuana from the victim.
After the transaction three males wearing dark hoodies exited the house and approached the car. The victim’s girlfriend said that a gun was held up to the victim’s head and one of the attackers grabbed a bag of marijuana. She tried to hit the gun away from the victim’s head and put the car in reverse to drive away, but a single shot fired and hit the victim in the chest. She then drove straight to the hospital.
Police investigated the case and learned the identities of the suspects.
The three perpetrators were tracked to Slidell at a gas station and taken into custody.
The third suspect cooperated with the District Attorney’s Office, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and armed robbery, received a sentence of forty years at hard labor, and testified against the other two defendants at trial.
The penalty for second degree murder is life imprisonment. The maximum sentence for armed robbery is ninety-nine years at hard labor. However, because the defendants were juveniles at the time of the offense, a determination will be made before the sentence is imposed as to whether either or both of Little and Cherry will be eligible for parole at some point in the future.
The defendants are scheduled for sentencing before District Judge Ellen Creel on July 11, 2023.
The Bogalusa Police Department conducted the investigation.
