NSU students aid beach restoration
July 29, 2014
Interpreter faces malfeasance charges
July 29, 2014
The man who allegedly confessed to detectives that he accidentally shot and killed 15-year-old Braxton Bourda pleaded not guilty on Monday to an elevated charge of manslaughter.
Neely Gardner, 19, of 176 Orange St., was booked June 6 on a charge of negligent homicide after he turned himself in to authorities.
Prosecutors delayed his arraignment earlier this month, citing an ongoing investigation by the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office. Ultimately, the state elevated the charge to manslaughter contingent on an underlying charge of aggravated assault with a firearm, First Assistant District Attorney Kristine Russell said.
“When we evaluated (the sheriff’s office report) and looked at all the facts, it fit manslaughter, and it was the right thing to do,” Russell said.
Gardner’s defense attorney John Thomas said his client shouldn’t face negligent homicide, much less manslaughter.
“It was clearly an accident,” Thomas said. “They found a gun laying on the ground next to an abandoned house. (Gardner) took the clip out of the gun and pulled the trigger, but he didn’t realize his friend (Braxton) was riding a bicycle nearby. (Gardner is) a guy who has never handled guns before; he didn’t realize that even with the clip out, this gun would fire.
“It was a freak accident. It never should have happened. There was no criminal intent.”
Gardner is being held in the Lafourche Parish Detention Center in lieu of a $250,000 bond. Thomas planned to file a motion Monday afternoon seeking a bond reduction to $50,000, he said.
Gardner wrote and mailed a letter expressing his sorrow to Braxton’s family, Thomas said.
Braxton was shot one time in the face while he rode his bicycle June 5 along East 23rd Street in Larose and was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.
Approximately 11 hours after the shooting and upon learning he was a “person of interest” in Braxton’s slaying, Gardner surrendered and answered detectives’ questions without an attorney present, LPSO deputy Brennan Matherne said.
Gardner allegedly told investigators he accidentally fired a 9mm handgun that he was trying to unload after he found the firearm on the ground near a home. He also said he discarded the weapon after the shooting and that he helped move Braxton’s body out of the street before fleeing the scene, Matherne said.
As of Monday, investigators had still not recovered the firearm, Russell said.
Gardner relayed that he and Braxton were friends, and details of his confession meshed with the accounts of bystanders, Matherne said.
Manslaughter in Louisiana can be charged via different avenues. Lafourche prosecutors are alleging Gardner killed Braxton while engaged in the perpetration of another felony, so they do not necessarily have to prove Gardner intended to harm Braxton, just that he did so while committing aggravated assault with a firearm, which is either an “attempt to commit a battery, or the intentional placing of another in reasonable apprehension of receiving a battery,” while wielding a gun, according to state law.
As it relates to Gardner, manslaughter does not carry a mandatory minimum sentence; the maximum sentence is 40 years in prison.
Louisiana law defines negligent homicide, Gardner’s charge when arrested, as the killing of a human by criminal negligence, which occurs when “there is such disregard of the interest of others that the offender’s conduct amounts to a gross deviation below the standard of care expected to be maintained by a reasonably careful man under like circumstances,” according to a separate statute. A negligent-homicide conviction carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Braxton’s family members wore white shirts in the courtroom with screen-printed photographs of the star swimmer attached to a message of “Gone but not forgotten” on the front and with “Justice for Braxton” written on the back.
His aunt Tameka Bourda said after the arraignment the family was happy to see prosecutors elevate the charge away from what she characterized as “a slap on the wrist” but stopped short of saying Braxton’s relatives were satisfied with the manslaughter charge.
“We’re going to keep praying that justice is served,” Bourda said. “Braxton’s not coming back, but we can’t stop fighting for him. … Every action results in consequences.”
Members of Gardner’s family who attended the arraignment declined to comment.
Gardner’s case was assigned to Division C, the chambers of Dist. Judge Walter Lanier III. A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m., Sept. 17.
