Judge finds man guilty in drug slaying
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DONALDSONVILLE — A Gonzales man was convicted of second-degree murder in the slaying of a victim who did not pay up for $80 in drugs loaned to him during a weekend of drug-using nearly two years ago.
Judge Jane Triche-Milazzo of the 23rd Judicial District Court rendered the verdict Thursday in the Ascension Parish Courthouse at Donaldsonville after a 2‰-day non-jury trial.
The judge set sentencing of Arthur Nicholas III, 28, 807 S. Abe St., Gonzales, on Nov. 17.
Nicholas, who faces mandatory life in prison, is the first of four co-defendants to be convicted in the slaying of Mark Waddell, 48, 41034 Turo Lane, Gonzales, on Dec. 18, 2007.
A second defendant, Michael Edward Jones, 29, 622 N. Bullion St., Gonzales, goes to a second-degree murder bench trial Tuesday in Gonzales. Prosecutors allege Jones was with Nicholas when Nicholas went to rob Waddell the night of Dec. 17, 2007, and wound up shooting Waddell, later found dead in his apartment.
In exchange for plea agreements, two co-defendants testified against Nicholas. Their combined testimony painted him as the dealer who “fronted” Waddell $80 in drugs on the December 2007 weekend, expected payment the next Monday but robbed and shot Waddell that night.
On Wednesday, defense attorney Raymond Gautreau pointed up the co-defendants’ backgrounds and discrepancies in their stories.
Under cross-examination Wednesday, Jerome Bougere III, 31, 41063 Cannon Road, Gonzales, insisted he told the truth when he testified Nicholas told him minutes after the slaying that he, Nicholas, had shot Waddell.
“I don’t think anything he says can be believed, not even with a grain of salt,” Gautreau later told the judge during closing arguments Thursday.
Also on Wednesday Gautreau got the other co-defendant, Kathy Riley, 26, 38232 La. 621, Gonzales, to say she was an exotic dancer who traded sex for drugs, including with Nicholas.
Riley, who insisted in court that her memory was clear, said she was at Waddell’s apartment when Nicholas fronted the drugs.
In his closing Thursday, First Assistant District Attorney Chuck Long focused on forensic evidence, including the fact that Nicholas’ DNA was found on the murder weapon, a .40-caliber Beretta pistol.
“It was a bullet out of his (Nicholas’) gun,” Long said.
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