A 16-year-old boy, released from a juvenile life sentence, then arrested Tuesday for attempted first-degree murder, is free again in the custody of his parents, Eunice Police Chief Randy Fontenot said.
The first-degree attempted murder charge is from a drive-by shooting that occurred on Jan. 3 at Lewis Street and East Maple Avenue.
Another juvenile was wounded in the shooting.
Also arrested in connection with the shooting were De’Mante Gallow and Jerwasky Thomas.
Officers found six grams of marijuana and synthetic marijuana on the juvenile when he was arrested, Fontenot said. The juvenile is also charged with felony possession with intent to distribute controlled dangerous substances.
In a phone call and a news release Fontenot took aim at the juvenile being on the street after he was sentenced to serve juvenile life for involvement in two August 2019 burglaries of homes where guns and ammunition were stolen, one being an M-16 rifle.
“Juvenile life means a juvenile is to serve a sentence in a juvenile facility until the age of 21. However, with the Criminal Justice Reform Act in Louisiana, the juvenile was scheduled to be paroled at the age of 16, serving less than one year of his six-year sentence. Then Covid-19 reared its ugly head and he was released even earlier than his scheduled parole date,” Fontenot stated.
Fontenot said the juvenile has a record that dates to when he was 12 years old.
The juvenile’s criminal record includes arrests for a December 2016 theft, August 2017 shoplifting, March 2018 drug violations, July 2019 possession of a handgun by a juvenile and August 2019 two counts of simple burglary where the guns and ammunition were stolen.
“The juvenile was also listed as a suspect in several other reports on file with the Eunice Police Department, although no charges were filed in these cases,” Fontenot stated.
The juvenile was released to his parents’ custody due to a lack of facilities to detain juveniles and “the state’s unwillingness to detain juveniles for parole violations.”
Fontenot also blamed the Gov. John Bel Edwards’ justice reform that is intended to reduce state incarceration rates.