clifford-pierce.jpgOrleans Criminal Sheriff’s DepartmentClifford G. PierceAn Orleans Parish judge has sentenced Clifford Pierce, 35, to life in prison without parole for being a quadruple offender, three years after a jury found him guilty of possession of a stolen car.

But between the guilty verdict, delivered July 31, 2006, and his sentencing hearing on Tuesday, Pierce was freed on an $8,000 personal recognizance bond and eluded Criminal District Court until March 2008, when he was tracked down in a Georgia jail, according to the court minute records.

Having posted bond and given a Shreveport home address, Pierce was free to murder his girlfriend in eastern New Orleans on June 2, 2007, prosecutors say.

Pierce is awaiting trial accused of the second-degree murder of Tammie Johnson, who was killed at 4817 Rosalia Drive. District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office secured a murder indictment from a grand jury last fall.

Johnson, 36, died of a shotgun blast to the chest.

Pierce has a motion hearing on the murder case scheduled for Wednesday before Judge Frank Marullo, but another judge, Lynda Van Davis, presided over the stolen car case that landed Pierce a life sentence.

Davis deemed Pierce a multiple offender after a hearing Tuesday, and sentenced him to life.

State Police said Pierce confessed to killing Johnson during an argument, and then taking off in her 2000 Ford Expedition, which was later found in Natchitoches.

Pierce stole two other vehicles after he dumped the Expedition, state troopers said, and also pawned Johnson’s jewelry. Pawn shop receipts led troopers to Pierce, who was in Georgia.

Pierce was serving time in Cobb County, Ga., for unrelated crimes when State Police took his confession to the New Orleans homicide. Pierce was arrested in June on a murder warrant and booked into Orleans Parish Prison.

The stolen car case began with Pierce’s arrest June 12, 2005, about two months before the Hurricane Katrina disaster crippled the New Orleans criminal justice system.

Pierce’s trial was among the first to take place post-Katrina at the Tulane Avenue courthouse on June 5, 2006, when a jury couldn’t reach a verdict and a mistrial was declared. Prosecutors, then led by DA Eddie Jordan, secured a guilty verdict a month later at a new trial.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office is searching for two men in connection with the murder of a Harvey handyman inside his home Friday, and have already arrested a woman they believe was involved in the incident.

Terrol Cole.jpgTerrol ColeInvestigators have issued first-degree murder arrest warrants for Terrol Cole, 27, of Port Allen, and Darnell Turner, 23, of 3000 Destrehan Avenue in Harvey in connection with the killing of Donald Bates inside his home in the 2200 block of Eastmere Boulevard on Friday, said Col. John Fortunato, a sheriff’s spokesman.

Investigators arrested Rhonda Skinner, 39, of 917 Beechgrove Boulevard near Westwego on Saturday, and booked her with second degree murder and obstruction of justice.

Bates, 53, was found shot to death inside the home after police responded to a report from his wife after she returned to the house and found the door ajar and blood on the walls and floor. Investigators said that after Bates was killed, someone stole his white work van, which was later found burned in Marrero.

Fortunato said authorities believe Skinner helped Turner and Cole plan a robbery of Bates, and she called the victim shortly before the incident was about to take place. Authorities were able to locate her after they learned of that call, and she told them about Turner and Cole’s role in the incident, he said. She said the robbery turned into a homicide for an unknown reason, and that Cole and Turner beat Bates before shooting him.

Darnell Turner.jpgDarnell TurnerBates’ home was ransacked when deputies arrived and there was clear evidence of a struggle. There was blood smeared on the floor and walls, furniture had been tossed around the room and destroyed, and a baseball bat covered in blood was found in a rear bedroom, according a police report. Investigators also located numerous.38 caliber bullets and shell casings of the same caliber in the home.

Fortunato only identified Skinner as an “acquaintance” of Bates. Turner and Cole both have lengthy arrest records. Turner actually stood trial for second degree murder in 2003, but was acquitted.　

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An Orleans Parish grand jury on Friday indicted three people in connection with four homicides, all of which happened in recent months, authorities said.

Bryan Hill, 30, was indicted with two counts of second-degree murder for the killings of a man and woman who were shot as they left a 7th Ward home in August, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Orleans.

New Orleans police say Hill ambushed Charles Wilson Jr., 27, and Maggie Russell, 49, about 5 p.m. on Aug. 9 as they walked out of a house in the 2500 block of New Orleans Street, near the corner of North Dorgenois Street.

Wilson was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said, while Russell died a short time later at Interim LSU Public Hospital.

If convicted, Hill — who was also arrested two years ago, but never prosecuted in the fatal shooting of 28-year-old Tyronne “Big T” Johnson Sr. — will spend the rest of his life in prison or face execution.

In the second indictment, Lloyd Barnes, 48, was charged with two counts of attempted second degree murder and one count of second-degree murder, stemming from the Oct. 18 death of Korey Griffin.

Police said at the time that Griffin, 31, and a 21-year-old man were shot while trying to buy drugs in the 2000 block of Second Street in Central City.

Another man reportedly approached the pair, drew a handgun and said: “You know what’s up,” deputies said at the time. He then fired several bullets “into the buttocks and legs” of Griffin and his companion and ran away, a police incident log stated.

The 21-year-old survived, but Griffin died later that night at the Interim LSU Public Hospital, authorities said at the time.

Second-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence in prison upon conviction.

In the third indictment, Kevin Franklin, 35, was indicted with one count of second-degree murder in the Nov. 14 death of Alex Soder in the 1900 block of Joliet Street, authorities said.

Hill’s bail was set at $1.5 million after he was indicted; Barnes’ was set at $2 million and Franklin at $1.1 million.

Authorities have located the missing work van of a 53-year-old man who was found shot to death Friday afternoon at his Harvey home.

The vehicle belonging to Donald Bates was found in the 1500 block of Jordan Street in Marrero, and its interior appeared to have been set on fire, said Col. John Fortunato, a Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office spokesman. A Louisiana state trooper located the van, he said.

Detectives had been searching for the van, which had “Handyman 24/7″ written on one side and a cell phone number, “782-5844″, on the other side. Louisiana secretary of state show that Handyman 24/7 LLC had been established at the victim’s address in 2004.

Bates, 53, of the 2200 block of Eastmere Drive was found by deputies who were responding to a 3:49 p.m. call of a residential burglary at his address in Harvey’s Woodmere subdivision, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Bates was found in the rear of the house suffering from gunshot wounds, Sgt. Larry Dyess of the Sheriff’s Office said. He died at the scene.

Eastmere residents who gathered near the crime scene said the man’s wife was returning home when she found signs that someone had been in the house and called 911.

Detectives canvassed the neighborhood in the rain, knocking on doors in search of witnesses while crime-scene technicians sought fingerprints on the front storm door and gathered evidence from inside.

Several residents said there had been a shooting at a house about a block away on Eastmere earlier this week, in which no one was killed.

The Sheriff’s Office asks that anyone with information call Homicide Detective Solomon Burke at 504.364.5300 or Crimestoppers at 504.822.1111 or toll-free at 1.877.903.7867. Callers do not have to give their names or testify and can earn as much as $2,500 for tips that lead to an indictment.