Interim DA Collin Sims reports that on February 29, 2024, a Washington Parish jury found 19 YO LaKendall Brown guilty of Manslaughter in the fatal shooting of 16 YO Jerry Smith.
The jury also found Brown guilty on related charges of Obstruction of justice and Carrying a firearm on school property.
During the trial, prosecutors presented the jury with casings and projectiles recovered from the scene, and expert testimony elicited from St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office firearms examiner Jene Rauch established that a total of 19 shots were fired from three different firearms during the incident. Two of those gunshots came from a gun recovered immediately adjacent to Smith’s body. There were two separate clusters of casings on the crime scene, arguably demonstrating that one person fired eight rounds at Smith and a second person fired nine rounds at Smith.
This deadly shooting incident occurred in the immediate vicinity of the Bogalusa High School football stadium while the school’s homecoming football game was underway. The stadium was filled with football players, game officials and hundreds of spectators.
The defense asserted to the jury that the victim shot first and that whoever shot Smith did so in self-defense. The defense additionally claimed that Brown was unarmed and had no involvement in the shooting. That claim was refuted by a witness who did not see Brown shooting a gun but did see Brown with a gun in his hands seconds after the gunfire ended. Prosecutors conceded during their opening statement that it would be impossible to prove who fired first, but contended that it did not matter because the shooters involved were aggressors and none of them was justified in asserting self-defense.
The jury deliberated for approximately four hours before reaching its verdict.
Sentencing is scheduled for April 10, 2024.
Manslaughter carries a maximum penalty of forty years in prison. Obstruction of Justice also carries a maximum penalty of forty years in prison, while Illegal possession of a firearm on school property a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
