A Benton woman accused of a brutal carjacking and murder almost four years ago changed a previous not-guilty plea and confessed to the crime in Caddo District Court Tuesday, April 26, 2016.
Stacey Nichole Blount-Juneau, 31, changed her plea to guilty of first-degree murder before Caddo District Judge John D. Mosely Jr., admitting that she slit 68-year-old Rose Mary Gonzaque Coleman’s throat with a box-cutter and then ran over the Shreveport grandmother with her own car before fleeing.
After her pleading, Blount-Juneau was sentenced by Mosely to life in prison with no chance of probation, parole or reduction in sentence. She also agreed that another 32-year sentence from pending court action in Natchitoches Parish on other charges will run consecutively with her life sentence. She also waived her rights to the lengthy appeals process that would have occurred had she faced trial.
Blount-Juneau was awaiting trial on the charge that she had carjacked and killed Coleman, whose body was found by a jogger November 9, 2012, in a vacant lot in the 9500 block of Mansfield Road. Later, police in Natchitoches found Coleman’s late-model Chrysler 300 abandoned there, and detained Blount-Juneau, who had been seen with the vehicle. She was arrested there, then was extradited to Caddo Parish where she was booked for the slaying.
Through this pleading, Blount-Juneau escapes the death sentence she might have faced had she gone to trial. Coleman’s family members, though mixed in their views regarding a life sentence as opposed to execution, accepted the decision.
Tiffany Coleman, a daughter of the victim, spoke in open court for the family, several of whose members had to leave Caddo Courtroom G in tears.
“I wish things had been different,” Tiffany Coleman said, speaking to the court and the woman who killed her mother. She said Blount-Juneau would have to answer to God, ultimately, but that God also demands much of those who suffer at the hands of transgressors.
“At the end of the day … He would not forgive me if I did not forgive you,” Tiffany Coleman said. “I forgive you.”
Caddo Parish District Attorney James E. Stewart Sr. noted that the case has lingered on the docket for almost four years and that today’s plea brought a necessary resolution to the grieving family.
He also is pleased that a malefactor took judicial responsibility for her acts, that a murderer now will be in jail for life and that a trial and its toll on the families and community has been avoided.
“There are no winners in this type of situation,” he said. “We will continue to pray for the Coleman family.”
Blount-Juneau has been incarcerated in Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women at St. Gabriel awaiting her trial.
Prosecutors were Britney A. Green and Ron Stamps. Lead defense attorney for Blount-Juneau was Margaret E. Alverson, with associate defense work by Meghan Shapiro, both with the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center in New Orleans.