A Caddo Parish jury found a Vivian man guilty of felonious possession of a firearm and attempted second-degree murder in a two-day trial that wrapped up Tuesday, December 5, 2017.
The nine-man, three-woman jury in District Judge Katherine Dorroh’s courtroom determined that Christopher Lee Weston, 28, fired shots that wounded Lakordo Jamerson in a drive-by on Queens Highway on May 8, 2016, after an altercation outside a Hearne Avenue convenience store.
Jamerson and a small group of friends were outside the store on Hearne when Weston accused him of picking up a cigarette Weston had dropped. Jamerson denied taking the cigarette but offered to give one to Weston, an account borne out by surveillance video. When Jamerson and his friends left, Weston followed them to the neighborhood where the assault occurred.
Jamerson was struck in the arm and the back by bullets and continues to suffer numbness in a leg. There were other people outside the home including children, but no others were wounded.
The jury deliberated an hour, returning the guilty verdict late December 5.
Weston will return to face Judge Dorroh December 14, 2017, for sentencing. He faces a prison term of five to 20 years at hard labor, without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. On conviction for attempted second-degree murder, the sentencing range is five to 50 years without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence.
However, Weston has prior convictions, both in 2010, for attempted illegal carrying of a weapon while in possession of a controlled dangerous substance and possession with intent to distribute a Schedule I drug. That opens him to enhanced sentencing as a habitual offender, which the state plans to pursue. If successful in that attempt, the sentencing range on the firearm charge goes to 10 to 40 years and the range on the attempted second-degree murder conviction increases to 25 to 100 years.
Weston was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Jason Waltman and Treneisha Hill. He was defended by David McClatchey.