Ex-death row inmate pleads guilty to ID theft fraud
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NEW ORLEANS — Shareef Cousin, who was once sentenced to death for a New Orleans murder, has pleaded guilty to charges of identity and credit card fraud in Atlanta.
Prosecutors said a Fulton County judge sentenced the 29-year-old to 10 years and he is expected to serve three.
Cousin, who in 1996 became the nation’s youngest death row convict, had been working as a legal clerk at the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta for the past two years. He admitted Thursday in Fulton County Superior Court to applying for credit cards by using the name and identity of his boss.
Cousin has been on parole in Louisiana since 2005 for armed robbery charges that he pleaded guilty to before a jury convicted him for the capital murder of Michael Gerardi, 25, of Slidell.
An Orleans Parish jury sent Cousin to death row after a trial based on witness testimony. The conviction was overturned in 1998 when the state’s high court found that prosecutors unfairly used hearsay evidence in closing arguments.
Prosecutors said a Fulton County judge sentenced the 29-year-old to 10 years and he is expected to serve three.
Cousin, who in 1996 became the nation’s youngest death row convict, had been working as a legal clerk at the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta for the past two years. He admitted Thursday in Fulton County Superior Court to applying for credit cards by using the name and identity of his boss.
Cousin has been on parole in Louisiana since 2005 for armed robbery charges that he pleaded guilty to before a jury convicted him for the capital murder of Michael Gerardi, 25, of Slidell.
An Orleans Parish jury sent Cousin to death row after a trial based on witness testimony. The conviction was overturned in 1998 when the state’s high court found that prosecutors unfairly used hearsay evidence in closing arguments.
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