EDGARD, La. — Nearly eight years after an ambush-style attack left two St. John the Baptist Parish deputies dead in a trailer park, the man found guilty of their murders has been sentenced to die.
Inside the parish courthouse in Edgard Sunday morning, 12 jurors from Alexandria, La. handed down 35-year-old Kyle Joekel's sentence after six days of testimony and another day of impact statements.
That Friday, Joekel was found guilty on two counts of first-degree murder for the shootings of deputies Jeremy Triche and Brandon Neilsen at the Scenic Riverview Trailer Park in LaPlace in August 2012.
Prosecutors argued that Joekel stood over deputy Neilsen with an AK-47 and shot him dead at close range.
Joekel was one of two men accused of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of the deputies.His defense attorneys had argued it was another man who fired the shots - Brian Smith - who is being held in a mental hospital unable to stand trial.
Prosecutors have claimed that Joekel and Smith were members of the anti-government extremist group "Sovereign Citizens."
A second deputy was also injured at the trailer park.
The Capital Appeals Project, an advocacy group that represents death row inmates, will be taking over for Joekel's defense attorneys.
The official sentencing date has not been determined.
In Louisiana, a legislative effort to end the death penalty failed overwhelmingly in the Senate, despite its sponsorship by Sen. Dan Claitor, a Republican former prosecutor.
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The state last executed someone in 2010. Death sentences have been stalled because the corrections department has been unable to find companies willing to provide lethal injection drugs: The companies don't want their products associated with executions.
In debates this year and in years past, death penalty proponents have pushed back against religious and moral arguments from death penalty opponents, citing biblical passages calling for death sentences and arguing that taking the option off the table deprives prosecutors of a crime-fighting tool and survivors of homicide victims a measure of justice.
During impact statements in Joekel's trial, family and coworkers of deputies Neilsen and Triche gave deeply emotional statements that brought most in the room to tears.
Captain Anna Cox, who worked with both deputies, held back tears recounting the moment she received the call about the officers being shot. She described the shootout she heard over the police radio as "devastating" and "total chaos"
She described Neilsen as funny and a "goofball" who could immediately turn her day into laughter.
“I can’t talk about him without crying, ask Danielle (Neilsen's wife), every time we talk about him we cry," Cox said.
At one point, defense attorneys expressed concerns over the number of victims impact statements (9) that were approved. In response, the prosecution asked the courtroom if they were there for either Neilsen or Triche. Dozens stood up.
The prosecution paused, and said told the room, "from all of those... I had to pick nine."
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