Louisiana news briefs

Walter Lee takes plea agreement, resigns from BESE
MANSFIELD (AP) — A member of the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education resigned Friday as part of a plea deal that ends a felony theft case against him.
Walter Lee, a former DeSoto Parish school superintendent, pleaded guilty Thursday to a misdemeanor count of unauthorized use of a moveable. He was accused of personally benefiting from the return of a leased vehicle.
Lee was sentenced to a six-month suspended parish jail term, placed on unsupervised probation for six months and required to resign from his position on the 11-member board known as BESE.
The Secretary of State’s Office received his one-sentence resignation letter Friday.
Judge Charles Adams also ordered Lee to pay the DeSoto Parish School Board $10,653.
On the board for 23 years, Lee is one of eight elected members of BESE, which sets state education policy for 69 public school districts and more than 700,000 students. Because Lee resigned with more than a year left on his term, the law requires Gov. Bobby Jindal to name a temporary replacement and set an election date for voters to choose someone to fill the seat.

New charges in case tied to parade shooting
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New federal charges have been filed against six alleged gang members in connection to various crimes, including the mass shooting at a New Orleans neighborhood parade on Mother’s Day in 2013.
Federal authorities said the latest version of the indictment against six alleged members of the Frenchmen-Derbigny gang includes racketeering allegations. The U.S. Attorney says the defendants conspired to commit racketeering acts including murder, drug distribution, and witness tampering. Some of the allegations are related to a Mother’s Day parade shooting blamed for 20 injuries.
Police have tied that shooting — caught in part on security video — to two of the defendants, brothers Shawn Scott, 25, and Akein Scott, 21.
The latest indictment alleges that the Frenchmen-Derbigny gang, named for an intersection in New Orleans’ 7th Ward, sold drugs from a convenience store and engaged in food stamp fraud. Conviction on all charges could mean life sentences for each of the six named in the latest indictment, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Three people have pleaded guilty in connection with the federal case. The latest was Crystal Scott, 33, who pleaded guilty this week to a single federal count involving drug distribution. Her plea agreement notes that the crime carries a possible life sentence but adds that her “timely acceptance of responsibility” could mean a reduced sentence.
Federal authorities say several of those charged are related. They identify Crystal Scott as the sister of the alleged ringleader, 30-year-old Travis Scott.

Death sentence reversed
in killing of prison guard
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A New Orleans judge has overturned the death sentence given to one of five state inmates convicted of killing a guard during a failed escape attempt at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in 1999, according to defense attorneys.
Retired Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Jerome Winsberg, who is handling the case, let David Brown’s conviction stand but has ordered a new sentencing hearing, according to a statement sent Friday for defense attorney Billy Sothern. It said Winsberg ruled from the bench on Thursday in West Feliciana Parish, without a written opinion.
Winsberg ruled that prosecutors improperly withheld another inmate’s alleged confession until after Brown went on trial.
Brown was one of two inmates sentenced to death for killing Capt. David Knapps. Three others are serving life sentences.
One of those serving life, Barry Edge, allegedly told a cellmate that only he and Jeffrey Cameron Clark killed Knapps — and that they alone made the decision to kill him.
Prosecutors failed to disclose this before Brown’s trial, telling jurors that Brown was equally to blame and deserved death, according to the statement.
Winsberg ruled that there was enough evidence to show that Brown tried to escape, so his conviction stands, but that prosecutors had failed to reveal evidence that he had neither killed Knapps nor intended to kill him.

Gunplay between old, new boyfriends leaves 1 dead
RIVER RIDGE (AP) — A Metairie man is dead after a pre-dawn domestic dispute Sunday.
Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand says that 44-year-old Bobby Elder died after entering the River Ridge house of his ex-girlfriend’s current companion.
The new companion, 32-year-old Robert Esteves of River Ridge, shot and killed Elder after officials say Elder pointed a gun at 35-year-old Karen Collins and ordered her out of bed. As Elder was taking Collins to the front door, Esteves retrieved a shotgun and fired at least twice. Elder fired back multiple times, sustaining wounds that killed him before he could be taken to a hospital. Esteves was shot in the arm and treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.
Collins, who fled during the shooting and called police, was not injured.
No charges have been filed.

State officer arrested, charged over traffic stop
ZACHARY (AP) — A Louisiana Department of Public Safety officer was arrested Sunday on accusations that he groped a woman during a traffic stop.
Authorities say 47-year-old Michael Dayne Selders, of Clinton, stopped a woman Saturday near the corner of La. 67 and Pride Port Hudson Road in Zachary. He later told East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff’s investigators it was because she had run a red light.
After making the woman get out of her car, Selders began to grope her and tried to kiss her on the lips, deputies said. She turned away and got back into her car.
Court records show Selders let her leave, saying “don’t tell anyone about this.”
The woman, who was driving home from work, told deputies that Selders was a frequent customer at her place of employment. He got back into his squad car and drove away without calling in the traffic stop as required, deputies said. However the woman called police.
East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s deputies questioned Selders, who said the woman initiated a hug, but denied wrongdoing. Detectives noted inconsistencies in his account. They arrested Selders Sunday, charging him with sexual battery and malfeasance in office.
Selders works for the physical security division of the Department of Public Safety, patrolling the department’s headquarters complex. DPS police are a subset of the Louisiana State Police, according to the agency’s website. But while Selders is a sworn police officer, he’s not a state trooper.

New $6 million frat house approved for LSU campus
BATON ROUGE (AP) — Kappa Sigma fraternity will build a new $6 million, 23,000-square-foot house on LSU’s campus.
The LSU Board of Supervisors agreed to plans for the three-story fraternity house, which will replace the existing Kappa Sigma house. It will be paid for entirely by the fraternity, but the LSU board had to approve the fraternity house design because it will be located on campus.
The current house is about 77 years old and was one of the first built on LSU’s campus.
Chip Weimar, head of the fraternity chapter’s housing corporation, said the new house will sleep 52 students, plus a house mother.
From The Associated Press.