A man accused of killing another man while intervening in a fight between his girlfriend and other women almost four years ago, was found guilty in Caddo District Court Friday, October 15, 2021, of manslaughter.
Johnathan Trayvon Kelly, 25, fled the jurisdiction following the November 20, 2017 shooting of 29-year-old Marcus London, another man who intervened in the fight. Kelly remained at-large for two years before being arrested in Georgia and extradited to Louisiana.
The seven-man, five-woman jury in District Judge Ramona Emanuel’s court followed social distancing and masking protocols during the trial, which commenced Monday, October 11, 2021, and ended with their two-hour deliberation late Friday. Their verdict was unanimous.
Jurors learned that the slaying resulted from a Facebook post and resultant comments that escalated into a physical altercation between several women at an apartment complex. Mr. London intervened to break up the fight and retreated with his girlfriend, one of the fight participants, to their apartment. Kelly, one of the other women’s’ boyfriend, pulled up in a vehicle, exited with a handgun and fired several times at the unarmed London, who was on a second-floor balcony attempting to enter the apartment. London was shot once in the head and once in the back. Kelly then fled. London was rushed to Ochsner LSU Health hospital, where he succumbed to his wounds the following day.
Kelly was remanded pending sentencing. When he returns to Judge Emanuel’s courtroom January 6, 2021, he faces up to 40 years’ imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence.
Prosecutors were Assistant District Attorneys Nancy Berger-Schneider and Samuel S. Crichton. Mr. Kelly was defended by Stephen Glassell.
