July 3, 2025 • 45 mins
In this episode of Bloody Angola, Jim Chapman covers the tragic story of the murder of Slidell, Louisiana PD, Sargent Earl Alfred, who was killed while responding to a silent alarm at a jewelry store.
Timestamps
07:03 Meet Officer Friendly
21:00 The Robbery and Shooting Unfolds
23:43 Escape Convict
26:37 Clemency Hearing
42:29 Getting Justice
Source Credits
https://www.justice.gov/atr/upcoming-hearings-and-trials
https://www.leagle.com/decision/19771056353so2d7031940
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/la-court-of-appeal/1248703.html
https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/clemency-denied-1975-murder-slidell-police-officer/article_910b0dc4-54e7-11ef-aead-8bb4d718c410.html
https://northshoremedia.net/2024/08/07/pardon-request-for-slidell-killer-denied/
https://juryverdicts.net/lajvrblog
Newspapers.com
https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1713566/state-v-lewis/
Timestamps
07:03 Meet Officer Friendly
21:00 The Robbery and Shooting Unfolds
23:43 Escape Convict
26:37 Clemency Hearing
42:29 Getting Justice
Source Credits
https://www.justice.gov/atr/upcoming-hearings-and-trials
https://www.leagle.com/decision/19771056353so2d7031940
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/la-court-of-appeal/1248703.html
https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/clemency-denied-1975-murder-slidell-police-officer/article_910b0dc4-54e7-11ef-aead-8bb4d718c410.html
https://northshoremedia.net/2024/08/07/pardon-request-for-slidell-killer-denied/
https://juryverdicts.net/lajvrblog
Newspapers.com
https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1713566/state-v-lewis/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
M M.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
A wall, straight line.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Shackle Chaine, Oh doesome gird it's calling my name.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
There is no mercy and it's been a tentery juice
as the hill Stream game Wrangle three.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
I'm here by me to die.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Inside these walls, inside the wild.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
And when the girls I Hey everyone, and welcome back
(01:31):
to Bloody Angola, a podcast one and forty two years
in the making, the complete story of America's Bloodiest Present.
I'm Jim Chapman, and today I am bringing you a
story that many people requested after last week's episode. Now,
last week I covered this story and conviction of Charles
(01:52):
Ray Spears, who was known as the Good Year Killer. Now,
in that episode, I referenced a robbery the developed into
a murder in nearby Slidell, Louisiana, and sadly, that was
the murder of an officer by the name of Earl Alfred. Now,
a lot of you reached out. You wanted to hear
more about this case and what the result of it
(02:16):
was and learn more about Sergeant Earl Alfred. So I'm
going to tell you the entire story today, but before
I do, I want to update you on some news
that broke just this week, and that is the capture
of Antoine Massey. He was the ninth of ten inmates
to escape the Orleans Paris jail. Of course, I covered
(02:37):
that escape in previous episodes, and I want to quickly
get you up to date. And I'm going to reference
a CNN article for this, and that CNN article reads,
ninth escape New Orleans inmate is captured, leaving just one
at large. An Twine Massey, a serial escapee who vanished
from a New Orleans jail with nine other inmates just
(03:01):
after midnight on May sixteenth, was arrested Friday afternoon in
New Orleans. According to the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office, the
last remaining escapee, Derrick Groves, is still on the run
after breaking out of the Orleans Justice Center in New
Orleans over a month ago. Massey was recently charged with
vehicle theft in domestic abuse involving strangulation. This according to
(03:26):
Orleans Parish records, The thirty three year old was captured
in a rental property in the Hollygrove neighborhood of New Orleans.
And incidentally, all that's in the ninth ward and that
was according to Deputy US Marshall Brian Fair. He was
arrested just miles from the jail where Massey and other
inmates made their brazen escape, taking advantage of bad locks,
(03:49):
stolen bedding in a hungry jail employee, and they used
electronic hair trimmers with multiple clipper blades to help cut
their way through the cell walls. He was taken into
custody without incident after being surrounded on Friday afternoon, and
according to US marshals, it was a peaceful arrest quote
(04:10):
after receiving a tip. Follow up work was done and
that led to the arrest today. Remember I told you
once they upped that reward to fifty grand, don't be
surprised if somebody turned on Massy quickly, And apparently that's
what happened.
Speaker 5 (04:25):
Now.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
After the arrest, Massey was flown to a secure state
facility outside.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Of the area.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
And if you're curious what that is, folks, it's bloody Angola.
Massy has a long track record of escaping custody. In
two thousand and seven, he broke out of a New
Orleans juvenile detention center after being arrested on suspicion of
armed robbery and aggravated assault. And early in June, authorities
rated a home after a video showed a man claiming
(04:52):
to be Massy saying he was innocent. In the video,
the man claimed to be Massy appealed to Lil Wayne
for help and held a document to the camera what
he says was a stamped affidavit that proves his innocent.
He also claimed his ex girlfriend Diamond White, recanted at
her allegation of abuse in that affidavit. Groves, who was
(05:13):
still at large, was convicted in October of killing two
people in twenty eighteen, and later pleaded guilty the battery
of a corrections officer. New Orleans Police Department Chief Anne
Kirkpatrick address Combs directly at a Friday news conference, saying,
we are going to capture you. You will be taken
into custody, but you still have the option to peacefully
(05:35):
turn yourself in, and we will make an appeal for
you to do so. Quote the public defender is ready
to meet you and be with you from the very
moment you choose to turn yourself in. Groves case went
to trial four separate times, according to the Orleans Parish
District Attorney's Office. They said he was determined to be
one of two gunmen who opened fire with an AK
(05:57):
forty seven assault rifle on what should have been a
joyous Mardi Gras gathering. A woman believed to be Grove's girlfriend,
currently Dirianna Burton, was arrested earlier in June for helping
him escape. Allegedly, she had exchanged text messages and video
calls with Groves in the days leading up to the escape.
(06:17):
And there is a fifty thousand dollars reward for information
leading the Groves capture. Chief Deputy US Marshall Walter Martin said,
just like we found mister Massey today, we will find
growths and we will continue our efforts. Of course, he
encouraged anyone with information about Groves whereabouts to alert authorities. Quote,
(06:38):
you can remain anonymous, but we need your help. Collectively,
we will not rest even if it takes another six
days or six weeks until the last fugitive is in custody.
So there you have that, only one more left in
this escape saga. Now let's get into today's episode, and
(06:59):
I'm gonna start by telling you a little bit about
Sergeant Alfred and to say that this officer was a
trailblazer in law enforcement would be an absolute understatement. He
started with the slide L Police Department in nineteen seventy
and he was the first black officer ever hired by
(07:20):
the slide L Police Department. He was born in nineteen forty.
He grew up in Louisiana and it was there you
could say that he developed a very strong sense of
community and service which led him into law enforcement. He
had served in the US Army, and of course that
develops his sense of duty and discipline that you can
(07:44):
really only get from the military, and it certainly prepared
him for the challenges he would face later on as
a police officer. This was a very formative time in
his life and it really shaped everything you would look
for in a police officer, such as leader, skip skills, commitment,
(08:05):
and one of the most important qualities to have as
an officer is the ability to remain calm under pressure.
All of this gets developed in the military. Now, as
I just mentioned, he was the first black police officer
hired in slide L. And look, this is nineteen seventy,
(08:25):
the height of racial tension, and when you're the first
black officer on a predominantly white police force during that time,
it's I'm sure not without its challenges, and it took
someone like Officer Alfred to really step into that type
of role during that time in history. He had a
(08:46):
very approachable demeanor, He was dedicated to his job and
he was flat out beloved. As a matter of fact,
he earned a nickname throughout the community and that nickname
was off Sir Friendly.
Speaker 5 (09:01):
Now.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
Throughout his career with the Slightel Police Department that started
in nineteen seventy, he demonstrated exceptional dedication to his duties.
He had a deep commitment to the safety and well
being of the community, which is very important. And it
wasn't long before he was promoted to the rank of
sergeant and that's really a testament to not only his
(09:25):
leadership skills, but his effectiveness as a police officer. Sergeant
Alfred was particularly known for his ability to be proactive
in policing. He would engage with the community frequently and
he would really work to bridge the gap right between
police and the public. His personal life was no different.
(09:49):
He was in a lovely marriage. He and his wife
had adopted a daughter and this was a big source
of pride for him. He was all about family, which
really spoke to me because in his line of work,
it's not easy to maintain a productive, healthy personal life.
I mean, police officers, they see the worst of people
(10:12):
a lot of the time. Yet he seemed to thrive
in both of these areas, both professionally and personally, so
all seem well in the world. On August thirteenth of
nineteen seventy five, when at approximately eight o'clock am, he
responds to a silent alarm at the Champagne Jewelry Store
(10:33):
in Slidedale, Louisiana. In this alarm, it was directly linked
to the Slidel Police Department, so the response was quick
between when Sergeant Alfred received this notification, if you will,
that the silent alarm had been triggered at the Champagne
Jewelry store. And I'm going to take you back to
(10:54):
just prior to the triggering of that alarm, and I'm
going to tell you what was going on that Sergeant
Alfred had no idea what he was walking into. So
a twenty six year old male suspect, he enters that
store and he tells the twenty year old employee, her
(11:14):
name was Betty Graves, that he was there to pick
up a ring. So missus Graves, she opens the safe
and she grabs like that tray of rings, and as
soon as she swings back around, she realizes that this
suspect has went behind the counter and he's armed. He
has a twenty two caliber handgun as well as a
(11:37):
pair of scissors. He grabs her and he starts dragging
her to the back room, and as he's dragging her
to the back room, he is wailing on her with
those scissors, stabbing her over and over again, as well
as choking her because he's pulling her by the neck. Now,
eventually he lets her go and she just kind of
(11:58):
falls to the floor. She had been stabbed twenty two
times with those scissors just all over her body. Now,
at this point, the suspect takes a bunch of those
rings and jewelry, and it was estimated later to be
about five thousand dollars total, which this is nineteen seventy
(12:19):
it's probably worth five times that in today's money. At
that point, the suspect goes out the front door, and
according to missus Graves, she heard the word halt, and
then she heard a gunshot and then silence, and then
several more shots and I want to say something at
(12:39):
this point. I referred to several newspaper articles during that time,
and some of these say he went out the front door.
Some of these say he went out the back door.
It's really irrelevant. He went out of a door. He
went through one of those doors, and that is when
he was approached by Sergeant Earl Alfred, who was responded
(13:00):
to that silent alarm. According to the Louisiana Weekly, Sergeant
Alfred apprehended the robber in the driveway behind that jewelry store,
and after relieving the suspect of his pistol, which Sergeant
Alfred put in his pocket, he attempted to put handcuffs
on the suspect. Now, as any police officer will tell you,
(13:25):
when you pull the handcuffs out and you click that
first handcuff on, suspects freak out. They realize that shit
just got real, right and that's what happened here, and
they get into a major scuffle. It was during that
scuffle that Sergeant Alfred's gun falls out of his holster.
(13:45):
Somehow this suspect managed to pick it up and he
shoots Alfred and kills this amazing officer. So back inside
the jewelry store, Miss Betty Graves. She hears the gunshots,
and this amazing lady somehow manages to crawl out the
front door with twenty two stab wounds from those scissors,
(14:11):
and she gets Sergeant Alfred's radio and essentially calls for backup.
And again there are some conflicting reports. There are some
people that reported that she attempted to call for backup,
but she passed out before she was able to get
the CB up to her mouth to call for the backup.
(14:31):
And then there's other reports that say she was actually
able to call for backup, and what she said was
please get help. I'm bleeding to death. I'm gonna say
she called for backup. Now, I'm gonna paint a picture
for you of how confusing this stuff got back then
when they're reporting news, and how crazy the news had
gotten when something like this happened. There are articles all
(14:54):
over the place from this incident from newspapers, which is
what I referred to, and all of them had different information.
Some said she was eighteen, some said Miss Grays was nineteen.
Of course, I told you, they can't agree on whether
she called for backup, et cetera. And that was a
product of everybody being in a rush to report this story.
(15:15):
This was before social media, and it was a race
at that time to get that breaking news out, and
they just didn't get it right a lot of the outlets.
But regardless of all that, this happened in broad daylight,
that we know for sure, and there were a few
witnesses to this that would come into play later. Now,
(15:37):
immediately following the incident, of course, police officers shot all
hands on deck. Right when something like that occurs, they're
shutting down the city, they're forming a perimeter. Apbs are
put out, and they had a description from witnesses of
a truck which was a black and white seventies model
(15:59):
Chevrolet or similar. They set up roadblocks. They're looking for
this truck, but nothing panned out and it seemed like
the suspect was able to get away. Now, shortly after that,
mere days, as a matter of fact, a man goes
into the slide L Police department and he basically said
he had some concerns. He said the vehicle that the
(16:20):
assailant who shot this officer in looked like his vehicle,
and the composite sketch that they were able to get
from miss Betty looked like him, and he was concerned
because he didn't want people to think that was him.
And he was the one who killed this officer and
he was there to essentially clear his name. And this
(16:41):
guy's name was David E. Lewis. Now, of course, the
slide L Police department, they're like, this doesn't seem right.
So the officer on duty he tells the defendant that, hey,
if he wanted to talk about this, they need to
read him his Mariderites, which they did, and he said,
you're not under arrest. You can leave any time you
(17:03):
want to do so. And at that point Lewis says again, hey,
I'm just here to clear my name of any suspicion
and I'm willing to answer any questions that you have.
So they bring Louis into the interrogation room. And it's
also worth noting his mom was with him at this point.
She went with him to the police department and they
(17:25):
leave her out front and the police go in there
and they ask him if he wants anything. He asked
for some coffee. He actually asked for some candy and
some water, so they go get that stuff for him,
and they never handcuffed him. They didn't shackle him, his
movement was not restricted anything like that. He wasn't under arrest.
But most importantly, they didn't want to do anything to
(17:47):
make this guy feel like he was under arrest. But
they had a good suspicion that he had something to
do with this, and it was at this point that
they even went as far as to contact the district
Attorney and asked him to come to the police station
because they wanted him to oversee that interrogation and make
sure they weren't doing anything out of line, because the
(18:11):
last thing that they wanted to do is find out
that this guy indeed had something to do with it,
and they did something to screw up the confession and
the whole case gets thrown out because the law wasn't followed.
So the DA gets there and he even asked Lewis
if he had been mistreated, and Lewis said no, he
(18:31):
had no complaints and all was good. So at this time,
a man by the name of Lieutenant Humphrey, he was
the head of the Criminal Investigations Division for Slidel. He
wanted to assign who he would consider to be the
best person to question Lewis, and he chooses an officer
by the name of Officer Penton, and the reason he
(18:54):
chose that officer was not only was he the most
experienced officer in the department, but he was also the
oldest officer in the department, and he felt like the
age difference between Lewis and this officer would put Lewis
more at ease, he wouldn't feel as intimidated. So Officer
Penton he goes into the room alone to question Lewis,
(19:18):
and he gets what officers would refer to as the
juice out of this guy. Lewis eventually sings like a canary.
He confesses not only do this, but he tells Officer
Pentton where they can find the murder weapon, which was
incidentally Officer Friendly's own gun, and he also tells them
(19:42):
where they can find the jewelry and clothing that he
had worn, and they were in a woody area near
where Lewis lived. He then signs what's known as a
waiver of rights and the officers go and they recover
this physical evidence, which once they recovered that there's no
dispute that he did this murder, and he did request
(20:02):
to speak to his mother, which they allowed him to do,
and I guess he tells her goodbye because he just
confessed to the murder of a police officer and the
attempted murder of a twenty year old Miss Betty Graves.
So the ensuing weeks, of course, as you would expect,
the slide L community really gets behind the family of
(20:23):
this officer. As I said, he was very beloved, and
they do everything they can to help. And it wasn't
long after that that the city of Slidel they really
gave the ultimate honor for this slain officer when they
renamed third Street in Slydel, which is kind of a
main artery through that city, they renamed that Sergeant Earl
(20:45):
Alfred Drive. And then just shortly after that, the indictments
are returned from a Saint Tammany Parish grand jury against
David Eugene Lewis from the murder of Earl Alfred and
the attempted murder of Miss Betty. And it was on
June twenty third, nineteen seventy six, a little less than
(21:05):
a year later, that a guilty verdict is returned in
that murder of Sergeant Alfred. And you might wonder, well,
if he confessed, why did they even have to get
a trial, and obviously that's not the way that worked.
Of Course, an attorney eventually gets a halt to this guy,
(21:27):
and in this case, he knew Lewis had nothing to
lose and we're going to get a trial, and that's
exactly what they did. And some things that occurred during
that trial. Lewis actually stated that yes, he signed a confession. However,
he was promised a light sentence if he signed that confession.
You got to be a freaking moron to think if
(21:48):
you're going to kill a police officer, you're going to
get a light sentence. Also, in the trial, the physical
evidence came out, including forensic evidence that was recovered at
the scene that he told them where it was. Of course,
miss Betty Graves, she was the star witness of this trial.
She survived despite those twenty two stab wounds. She testified.
(22:08):
And another thing that was strange to me, Lewis actually
even tried to claim during the trial that he was
outside of the store, that he never went inside and
some guy he only knew is Mackie, was the one
inside the store and that was the one that killed
officer Friendly. Again title bullshit, right. The jury only deliberated
(22:28):
for about four hours before handing down the guilty verdict,
and he gets sentenced, And in this case, he gets
sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.
What I didn't tell you was there was a separate
trial that took place in between the time he committed
this crime and when he was convicted. In the trial,
(22:52):
Lewis was actually charged with second degree murdered times two
counts in some other cases that took place in New Orleans.
One of those crimes involved shooting a man in the
back seven times with a twenty two caliber pistol were
resulting in his death. And another charge involved an individual
named Larry Bemwaugh who was shot in the throat with
(23:14):
a thirty eight caliber pistol during what was similar to
a gang shooting. It was over drugs of some sort. Now,
in those trials, Lewis was acquitted of the first charge
and he was found guilty in the charge of shooting
Larry Bemwaugh in the throat with that thirty eight revolver.
So at this point in time, the guy has a
(23:36):
sentence of life plus thirty years essentially, so it's off
to spend the rest of his life in jail right, well,
not exactly. Believe it or not, this cop killer and
murderer of at least one other person, possibly two, he escapes,
and how he escaped is a pretty wild story. He
(23:58):
was actually in the hospital at the time. He had
underwent a kidney surgery of some sort, and while he
was recovering in the hospital, which was Charity Hospital in
New Orleans, he somehow just walks out the front door
and he was captured. I can't get the exact time
that he was on the run, but more than a
(24:21):
few days, less than a month. It just basically says
several weeks, and he was recaptured near the Mississippi state line.
But here's the crazy thing. The police had a roadblock
set up for something in someone completely different, nothing to
do with Lewis. And David Lewis and a female who
(24:44):
I'm assuming was his girlfriend. They're driving down the road,
old country road, and they see this roadblock set up
and they turn around in the middle of the road. Well,
what do you think the police.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Are going to do?
Speaker 4 (24:56):
They see them turn around, and several of these year
they start chasing that vehicle and they pull it over
and get this Lewis gets out of the car and
he starts struggling with these police officers. He almost gets
his hand on one of the officers shot guns, but
(25:17):
they were able to subdue him while he was fighting
to get this gun, and he was taken into custody
yet again. And there's no doubt that he would have
killed another officer as quick as blank if he could
have got his hands on that gun. So at this point,
it's off to bloody Angola for this guy to spend
(25:40):
the rest of his life right, no chance of parole anything. Well,
not so fast. In twenty twenty four, David Eugene Lewis,
he gets a shot at clemency and I have that
parole hearing and you need to hear it. I have
the clip for that. It's around two twenty minutes long,
(26:00):
but it's very interesting. A lot of people speak at
this parole hearing against his release, including the slide L
Police Department, the former mayor of slide L and others
including Lewis. And I'm gonna play that you're gonna find
out in this clip if this guy actually gets released.
(26:22):
Here's that clip.
Speaker 5 (26:23):
We're gonna have your case, mister Lewis. We're going to
do several things here. First off, we're gonna hear from
you what you have to say about this particular incident
and what you've been doing since this incident. And then
we're going to ask the warden or the assistant warden
to tell us what kind of an inmate that you
(26:44):
have been. Then we will go and we'll have some
folks that are here in present that want to that
are going to speak in opposition of this hearing. And
then we will have a chance for us as the board.
We'll ask you questions and then we will have a
(27:06):
vote that will be taken. So first off, let's go
ahead and get started with you and tell us. Tell
us what you think about the crime and what you've
been doing since the crime was committed, and why should
we grant you your request to that.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Oh, I'm guilty for what I'm charged with. Oh, and
I'm very sorry about what happened, about what I did. H.
(27:48):
It hurts me to think about him. I've been about
forty nine years now and I still not able to
come the we at what I did.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
I realized that through taking these courses a victim awareness death,
it made me aware of the extreme hurt and pain
that I have caused the victims and the victims family,
(28:23):
and I never had taken that under considered raising during
the time I was committing committing the offense. I'm really
sorry for what I did. M It hurts me deep
down their side for.
Speaker 5 (28:42):
What I did.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
And knowing how much hurt and of course the victims
in all sort of family, I'm just hoping that they'll
be able too to care over what over what I did.
(29:14):
I spend here, I hurry behind it. I take it
really real. I take all the responsibility for h and
which say it never happened.
Speaker 5 (29:37):
Yes, all right? Uh, warden, what's what kind of endmce
is mister Lewis Ben Miss.
Speaker 6 (29:49):
Lewis only had a total of ten dB reports since
he'd been here, the last being in twenty twenty two
for a root for disobedience, which is a low court here.
Speaker 5 (29:59):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (29:59):
He also have taken anger management one hundred dollars, victim
awareness and he did the victim.
Speaker 7 (30:04):
Awareness letter training his tiger is low.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (30:08):
Missus Lewis also UH the TAY test several times trying
to get his ged. The highest level he got was
and there was no other records of educational programs.
Speaker 5 (30:22):
Here he couldn't. Did you get the gen I guess
we pad of learning the disabilities? Uh, sir, Other than
that I have anything? Okay, thank you?
Speaker 8 (30:34):
Well give me.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
A ya. I finished high school?
Speaker 5 (30:44):
Oh? Okay, say you finished high school?
Speaker 1 (30:47):
I got I am displomal? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (30:50):
Okay?
Speaker 8 (30:51):
Where did you finish high school?
Speaker 5 (30:52):
How did you take that?
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Very far?
Speaker 8 (30:57):
Where was that you finished?
Speaker 5 (30:59):
Thanks?
Speaker 1 (31:00):
You know State Taming Parish, State Chaman of high School
and Stay Family Parish.
Speaker 5 (31:05):
Okay, all right, okay, we'll hear now from uh, let's see,
let's hear from Butch Wilson a DA and sant Tamnedy Parish.
Speaker 8 (31:18):
This attorney dollars?
Speaker 5 (31:19):
Is he here, Chris Wilson, Yes, sir, thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 9 (31:33):
Unless members of the boards think that we need to
go through a factual citation, I don't think I need
to do that because I'm sure where I will say
that I've discussed the facts of this case with the
with the district attorney.
Speaker 10 (31:50):
And.
Speaker 11 (31:52):
Both of us are somewhat of the belief that over
the period of time that mister Lewis Is been in jail,
that given what had happened since he was convicted, with
the escape that I'm sure you all are all aware
of the attempt of disarming of second police officer during
(32:13):
the escape.
Speaker 8 (32:15):
That we believe that at some point his real regret
must have been.
Speaker 9 (32:19):
Not finishing what he had started with the clerk and
not taking the time to kill the truck dropper, because
if you've read the facts in this case, those were
the only two witnesses that could connect him.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
To this murder.
Speaker 9 (32:31):
Thank god that didn't happen, because that was the only way.
If the truck driver, mister Smith hadn't been there to
see the vehicle he was driving, he would have gotten
away with it. He would have Miss Graves can't even
be here today because she can't go through this situation anymore.
She can't relive this. It's still with hers, she still
(32:52):
has the stars all over her body. On behalf of
the Saya louisianaic or the oppositely Charny. We asked that
you honor the memory starting Alfred and the pain that
this race has gone through, and deny Cleton seeings.
Speaker 5 (33:11):
Thank you, thanks you, sir, appreciate you being here, the
trouble to get here and your words will take anythings
good consideration. Mister friend and Freddy Dinnon and the slide
down police forward that I say, you're right on here, sir,
are you the are you the man or.
Speaker 12 (33:32):
Perd time that you feels occurred in all with newmployer
by the same time, Office, I would want to investigator
to that.
Speaker 5 (33:38):
Now will be about to get a come over. I
will presently the driver toarment. It didn't work.
Speaker 12 (33:45):
Achieve sure office and Popabi congratulations good uh as I said,
I would want to investigators evolve investigator do your.
Speaker 10 (33:57):
Ear Alfred very well. I work with r was the
first African American going for the body. I worked for
the years, all working back and forth with the city.
We have a bread, dear, and did the market boat
giving moved. I did not know Marry Hodge at the time.
(34:18):
Get her and I've got to know her sin and
she said, oh, softly, tramatically wrong.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
You know.
Speaker 5 (34:28):
It just couldn't get on the ding of the land.
Speaker 8 (34:33):
With the versy.
Speaker 10 (34:34):
Here is someone, in my opinion, something round where he
gives but the offenses it to get a herd.
Speaker 8 (34:41):
He did it and she admitted to and.
Speaker 10 (34:43):
Uh uh eighty part of the board forgiving me was
going to rest my cinion about it, and I'll appreciate
what you're doing.
Speaker 5 (34:53):
Thank you, sir, I appreciate your time, and we'll take
your remarks in the consideration. Jay brad Clark with the
the Attorney General's Office.
Speaker 9 (35:06):
About running your own be happy at twenty feeneral laws.
Speaker 10 (35:10):
Just a few recomminates on these cases.
Speaker 13 (35:14):
I've noticed that in the sort of most statement he
said that he takes responsibility in this case, and there
was an awful appetake responsibility. They comb set twenty few times.
Given strang police officer murdered in the line of duty
and escape and then the attempt to disarmed and murder
(35:34):
a second wood soficer. These are extraordinary facts. These are
fenus facts. These are Themis proms With supposed was given
a life sentence given the fact of the extreme mansure
of these jises, the fact the younger cultes you could
(35:58):
still be felt by and survive and get them to
the stick. Attorney General's Office would ask the sport to
the dye pletancy.
Speaker 9 (36:08):
It's the life sentence in this matter. He's the appropriate
and just simmence.
Speaker 14 (36:12):
That was.
Speaker 5 (36:16):
Thank you, sir, appreciate your time and and we'll take
your remarks consideration. Okay, As we normally do, each board
member is supplied all of the reports and we read
them all I can tell you that's the truth. And uh.
And then we have one particular board member that conducts
the questioning for us. In this particular case, it's mister
(36:37):
Chucky Tellis. Oh, I'm sorry that okay, okay, all right, sar, yes, sir,
would you please introduce yourself. It's not on my sheet
here and uh and I apologize to that.
Speaker 9 (36:56):
One of the bar on board for allow us to
come to sweep there.
Speaker 14 (36:59):
I'm read, I'm checking the police in at the city
slide represented the slide of Land City. I'm gonna give
you a little bit different perspectives from my point of view.
I was fifteen years old in the sent This affected
our community definitely have started all Alfred, he said, work
a school crossing guard and I was one of the
(37:20):
kids that he used to not across the street. So
this was kind a profound effect on our family, our community.
And now I've been dedicating my life. It's a law
enforcement I've been in law enforcement now forty four years
this year, work myself up to the chief of police.
And you're asking you. It's a representati of the silence.
(37:43):
Please see to this man's mens for us, and it's
like in prison.
Speaker 5 (37:48):
Thank you, thank you, chief. We appreciate your words. And
I guess for did not recognizing you and and is
it the captain?
Speaker 1 (37:56):
And that's with you?
Speaker 8 (37:58):
Who are you, sir?
Speaker 5 (37:59):
I'm a captain strut NICKI okay, well sorry, thank you,
appreciate you men here, thank you the time to get here. Yes,
all right, we'll go back to mister Tillis. Now do
you have any uh any questions?
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Yes?
Speaker 8 (38:13):
Are you doing? Mister Lewis?
Speaker 1 (38:15):
All right? So you're as right?
Speaker 8 (38:20):
I thought I heard the warden say twenty two. Is
that correct?
Speaker 1 (38:25):
No?
Speaker 7 (38:30):
His last reputement in twenty twenty two, two thousand and two.
Speaker 8 (38:36):
I'm sorry, yeah, that's when I.
Speaker 5 (38:40):
Reports though.
Speaker 8 (38:42):
Oh yeah, I see it was two thousand and two.
Speaker 5 (38:46):
Oh.
Speaker 8 (38:52):
So you've been trying to rehabilitate yourself, yes, sir, all right, yeah,
and I see you are remorseful, yes, sir, O OK.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
It affects me what I did a great deal. I
have a malior too. We outtain any clarity with him.
It hurts what I did. How long have you been
incarcerated h since August thirteen, nineteen seventy five.
Speaker 8 (39:31):
Yeah, I've read your case several times, like, uh, do
you have anything you want to say about it other
than what you've said.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
M's all right, But what I did, I've taken them
shelf help courses to try to come in some claerity
of body. Okay, understand, Thank you, sir, Thank you.
Speaker 8 (40:07):
Good question.
Speaker 5 (40:07):
Is that any questions?
Speaker 7 (40:12):
Yes, sir, I would just like to make a statement
that follows up on the people who spoke to you today.
I'm really in agreement with the things that they said,
that it's hard and twenty two stab wounds of the
kind of things that you can't you can't take back,
you can't undo. And of course we had a member
(40:34):
of law enforcement that were just murdered. Yes, one of
the things that happens is something like that is people say,
I can't take it back, I can't undo it. They
can't feel the empty arms that don't come home in
the evening, that you're able to hug that son of
the human parts of it, that if you put the
(40:54):
human being in the perspective of it, that that I
mean I I had friends that had this happen to them.
And they said they looked at the clob and said, oh,
it's four o'clock. Let me get up and start fixing
suffer and that person. Then they realize they're not coming
home for supper. So I'm sure you learned all of
that in victims awareness, but that's the rest of their life.
Speaker 8 (41:20):
So I do agree with.
Speaker 7 (41:23):
What I've heard from the colleagues of this man and
the people that represent the state and the community. The
damage that was done was hainous.
Speaker 8 (41:37):
Thanks, thank you, Come ang.
Speaker 5 (41:40):
Okay, I don't have any questions.
Speaker 8 (41:44):
Ready to vote. Okay, what would be to deny? Okay,
it's sables.
Speaker 7 (41:50):
My vote is to deny based on the hainous nature
of your multiple primes.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Okay.
Speaker 9 (41:56):
I like to thank everyone that showed up here today,
and my vote is also to deny.
Speaker 8 (42:02):
I concur with the panel.
Speaker 5 (42:03):
My voted to deny, and so I'm telling you that
our pure requestion dated been denied, sir, and continue to
go to Betty you say.
Speaker 4 (42:17):
So, there you have it. Thankfully, the board ruled not
to give clemency to Lewis, and Lewis well remained behind bars,
it seems, hopefully for the rest of his life. And hey,
he's old. He's an old man now, although he looked
very in shape, he's been in jail fifty years. And
(42:37):
it's my opinion, you kill a police officer in particular, Really,
if you kill anybody, in my opinion, you don't need
to be running free. But if you kill a police officer,
you should never even get a shot at anything. No parole,
no clemency, no nothing. That's my opinion on it. And
in this case, it looks like this was his one
(42:58):
and only in last shot. Maybe he does regret everything,
like he said in that hearing you just heard. I mean,
I'm sure everybody who has to spend fifty years in
prison regrets what they've done in which they wouldn't have
done it. But you know what they say, don't do
the crime if you can't do the time. Thank you
(43:21):
so much for listening. Check out the Patreon for commercial,
free early releases. I'm going to start putting a lot
more on their patreon dot com slash Bloody in Gola
podcast and until next time, I'm Jim Chapman, your host
of Bloody Inngola, a podcast one hundred and forty two
(43:43):
years in the making, the complete story of America's bloodiest prison.
Speaker 3 (43:47):
Peace h I walk straight line, shackle change. Oh weesome, Girdie,
(44:15):
it's calling my name. There is no mercy and it's
been a tentery juice as the huge stream game wrangler.
Speaker 5 (44:29):
Three. I'm here but.
Speaker 4 (44:35):
By mere to die.
Speaker 3 (44:38):
Inside these walls, inside the wild.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
And when the girls I know, it's so.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
Moody, angle body all
M M.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
A wall, straight line.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Shackle Chaine, Oh doesome gird it's calling my name.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
There is no mercy and it's been a tentery juice
as the hill Stream game Wrangle three.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
I'm here by me to die.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Inside these walls, inside the wild.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
And when the girls I Hey everyone, and welcome back
(01:31):
to Bloody Angola, a podcast one and forty two years
in the making, the complete story of America's Bloodiest Present.
I'm Jim Chapman, and today I am bringing you a
story that many people requested after last week's episode. Now,
last week I covered this story and conviction of Charles
(01:52):
Ray Spears, who was known as the Good Year Killer. Now,
in that episode, I referenced a robbery the developed into
a murder in nearby Slidell, Louisiana, and sadly, that was
the murder of an officer by the name of Earl Alfred. Now,
a lot of you reached out. You wanted to hear
more about this case and what the result of it
(02:16):
was and learn more about Sergeant Earl Alfred. So I'm
going to tell you the entire story today, but before
I do, I want to update you on some news
that broke just this week, and that is the capture
of Antoine Massey. He was the ninth of ten inmates
to escape the Orleans Paris jail. Of course, I covered
(02:37):
that escape in previous episodes, and I want to quickly
get you up to date. And I'm going to reference
a CNN article for this, and that CNN article reads,
ninth escape New Orleans inmate is captured, leaving just one
at large. An Twine Massey, a serial escapee who vanished
from a New Orleans jail with nine other inmates just
(03:01):
after midnight on May sixteenth, was arrested Friday afternoon in
New Orleans. According to the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office, the
last remaining escapee, Derrick Groves, is still on the run
after breaking out of the Orleans Justice Center in New
Orleans over a month ago. Massey was recently charged with
vehicle theft in domestic abuse involving strangulation. This according to
(03:26):
Orleans Parish records, The thirty three year old was captured
in a rental property in the Hollygrove neighborhood of New Orleans.
And incidentally, all that's in the ninth ward and that
was according to Deputy US Marshall Brian Fair. He was
arrested just miles from the jail where Massey and other
inmates made their brazen escape, taking advantage of bad locks,
(03:49):
stolen bedding in a hungry jail employee, and they used
electronic hair trimmers with multiple clipper blades to help cut
their way through the cell walls. He was taken into
custody without incident after being surrounded on Friday afternoon, and
according to US marshals, it was a peaceful arrest quote
(04:10):
after receiving a tip. Follow up work was done and
that led to the arrest today. Remember I told you
once they upped that reward to fifty grand, don't be
surprised if somebody turned on Massy quickly, And apparently that's
what happened.
Speaker 5 (04:25):
Now.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
After the arrest, Massey was flown to a secure state
facility outside.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Of the area.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
And if you're curious what that is, folks, it's bloody Angola.
Massy has a long track record of escaping custody. In
two thousand and seven, he broke out of a New
Orleans juvenile detention center after being arrested on suspicion of
armed robbery and aggravated assault. And early in June, authorities
rated a home after a video showed a man claiming
(04:52):
to be Massy saying he was innocent. In the video,
the man claimed to be Massy appealed to Lil Wayne
for help and held a document to the camera what
he says was a stamped affidavit that proves his innocent.
He also claimed his ex girlfriend Diamond White, recanted at
her allegation of abuse in that affidavit. Groves, who was
(05:13):
still at large, was convicted in October of killing two
people in twenty eighteen, and later pleaded guilty the battery
of a corrections officer. New Orleans Police Department Chief Anne
Kirkpatrick address Combs directly at a Friday news conference, saying,
we are going to capture you. You will be taken
into custody, but you still have the option to peacefully
(05:35):
turn yourself in, and we will make an appeal for
you to do so. Quote the public defender is ready
to meet you and be with you from the very
moment you choose to turn yourself in. Groves case went
to trial four separate times, according to the Orleans Parish
District Attorney's Office. They said he was determined to be
one of two gunmen who opened fire with an AK
(05:57):
forty seven assault rifle on what should have been a
joyous Mardi Gras gathering. A woman believed to be Grove's girlfriend,
currently Dirianna Burton, was arrested earlier in June for helping
him escape. Allegedly, she had exchanged text messages and video
calls with Groves in the days leading up to the escape.
(06:17):
And there is a fifty thousand dollars reward for information
leading the Groves capture. Chief Deputy US Marshall Walter Martin said,
just like we found mister Massey today, we will find
growths and we will continue our efforts. Of course, he
encouraged anyone with information about Groves whereabouts to alert authorities. Quote,
(06:38):
you can remain anonymous, but we need your help. Collectively,
we will not rest even if it takes another six
days or six weeks until the last fugitive is in custody.
So there you have that, only one more left in
this escape saga. Now let's get into today's episode, and
(06:59):
I'm gonna start by telling you a little bit about
Sergeant Alfred and to say that this officer was a
trailblazer in law enforcement would be an absolute understatement. He
started with the slide L Police Department in nineteen seventy
and he was the first black officer ever hired by
(07:20):
the slide L Police Department. He was born in nineteen forty.
He grew up in Louisiana and it was there you
could say that he developed a very strong sense of
community and service which led him into law enforcement. He
had served in the US Army, and of course that
develops his sense of duty and discipline that you can
(07:44):
really only get from the military, and it certainly prepared
him for the challenges he would face later on as
a police officer. This was a very formative time in
his life and it really shaped everything you would look
for in a police officer, such as leader, skip skills, commitment,
(08:05):
and one of the most important qualities to have as
an officer is the ability to remain calm under pressure.
All of this gets developed in the military. Now, as
I just mentioned, he was the first black police officer
hired in slide L. And look, this is nineteen seventy,
(08:25):
the height of racial tension, and when you're the first
black officer on a predominantly white police force during that time,
it's I'm sure not without its challenges, and it took
someone like Officer Alfred to really step into that type
of role during that time in history. He had a
(08:46):
very approachable demeanor, He was dedicated to his job and
he was flat out beloved. As a matter of fact,
he earned a nickname throughout the community and that nickname
was off Sir Friendly.
Speaker 5 (09:01):
Now.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
Throughout his career with the Slightel Police Department that started
in nineteen seventy, he demonstrated exceptional dedication to his duties.
He had a deep commitment to the safety and well
being of the community, which is very important. And it
wasn't long before he was promoted to the rank of
sergeant and that's really a testament to not only his
(09:25):
leadership skills, but his effectiveness as a police officer. Sergeant
Alfred was particularly known for his ability to be proactive
in policing. He would engage with the community frequently and
he would really work to bridge the gap right between
police and the public. His personal life was no different.
(09:49):
He was in a lovely marriage. He and his wife
had adopted a daughter and this was a big source
of pride for him. He was all about family, which
really spoke to me because in his line of work,
it's not easy to maintain a productive, healthy personal life.
I mean, police officers, they see the worst of people
(10:12):
a lot of the time. Yet he seemed to thrive
in both of these areas, both professionally and personally, so
all seem well in the world. On August thirteenth of
nineteen seventy five, when at approximately eight o'clock am, he
responds to a silent alarm at the Champagne Jewelry Store
(10:33):
in Slidedale, Louisiana. In this alarm, it was directly linked
to the Slidel Police Department, so the response was quick
between when Sergeant Alfred received this notification, if you will,
that the silent alarm had been triggered at the Champagne
Jewelry store. And I'm going to take you back to
(10:54):
just prior to the triggering of that alarm, and I'm
going to tell you what was going on that Sergeant
Alfred had no idea what he was walking into. So
a twenty six year old male suspect, he enters that
store and he tells the twenty year old employee, her
(11:14):
name was Betty Graves, that he was there to pick
up a ring. So missus Graves, she opens the safe
and she grabs like that tray of rings, and as
soon as she swings back around, she realizes that this
suspect has went behind the counter and he's armed. He
has a twenty two caliber handgun as well as a
(11:37):
pair of scissors. He grabs her and he starts dragging
her to the back room, and as he's dragging her
to the back room, he is wailing on her with
those scissors, stabbing her over and over again, as well
as choking her because he's pulling her by the neck. Now,
eventually he lets her go and she just kind of
(11:58):
falls to the floor. She had been stabbed twenty two
times with those scissors just all over her body. Now,
at this point, the suspect takes a bunch of those
rings and jewelry, and it was estimated later to be
about five thousand dollars total, which this is nineteen seventy
(12:19):
it's probably worth five times that in today's money. At
that point, the suspect goes out the front door, and
according to missus Graves, she heard the word halt, and
then she heard a gunshot and then silence, and then
several more shots and I want to say something at
(12:39):
this point. I referred to several newspaper articles during that time,
and some of these say he went out the front door.
Some of these say he went out the back door.
It's really irrelevant. He went out of a door. He
went through one of those doors, and that is when
he was approached by Sergeant Earl Alfred, who was responded
(13:00):
to that silent alarm. According to the Louisiana Weekly, Sergeant
Alfred apprehended the robber in the driveway behind that jewelry store,
and after relieving the suspect of his pistol, which Sergeant
Alfred put in his pocket, he attempted to put handcuffs
on the suspect. Now, as any police officer will tell you,
(13:25):
when you pull the handcuffs out and you click that
first handcuff on, suspects freak out. They realize that shit
just got real, right and that's what happened here, and
they get into a major scuffle. It was during that
scuffle that Sergeant Alfred's gun falls out of his holster.
(13:45):
Somehow this suspect managed to pick it up and he
shoots Alfred and kills this amazing officer. So back inside
the jewelry store, Miss Betty Graves. She hears the gunshots,
and this amazing lady somehow manages to crawl out the
front door with twenty two stab wounds from those scissors,
(14:11):
and she gets Sergeant Alfred's radio and essentially calls for backup.
And again there are some conflicting reports. There are some
people that reported that she attempted to call for backup,
but she passed out before she was able to get
the CB up to her mouth to call for the backup.
(14:31):
And then there's other reports that say she was actually
able to call for backup, and what she said was
please get help. I'm bleeding to death. I'm gonna say
she called for backup. Now, I'm gonna paint a picture
for you of how confusing this stuff got back then
when they're reporting news, and how crazy the news had
gotten when something like this happened. There are articles all
(14:54):
over the place from this incident from newspapers, which is
what I referred to, and all of them had different information.
Some said she was eighteen, some said Miss Grays was nineteen.
Of course, I told you, they can't agree on whether
she called for backup, et cetera. And that was a
product of everybody being in a rush to report this story.
(15:15):
This was before social media, and it was a race
at that time to get that breaking news out, and
they just didn't get it right a lot of the outlets.
But regardless of all that, this happened in broad daylight,
that we know for sure, and there were a few
witnesses to this that would come into play later. Now,
(15:37):
immediately following the incident, of course, police officers shot all
hands on deck. Right when something like that occurs, they're
shutting down the city, they're forming a perimeter. Apbs are
put out, and they had a description from witnesses of
a truck which was a black and white seventies model
(15:59):
Chevrolet or similar. They set up roadblocks. They're looking for
this truck, but nothing panned out and it seemed like
the suspect was able to get away. Now, shortly after that,
mere days, as a matter of fact, a man goes
into the slide L Police department and he basically said
he had some concerns. He said the vehicle that the
(16:20):
assailant who shot this officer in looked like his vehicle,
and the composite sketch that they were able to get
from miss Betty looked like him, and he was concerned
because he didn't want people to think that was him.
And he was the one who killed this officer and
he was there to essentially clear his name. And this
(16:41):
guy's name was David E. Lewis. Now, of course, the
slide L Police department, they're like, this doesn't seem right.
So the officer on duty he tells the defendant that, hey,
if he wanted to talk about this, they need to
read him his Mariderites, which they did, and he said,
you're not under arrest. You can leave any time you
(17:03):
want to do so. And at that point Lewis says again, hey,
I'm just here to clear my name of any suspicion
and I'm willing to answer any questions that you have.
So they bring Louis into the interrogation room. And it's
also worth noting his mom was with him at this point.
She went with him to the police department and they
(17:25):
leave her out front and the police go in there
and they ask him if he wants anything. He asked
for some coffee. He actually asked for some candy and
some water, so they go get that stuff for him,
and they never handcuffed him. They didn't shackle him, his
movement was not restricted anything like that. He wasn't under arrest.
But most importantly, they didn't want to do anything to
(17:47):
make this guy feel like he was under arrest. But
they had a good suspicion that he had something to
do with this, and it was at this point that
they even went as far as to contact the district
Attorney and asked him to come to the police station
because they wanted him to oversee that interrogation and make
sure they weren't doing anything out of line, because the
(18:11):
last thing that they wanted to do is find out
that this guy indeed had something to do with it,
and they did something to screw up the confession and
the whole case gets thrown out because the law wasn't followed.
So the DA gets there and he even asked Lewis
if he had been mistreated, and Lewis said no, he
(18:31):
had no complaints and all was good. So at this time,
a man by the name of Lieutenant Humphrey, he was
the head of the Criminal Investigations Division for Slidel. He
wanted to assign who he would consider to be the
best person to question Lewis, and he chooses an officer
by the name of Officer Penton, and the reason he
(18:54):
chose that officer was not only was he the most
experienced officer in the department, but he was also the
oldest officer in the department, and he felt like the
age difference between Lewis and this officer would put Lewis
more at ease, he wouldn't feel as intimidated. So Officer
Penton he goes into the room alone to question Lewis,
(19:18):
and he gets what officers would refer to as the
juice out of this guy. Lewis eventually sings like a canary.
He confesses not only do this, but he tells Officer
Pentton where they can find the murder weapon, which was
incidentally Officer Friendly's own gun, and he also tells them
(19:42):
where they can find the jewelry and clothing that he
had worn, and they were in a woody area near
where Lewis lived. He then signs what's known as a
waiver of rights and the officers go and they recover
this physical evidence, which once they recovered that there's no
dispute that he did this murder, and he did request
(20:02):
to speak to his mother, which they allowed him to do,
and I guess he tells her goodbye because he just
confessed to the murder of a police officer and the
attempted murder of a twenty year old Miss Betty Graves.
So the ensuing weeks, of course, as you would expect,
the slide L community really gets behind the family of
(20:23):
this officer. As I said, he was very beloved, and
they do everything they can to help. And it wasn't
long after that that the city of Slidel they really
gave the ultimate honor for this slain officer when they
renamed third Street in Slydel, which is kind of a
main artery through that city, they renamed that Sergeant Earl
(20:45):
Alfred Drive. And then just shortly after that, the indictments
are returned from a Saint Tammany Parish grand jury against
David Eugene Lewis from the murder of Earl Alfred and
the attempted murder of Miss Betty. And it was on
June twenty third, nineteen seventy six, a little less than
(21:05):
a year later, that a guilty verdict is returned in
that murder of Sergeant Alfred. And you might wonder, well,
if he confessed, why did they even have to get
a trial, and obviously that's not the way that worked.
Of Course, an attorney eventually gets a halt to this guy,
(21:27):
and in this case, he knew Lewis had nothing to
lose and we're going to get a trial, and that's
exactly what they did. And some things that occurred during
that trial. Lewis actually stated that yes, he signed a confession. However,
he was promised a light sentence if he signed that confession.
You got to be a freaking moron to think if
(21:48):
you're going to kill a police officer, you're going to
get a light sentence. Also, in the trial, the physical
evidence came out, including forensic evidence that was recovered at
the scene that he told them where it was. Of course,
miss Betty Graves, she was the star witness of this trial.
She survived despite those twenty two stab wounds. She testified.
(22:08):
And another thing that was strange to me, Lewis actually
even tried to claim during the trial that he was
outside of the store, that he never went inside and
some guy he only knew is Mackie, was the one
inside the store and that was the one that killed
officer Friendly. Again title bullshit, right. The jury only deliberated
(22:28):
for about four hours before handing down the guilty verdict,
and he gets sentenced, And in this case, he gets
sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole.
What I didn't tell you was there was a separate
trial that took place in between the time he committed
this crime and when he was convicted. In the trial,
(22:52):
Lewis was actually charged with second degree murdered times two
counts in some other cases that took place in New Orleans.
One of those crimes involved shooting a man in the
back seven times with a twenty two caliber pistol were
resulting in his death. And another charge involved an individual
named Larry Bemwaugh who was shot in the throat with
(23:14):
a thirty eight caliber pistol during what was similar to
a gang shooting. It was over drugs of some sort. Now,
in those trials, Lewis was acquitted of the first charge
and he was found guilty in the charge of shooting
Larry Bemwaugh in the throat with that thirty eight revolver.
So at this point in time, the guy has a
(23:36):
sentence of life plus thirty years essentially, so it's off
to spend the rest of his life in jail right, well,
not exactly. Believe it or not, this cop killer and
murderer of at least one other person, possibly two, he escapes,
and how he escaped is a pretty wild story. He
(23:58):
was actually in the hospital at the time. He had
underwent a kidney surgery of some sort, and while he
was recovering in the hospital, which was Charity Hospital in
New Orleans, he somehow just walks out the front door
and he was captured. I can't get the exact time
that he was on the run, but more than a
(24:21):
few days, less than a month. It just basically says
several weeks, and he was recaptured near the Mississippi state line.
But here's the crazy thing. The police had a roadblock
set up for something in someone completely different, nothing to
do with Lewis. And David Lewis and a female who
(24:44):
I'm assuming was his girlfriend. They're driving down the road,
old country road, and they see this roadblock set up
and they turn around in the middle of the road. Well,
what do you think the police.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Are going to do?
Speaker 4 (24:56):
They see them turn around, and several of these year
they start chasing that vehicle and they pull it over
and get this Lewis gets out of the car and
he starts struggling with these police officers. He almost gets
his hand on one of the officers shot guns, but
(25:17):
they were able to subdue him while he was fighting
to get this gun, and he was taken into custody
yet again. And there's no doubt that he would have
killed another officer as quick as blank if he could
have got his hands on that gun. So at this point,
it's off to bloody Angola for this guy to spend
(25:40):
the rest of his life right, no chance of parole anything. Well,
not so fast. In twenty twenty four, David Eugene Lewis,
he gets a shot at clemency and I have that
parole hearing and you need to hear it. I have
the clip for that. It's around two twenty minutes long,
(26:00):
but it's very interesting. A lot of people speak at
this parole hearing against his release, including the slide L
Police Department, the former mayor of slide L and others
including Lewis. And I'm gonna play that you're gonna find
out in this clip if this guy actually gets released.
(26:22):
Here's that clip.
Speaker 5 (26:23):
We're gonna have your case, mister Lewis. We're going to
do several things here. First off, we're gonna hear from
you what you have to say about this particular incident
and what you've been doing since this incident. And then
we're going to ask the warden or the assistant warden
to tell us what kind of an inmate that you
(26:44):
have been. Then we will go and we'll have some
folks that are here in present that want to that
are going to speak in opposition of this hearing. And
then we will have a chance for us as the board.
We'll ask you questions and then we will have a
(27:06):
vote that will be taken. So first off, let's go
ahead and get started with you and tell us. Tell
us what you think about the crime and what you've
been doing since the crime was committed, and why should
we grant you your request to that.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Oh, I'm guilty for what I'm charged with. Oh, and
I'm very sorry about what happened, about what I did. H.
(27:48):
It hurts me to think about him. I've been about
forty nine years now and I still not able to
come the we at what I did.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
I realized that through taking these courses a victim awareness death,
it made me aware of the extreme hurt and pain
that I have caused the victims and the victims family,
(28:23):
and I never had taken that under considered raising during
the time I was committing committing the offense. I'm really
sorry for what I did. M It hurts me deep
down their side for.
Speaker 5 (28:42):
What I did.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
And knowing how much hurt and of course the victims
in all sort of family, I'm just hoping that they'll
be able too to care over what over what I did.
(29:14):
I spend here, I hurry behind it. I take it
really real. I take all the responsibility for h and
which say it never happened.
Speaker 5 (29:37):
Yes, all right? Uh, warden, what's what kind of endmce
is mister Lewis Ben Miss.
Speaker 6 (29:49):
Lewis only had a total of ten dB reports since
he'd been here, the last being in twenty twenty two
for a root for disobedience, which is a low court here.
Speaker 5 (29:59):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (29:59):
He also have taken anger management one hundred dollars, victim
awareness and he did the victim.
Speaker 7 (30:04):
Awareness letter training his tiger is low.
Speaker 3 (30:08):
Uh.
Speaker 6 (30:08):
Missus Lewis also UH the TAY test several times trying
to get his ged. The highest level he got was
and there was no other records of educational programs.
Speaker 5 (30:22):
Here he couldn't. Did you get the gen I guess
we pad of learning the disabilities? Uh, sir, Other than
that I have anything? Okay, thank you?
Speaker 8 (30:34):
Well give me.
Speaker 1 (30:41):
A ya. I finished high school?
Speaker 5 (30:44):
Oh? Okay, say you finished high school?
Speaker 1 (30:47):
I got I am displomal? Yeah?
Speaker 5 (30:50):
Okay?
Speaker 8 (30:51):
Where did you finish high school?
Speaker 5 (30:52):
How did you take that?
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Very far?
Speaker 8 (30:57):
Where was that you finished?
Speaker 5 (30:59):
Thanks?
Speaker 1 (31:00):
You know State Taming Parish, State Chaman of high School
and Stay Family Parish.
Speaker 5 (31:05):
Okay, all right, okay, we'll hear now from uh, let's see,
let's hear from Butch Wilson a DA and sant Tamnedy Parish.
Speaker 8 (31:18):
This attorney dollars?
Speaker 5 (31:19):
Is he here, Chris Wilson, Yes, sir, thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 9 (31:33):
Unless members of the boards think that we need to
go through a factual citation, I don't think I need
to do that because I'm sure where I will say
that I've discussed the facts of this case with the
with the district attorney.
Speaker 10 (31:50):
And.
Speaker 11 (31:52):
Both of us are somewhat of the belief that over
the period of time that mister Lewis Is been in jail,
that given what had happened since he was convicted, with
the escape that I'm sure you all are all aware
of the attempt of disarming of second police officer during
(32:13):
the escape.
Speaker 8 (32:15):
That we believe that at some point his real regret
must have been.
Speaker 9 (32:19):
Not finishing what he had started with the clerk and
not taking the time to kill the truck dropper, because
if you've read the facts in this case, those were
the only two witnesses that could connect him.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
To this murder.
Speaker 9 (32:31):
Thank god that didn't happen, because that was the only way.
If the truck driver, mister Smith hadn't been there to
see the vehicle he was driving, he would have gotten
away with it. He would have Miss Graves can't even
be here today because she can't go through this situation anymore.
She can't relive this. It's still with hers, she still
(32:52):
has the stars all over her body. On behalf of
the Saya louisianaic or the oppositely Charny. We asked that
you honor the memory starting Alfred and the pain that
this race has gone through, and deny Cleton seeings.
Speaker 5 (33:11):
Thank you, thanks you, sir, appreciate you being here, the
trouble to get here and your words will take anythings
good consideration. Mister friend and Freddy Dinnon and the slide
down police forward that I say, you're right on here, sir,
are you the are you the man or.
Speaker 12 (33:32):
Perd time that you feels occurred in all with newmployer
by the same time, Office, I would want to investigator
to that.
Speaker 5 (33:38):
Now will be about to get a come over. I
will presently the driver toarment. It didn't work.
Speaker 12 (33:45):
Achieve sure office and Popabi congratulations good uh as I said,
I would want to investigators evolve investigator do your.
Speaker 10 (33:57):
Ear Alfred very well. I work with r was the
first African American going for the body. I worked for
the years, all working back and forth with the city.
We have a bread, dear, and did the market boat
giving moved. I did not know Marry Hodge at the time.
(34:18):
Get her and I've got to know her sin and
she said, oh, softly, tramatically wrong.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
You know.
Speaker 5 (34:28):
It just couldn't get on the ding of the land.
Speaker 8 (34:33):
With the versy.
Speaker 10 (34:34):
Here is someone, in my opinion, something round where he
gives but the offenses it to get a herd.
Speaker 8 (34:41):
He did it and she admitted to and.
Speaker 10 (34:43):
Uh uh eighty part of the board forgiving me was
going to rest my cinion about it, and I'll appreciate
what you're doing.
Speaker 5 (34:53):
Thank you, sir, I appreciate your time, and we'll take
your remarks in the consideration. Jay brad Clark with the
the Attorney General's Office.
Speaker 9 (35:06):
About running your own be happy at twenty feeneral laws.
Speaker 10 (35:10):
Just a few recomminates on these cases.
Speaker 13 (35:14):
I've noticed that in the sort of most statement he
said that he takes responsibility in this case, and there
was an awful appetake responsibility. They comb set twenty few times.
Given strang police officer murdered in the line of duty
and escape and then the attempt to disarmed and murder
(35:34):
a second wood soficer. These are extraordinary facts. These are
fenus facts. These are Themis proms With supposed was given
a life sentence given the fact of the extreme mansure
of these jises, the fact the younger cultes you could
(35:58):
still be felt by and survive and get them to
the stick. Attorney General's Office would ask the sport to
the dye pletancy.
Speaker 9 (36:08):
It's the life sentence in this matter. He's the appropriate
and just simmence.
Speaker 14 (36:12):
That was.
Speaker 5 (36:16):
Thank you, sir, appreciate your time and and we'll take
your remarks consideration. Okay, As we normally do, each board
member is supplied all of the reports and we read
them all I can tell you that's the truth. And uh.
And then we have one particular board member that conducts
the questioning for us. In this particular case, it's mister
(36:37):
Chucky Tellis. Oh, I'm sorry that okay, okay, all right, sar, yes, sir,
would you please introduce yourself. It's not on my sheet
here and uh and I apologize to that.
Speaker 9 (36:56):
One of the bar on board for allow us to
come to sweep there.
Speaker 14 (36:59):
I'm read, I'm checking the police in at the city
slide represented the slide of Land City. I'm gonna give
you a little bit different perspectives from my point of view.
I was fifteen years old in the sent This affected
our community definitely have started all Alfred, he said, work
a school crossing guard and I was one of the
(37:20):
kids that he used to not across the street. So
this was kind a profound effect on our family, our community.
And now I've been dedicating my life. It's a law
enforcement I've been in law enforcement now forty four years
this year, work myself up to the chief of police.
And you're asking you. It's a representati of the silence.
(37:43):
Please see to this man's mens for us, and it's
like in prison.
Speaker 5 (37:48):
Thank you, thank you, chief. We appreciate your words. And
I guess for did not recognizing you and and is
it the captain?
Speaker 1 (37:56):
And that's with you?
Speaker 8 (37:58):
Who are you, sir?
Speaker 5 (37:59):
I'm a captain strut NICKI okay, well sorry, thank you,
appreciate you men here, thank you the time to get here. Yes,
all right, we'll go back to mister Tillis. Now do
you have any uh any questions?
Speaker 1 (38:12):
Yes?
Speaker 8 (38:13):
Are you doing? Mister Lewis?
Speaker 1 (38:15):
All right? So you're as right?
Speaker 8 (38:20):
I thought I heard the warden say twenty two. Is
that correct?
Speaker 1 (38:25):
No?
Speaker 7 (38:30):
His last reputement in twenty twenty two, two thousand and two.
Speaker 8 (38:36):
I'm sorry, yeah, that's when I.
Speaker 5 (38:40):
Reports though.
Speaker 8 (38:42):
Oh yeah, I see it was two thousand and two.
Speaker 5 (38:46):
Oh.
Speaker 8 (38:52):
So you've been trying to rehabilitate yourself, yes, sir, all right, yeah,
and I see you are remorseful, yes, sir, O OK.
Speaker 1 (39:10):
It affects me what I did a great deal. I
have a malior too. We outtain any clarity with him.
It hurts what I did. How long have you been
incarcerated h since August thirteen, nineteen seventy five.
Speaker 8 (39:31):
Yeah, I've read your case several times, like, uh, do
you have anything you want to say about it other
than what you've said.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
M's all right, But what I did, I've taken them
shelf help courses to try to come in some claerity
of body. Okay, understand, Thank you, sir, Thank you.
Speaker 8 (40:07):
Good question.
Speaker 5 (40:07):
Is that any questions?
Speaker 7 (40:12):
Yes, sir, I would just like to make a statement
that follows up on the people who spoke to you today.
I'm really in agreement with the things that they said,
that it's hard and twenty two stab wounds of the
kind of things that you can't you can't take back,
you can't undo. And of course we had a member
(40:34):
of law enforcement that were just murdered. Yes, one of
the things that happens is something like that is people say,
I can't take it back, I can't undo it. They
can't feel the empty arms that don't come home in
the evening, that you're able to hug that son of
the human parts of it, that if you put the
(40:54):
human being in the perspective of it, that that I
mean I I had friends that had this happen to them.
And they said they looked at the clob and said, oh,
it's four o'clock. Let me get up and start fixing
suffer and that person. Then they realize they're not coming
home for supper. So I'm sure you learned all of
that in victims awareness, but that's the rest of their life.
Speaker 8 (41:20):
So I do agree with.
Speaker 7 (41:23):
What I've heard from the colleagues of this man and
the people that represent the state and the community. The
damage that was done was hainous.
Speaker 8 (41:37):
Thanks, thank you, Come ang.
Speaker 5 (41:40):
Okay, I don't have any questions.
Speaker 8 (41:44):
Ready to vote. Okay, what would be to deny? Okay,
it's sables.
Speaker 7 (41:50):
My vote is to deny based on the hainous nature
of your multiple primes.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
Okay.
Speaker 9 (41:56):
I like to thank everyone that showed up here today,
and my vote is also to deny.
Speaker 8 (42:02):
I concur with the panel.
Speaker 5 (42:03):
My voted to deny, and so I'm telling you that
our pure requestion dated been denied, sir, and continue to
go to Betty you say.
Speaker 4 (42:17):
So, there you have it. Thankfully, the board ruled not
to give clemency to Lewis, and Lewis well remained behind bars,
it seems, hopefully for the rest of his life. And hey,
he's old. He's an old man now, although he looked
very in shape, he's been in jail fifty years. And
(42:37):
it's my opinion, you kill a police officer in particular, Really,
if you kill anybody, in my opinion, you don't need
to be running free. But if you kill a police officer,
you should never even get a shot at anything. No parole,
no clemency, no nothing. That's my opinion on it. And
in this case, it looks like this was his one
(42:58):
and only in last shot. Maybe he does regret everything,
like he said in that hearing you just heard. I mean,
I'm sure everybody who has to spend fifty years in
prison regrets what they've done in which they wouldn't have
done it. But you know what they say, don't do
the crime if you can't do the time. Thank you
(43:21):
so much for listening. Check out the Patreon for commercial,
free early releases. I'm going to start putting a lot
more on their patreon dot com slash Bloody in Gola
podcast and until next time, I'm Jim Chapman, your host
of Bloody Inngola, a podcast one hundred and forty two
(43:43):
years in the making, the complete story of America's bloodiest prison.
Speaker 3 (43:47):
Peace h I walk straight line, shackle change. Oh weesome, Girdie,
(44:15):
it's calling my name. There is no mercy and it's
been a tentery juice as the huge stream game wrangler.
Speaker 5 (44:29):
Three. I'm here but.
Speaker 4 (44:35):
By mere to die.
Speaker 3 (44:38):
Inside these walls, inside the wild.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
And when the girls I know, it's so.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
Moody, angle body all
Popular Podcasts
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com