NEWS

Stafford sentencing on Friday after guilty verdicts in Mardis shooting

Melissa Gregory
mgregory@thetowntalk.com, (318) 792-1807

MARKSVILLE — After being found guilty of manslaughter and attempted manslaughter Friday night, Derrick Stafford turned to hand his keys to his wife Brittany, who sobbed as she fell into his arms.

Defense attorneys Christopher LaCour (left) and Jonathan Goins (center) watch as their use-of-force expert, David Bolgiano, talks to media after their client, Derrick Stafford, was found guilty Friday night of manslaughter and attempted manslaughter.

Stafford will be sentenced March 31 after an Avoyelles Parish jury found him guilty on both counts, both by a 10-2 vote, in the Nov. 3, 2015, shooting death of 6-year-old Jeremy Mardis and the serious wounding of his father, Christopher Few, as he moonlighted as a Marksvile Ward 2 deputy marshal.

Nobody from the victims' families spoke to the media after the verdicts, but one of Stafford's sisters did. "I ain't got nothing for Marksville," she said moments after her brother was taken from the Avoyelles Parish Courthouse to the Avoyelles Parish Detention Center.

"Poor little Jeremy. My heart goes out to the families," she said. "But the animal that Facebook, you news reporters, them people, the jury, that y'all tried to make my brother be, he's not that type of person."

One of Stafford's defense attorneys, Christopher LaCour, accused some law enforcement officers of not supporting Stafford.

"I saw an officer on trial, and I saw fellow officers not support him, at all," said LaCour. "This whole thing about blue lives matter makes me wanna laugh sometimes."

Stafford's other defense attorney, Jonathan Goins, said the team would be filing for a post-conviction bond so that he could get out of jail before being sentenced Thursday. Then, he said, they would begin an appeal of Stafford's convictions.

Goins said they were thankful that Stafford was not convicted of second-degree murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.

The state team of Louisiana assistant attorneys general John Sinquefield and Matthew Derbes emerged from the courthouse first, and Sinquefield said he thanked the jurors for their service.

"We would say that tonight, we did get justice for Jeremy," said Sinquefield.

He called the whole case a tragedy. He said the convictions still carry serious sentences. Derbes said manslaughter carries a sentence of up to 40 years, but that it would be a mandatory minimum of 20 years and maximum of 40 years because a firearm was used. For attempted manslaughter, that is a maximum of 20 years.

The jury began deliberating at 5:50 p.m. Twice, they came back with questions. The last time was at 8 p.m., and the verdict came in at 8:30 p.m. It came after a day in which Stafford took the stand in his own defense.

He hadn't seen photos of Jeremy after the bullets from his own gun killed him, not until Friday morning when Sinquefield put them in front of him while he took the stand at his murder trial.

"Do those photos show you what a .40-caliber Glock will do to a little boy?" he asked Stafford as he wrapped a sometimes-contentious cross examination that also saw defense attorney Goins make two motions for a mistrial.

Sinquefield tried to get Stafford to admit several times that he shot and killed Jeremy.

"When you shot, did you kill him?" he asked.

"Not intentionally," said Stafford. "I never knew a child was in there."

He also said that he "never in a million years" would have fired on the Kia if he had known the boy was inside. Sinquefield asked him if he ever considered the possibility that someone else was inside the Kia, but Stafford said he couldn't see anyone else but Few.

Sinquefield made several comments as he questioned Stafford, which drew objections from Goins. Twice, Goins asked 12th Judicial District Judge William Bennett to declare a mistrial. But Bennett admonished Sinquefield about his questioning and instructed jurors to disregard his comments.

Stafford was the first witness of the day, and gasps went through the gallery as Goins called Stafford to the stand. Goins walked him through questioning about his upbringing in his hometown of Alexandria, about the closeness of his family and how he got into law enforcement.

He said his parents always supported him, but that his mother and wife hadn't been in favor of him becoming a police officer. But he said that, after considering a career in the military, law enforcement was the only thing he wanted to do. He talked of celebrating his third anniversary earlier this week with his wife, Brittany Stafford, saying that he felt he was starting his life over with her and that they would grow old together.

Stafford also spoke of his three children — a 6-year-old boy, a 6-year-old girl and a 5-year-old boy. He called himself a "great father" who tried to keep his trial on second-degree and attempted second-degree murder from them.

After Goins finished with Stafford, it was Sinquefield's turn. He asked him if he knew Few before this incident, to which Stafford said no. He asked if Greenhouse had told him that he knew him and his former girlfriend Megan Dixon, and Stafford again said no.

Sinquefield asked Stafford about where he ended up in relation to the Kia and whether Few was trying to leave the scene when he backed up. Sinquefield said Stafford didn't wait to see where Few was going before he opened fire, and that the Kia he was driving didn't come anywhere near any of the law enforcement officers at the scene.

"If y'all were in so much danger, how did all the bullets end up on the side of the vehicle?" he asked.

Stafford testified that he never saw Few's hands raised up and that he didn't shoot to kill. He said repeatedly that he only shot to stop the threat, and that he believed Few intended to either run into some nearby woods, attack them or surrender.

Sinquefield asked Stafford if he had watched the body camera video recorded by a Marksville Police Department officer.

"I lived it," he said. "I didn't have to watch it."

The prosecutor also asked Stafford several times why no one at the scene attempted to offer medical aid to Few or to Jeremy, once it was discovered he was inside the car. Stafford said that he was "in total shock that night."

After Sinquefield showed Stafford the photos, he finished his questioning. Goins went to redirect with Stafford and asked for a moment so that Stafford could compose himself. He sat on the stand with his head down and then shook it several times. Members of his family sat in the row behind the defense team, crying.

When Stafford spoke to answer Goins' questions, his voice cracked. Then, when Goins asked how seeing the photos of Jeremy made him feel, Stafford said it made him think of his own children. He asked Bennett something before turning back to the jurors for more.

"It makes me feel like sh*t," said Stafford.