New Orleans shooter gets life for Slidell murder

[AlphaCentauri]

Source: NOLA

After 14 hours of deliberation, St. Tammany Parish jurors wept openly in court early Saturday as they handed a mandatory life sentence to a New Orleans teen for killing a Salvadoran man last year inside a travel trailer near Slidell.

Glenn Carter, 18, was convicted of second-degree murder for the April 29, 2007 shooting death of Jose Luis Martinez-Carpio, 36. The charge carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

As the verdict was read around 2 a.m., Saturday, Carter's eyes glazed over with tears that never fell. His family dashed out of the courtroom and began pacing the parish courthouse's vacant, dimly lit hallways.

Meanwhile, the 12 jurors -- six men and six women -- wept openly. Attorneys, clerks and bailiffs said they could not recall a jury ever deliberating as long, or as late. The verdict was cemented by 10 of the 12 jurors. Though first-degree murder requires a unanimous verdict, second-degree murder requires only the agreement of 10 jurors.



Read more: http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2008/08/new_orleans_shooter_gets_life.html

[jody]

1. Sentences for possessing a firearm while committing a crime should be served sequentially with any

other sentence.

In this case if a murder had not been committed, it's highly probable a sentence for using a firearm would have been concurrent with any other sentence making the penalty for using a firearm ineffective.

Criminals say "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime" but that should be expanded to add "and if you use a gun, you'll do more time".