A Caddo Parish man was convicted in Caddo District Court Wednesday, September 27, 2017, of crimes that included a battery that left the victim with multiple skull and jaw fractures.
The 12-member jury in Caddo District Judge Craig Marcotte’s court unanimously found Taurean Lamar Thomas, 31, of Keithville, guilty as charged to one count of second-degree battery and one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
The jury determined that on June 22, 2016, Thomas beat Ronald Reddix in the 300 block of East 74th Street in Cedar Grove, inflicting the severe injuries, and then stood over Reddix and had a friend shoot a video of him holding a handgun celebrating the beating.
Thomas previously had been convicted of simple burglary of inhabited dwelling in April 2011, for which he received an eight-year sentence at hard labor and for which he was still on parole at the time of the attack on Reddix.
When he returns to court November 20, 2017, Thomas faces a fine of up to $2,000 and up to eight years in prison, the first 18 months to be served without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence, for the second-degree battery conviction, and 10 to 15 years in prison without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence for the weapons possession conviction. However, prosecutors plan to ask for enhanced sentencing based on Thomas’s prior convictions.
Prosecutors were William Edwards and Sam Crichton. Defense attorneys were Michael Enright and Michelle Andrepont.