Slain couple found in abandoned house

LPO conductor and
pianist live and work
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BREAKING NEWS AT NOLA.COM
Calyisse Perkins
Dayshawn T.
Preston
Timothy Moll
Also wanted for
questioning in
Christmas Eve
deaths
Booked with
second-degree
murder in April
shooting
Fitzgerald Phillips
Feds
arrest
Luling
suspects
RIVER
PARISHES EDITION • 75¢
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TUESDAY, APRIL 21, 2009
Jury
opts
against
death
penalty
Slain couple found
in
abandoned
house
Student, literacy tutor had been shot to death
Father was guilty of
raping, killing teen
By Gwen Filosa
Staff writer
April 5 slaying
called drug-related
By Matt Scallan
River Parishes bureau
Two Luling men wanted in
connection with the April 5
shooting death of another Luling man were captured in Atlanta by U.S. marshals, according to St. Charles Parish Sheriff
Greg Champagne.
Dayshawn T. Preston, 19, and
Timothy Moll, 20, were booked
with second-degree murder and
are being held in the Fulton
County jail awaiting extradition,
Champagne said Monday.
The two are accused of killing
Jahman M. Bailey, 25, who was
shot three times while standing
on the curb in the 1100 block of
TED JACKSON / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
FROM ABDUCTION TO DEATH
Bodies of man and woman kidnapped in Algiers found in Gert Town
1/4 mile
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2 miles
1 Sunday, 2:30 a.m.: Calyisse Perkins and Fitzgerald Phillips kidnapped
from Perkins’ apartment in the 6300 block of Woodland Drive in Algiers.
A ransom demand was made from Phillips’ cell phone to a family
member. $10,000 was demanded in exchange for the couple.
2 3 a.m.: Couple last seen alive in area bounded by Earhart Blvd.,
Washington Ave., S. Carrollton Ave. and Jefferson Davis Parkway.
3 1 p.m.: Phillips’ 2008 Nissan Maxima found at 2526 Barracks St. Police
take six adults into custody and later book Kenneth Barnes with
aggravated kidnapping and other charges.
4 Monday, 1:30 p.m.: Perkins and Phillips’ bodies found in an abandoned
house in 2900 block of Broadway.
Source: NOPD
THE TIMES-PICAYUNE
See TRIAL, A-5
Looming deficits don’t
deter tax cut proposals
More than 200 bills
give, expand tax breaks
By Bill Barrow
Staff writer
LAURENT GILLIERON / KEYSTONE VIA THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
A protester dressed as a clown grabs his nose as Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad speaks Monday during the United Nations conference against racism.
Ahmadinejad called Israel the most cruel and repressive racist regime. See story, A-8
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Staff writer
In an unusual twist, Mayor
Ray Nagin’s administration has
joined forces with two firms suing City Hall over its controversial crime camera program to
accuse computer giant
Dell Inc. of
un fa i r b us iness practices.
Based on information
gleaned Monday during a
two-hour deMayor Ray
position of NaNagin
gin, one of nuLawyers at
merous dedeposition say
fendants in
he answered
every question
the civil case,
he was asked
City Attorney
Penya MosesFields said her office filed a
“cross-claim” against Dell that
alleges the company misused a
long-standing state deal to sell
.. .
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By Michelle Krupa
RH
FIG
A desperate police search for a couple kidnapped
early Sunday from an Algiers apartment ended Monday afternoon with the discovery of two bodies in an
abandoned Gert Town house on the east bank, authorities said.
Southern University at New Orleans student
Fitzgerald Phillips and literacy tutor Calyisse Perkins,
both 19, had been taken by two men from Perkins’
apartment in Algiers after the men ransacked the unit
about 2:30 a.m.
A short while later, a $10,000 ransom demand was
made using Phillips’ cell phone, according to police.
Responding to a called-in tip, police went to the corner of Broadway and Fig Street on Monday afternoon,
and a team of cadaver-hunting dogs homed in on a
derelict house, said police Assistant Superintendent
Marlon Defillo. Inside, they found Phillips and Perkins,
both shot to death.
City says Dell contract
didn’t allow the deal
3
S.
EA
Staff writers
Camera
sales pitch
improper,
N.O. says
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By Ramon Antonio Vargas
and Danny Monteverde
AV
NEW
ORLEANS
Detail
area
10
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See ARRESTS, A-6
Indu
st
Can rial
al
Responding to a called-in tip, New Orleans police went
to the corner of Broadway and Fig Street on Monday
afternoon and a team of cadaver-hunting dogs homed
in on a derelict house, said police Assistant Superintendent Marlon Defillo.
Weather,
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DEATHS
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The Orleans Parish jury that
convicted Barry Ferguson of
first-degree murder for the 2003
rape and murder of his mentally
disabled teenage daughter gave
him a sentence of life in prison
Monday evening rather than the
death by lethal injection that
prosecutors had demanded.
The verdict was unanimous
for life and came after almost
two hours of deliberation.
Ferguson, 45, didn’t testify at
either his trial or at Monday’s
sentencing hearing, where his
defense team urged the jury to
consider his chronic alcoholism
as a mitigating factor.
“Nothing
you do to
Barry will
bring her
back, nor ease
the heartache
of those left
behind,” said
defense attor- Barry Ferguson
n e y D w i g h t Did not testify
Doskey, who at his trial or
was appointed sentencing
along with Ki- hearing
mya Holmes
to represent Ferguson, a Kenner man who could never hold a
job due to his alcoholism. “The
law favors life.”
State law says the jury of
eight men and four women had
to be unanimous to impose the
death penalty. If one juror opposes the death sentence, the
law automatically compels a
sentence of life in prison without
parole.
The jury returned the unanimous life sentence Monday
about 7:45 p.m. at Orleans Parish Criminal District Court,
where jurors found Ferguson
guilty-as-charged of first-degree
EDITORIALS
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Many state lawmakers have expressed dismay over Gov. Bobby Jindal’s slimmed-down budget proposal for
next year, particularly steep cuts looming for health care and higher education.
Projected shortfalls in future years
are more horrifying, a scenario that
House Speaker Jim Tucker said carries
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WASHINGTON
WORLD
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a “shock factor that hasn’t sunk in yet.”
Despite that bleak financial
landscape, legislators have proposed
more than 200 bills to expand existing
tax breaks or create new ones, ranging
from obscure deductions, targeted
credits and sales tax exemptions for
hurricane supplies to an outright repeal
of all individual income taxes.
All the proposals would further reduce state revenue in succeeding years,
some by hundreds of millions of dollars.
Only House Speaker Pro Tem Karen
Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans, is
clamoring to raise state revenue via
higher tobacco tax rates.
See TAXES, A-4
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