By Terry L. Jones

tjones@theadvocate.com

PLAQUEMINE — A Plaquemine man who was supposed to stand trial Tuesday for a 2012 murder has taken a plea deal in a case a District Attorney’s Office official says would have been difficult to prosecute, in part because the lead investigator in the case recently was arrested on drug-related counts.

Assistant District Attorney Tony Clayton said Cordias Walker, who was arrested in November 2012 for fatally shooting Wilbert Myles following a drug dispute, pleaded guilty late Monday evening to negligent homicide and will be sentenced to five years in prison.

Walker’s attorney has argued his client was acting in self-defense because Myles, 17, attacked Walker at Walker’s home.

“This is a prime example of a case where having to prove specific intent to kill was difficult when the victim went into the man’s house,” Clayton said Tuesday. “The credibility of all the friends there just made it a tough case to take to trial for second-degree murder.”

Clayton then added, “Not to mention, the lead detective is now sitting across from the defendant in the same jail cell.”

Clayton was referring to former Plaquemine police Officer Chad Fonseca, who turned himself in to authorities Dec. 29 after he was accused of selling prescription painkillers to undercover Iberville Parish sheriff’s deputies on three occasions in September.

Fonseca was booked into Iberville Parish jail on three counts of distribution of a Schedule II controlled dangerous substance. Iberville Sheriff Brett Stassi said Fonseca is being housed in isolation away from other inmates; his bail is set at $60,000, according to previous reports.

Walker’s attorney, Shannon Battiste, said previously the drug allegations against Fonseca certainly raised some credibility issues in the case against his client but said talk about Fonseca’s legal trouble was a “smoke screen” for other weaknesses in the prosecution’s murder case.

“Sometimes cases like this are hard to put together,” Clayton said Tuesday. “For the sake of the family, we took the best deal we could get from the defendant.”

Clayton said Fonseca, who left the Plaquemine Police Department in 2013 to take a job as an inspector for the city’s planning department, has worked as a detective in other pending cases in the parish, including “one or two more murders” and a number of drug cases.

Clayton said he intends to review those cases as well as previous convictions — particularly those on drug charges — that Fonseca had handled.

Follow Terry Jones on Twitter, @tjonesreporter.

bstole@theadvocate.com

A former Plaquemine police detective wanted on drug counts — and wanted as a key witness in an upcoming Iberville Parish murder trial — surrendered Tuesday morning.

Chad Fonseca, who in 2012 led the investigation into the shooting death of Wilbert Myles, had been on the lam since he was accused of selling prescription painkillers to undercover Iberville Parish sheriff’s deputies on three occasions in September.

Plaquemine Police Chief Kenny Payne said Fonseca surrendered to agents with a joint Plaquemine-Iberia Parish drug task force about 9 a.m., hours after a front-page story in Tuesday’s Advocate about the hunt for the former detective hit doorsteps and computer screens.

Fonseca was booked into Iberville Parish jail on three counts of distribution of a Schedule II controlled dangerous substance. Iberville Sheriff Brett Stassi said Fonseca is being housed in isolation away from other inmates; his bail is set at $60,000.

Prosecutor Tony Clayton, who’d expressed concern in Tuesday’s Advocate about whether Fonseca would be located in time to testify in the murder trial of Cordias Walker in the shooting death of Myles, credited the news coverage with the apprehension of the former police officer. Walker’s trial is set to begin Jan. 5.

The Advocate’s “article flushed him out,” Clayton said.

Stassi said he thought Fonseca delayed his surrender while trying to gather bail money but “ran into a little problem getting people to back him.”

Defense attorney Shannon Battiste, who’s representing Walker, said the drug allegations against Fonseca certainly raise some credibility issues in the case against his client but said talk about Fonseca’s legal trouble was a “smoke screen” for other weaknesses in the murder case.

“The state has some bigger problems with this case,” Battiste said. “The biggest problem isn’t Chad Fonseca.”

Walker has maintained that he shot Myles, 17, in self-defense following a drug dispute in the 58000 block of Allen Street in Plaquemine.

Clayton, though, said he feels confident in the case against Walker. The assistant district attorney said Fonseca’s testimony would focus almost entirely on the collection of physical evidence and that there’s no indication Fonseca acted improperly in investigating the case.

“Am I concerned about Chad’s credibility? Yes, but I’m not concerned about the evidence,” Clayton said. “When you have a former detective charged with three counts, I’m going to take a butt whooping on cross examination. When officers do what Fonseca did, it has a ripple effect. I’m not going to kid myself and say he hasn’t caused a problem.”

Clayton said Fonseca also worked as a detective in other pending cases in the parish, including “one or two more murders” and a number of drug cases.

Clayton said he intends to review those cases as well as previous convictions — particularly those on drug charges — that Fonseca had handled.

“I’d rather see a hundred people go free than have one innocent man go to jail,” Clayton said. “I’m going to do my due diligence on people that are doing time because of Chad Fonseca.”

Fonseca, who worked for the department for five to seven years, left the department in 2013 to take a job as an inspector for the city’s planning department, the police chief said. Payne told The Advocate on Monday that Fonseca was never reprimanded for drug use during his time with the department. Payne and Stassi both said there is no indication the drugs referenced in the counts against Fonseca were taken from city police evidence.

The sheriff said Monday it appears painkillers prescribed to Fonseca following a motorcycle crash had got the former cop into the “drug life.”

If Fonseca hasn’t posted the $60,000 bail by the time the trial begins Tuesday, Clayton and Stassi said, the former detective would take the stand in a striped jumpsuit and wearing shackles.

“If he’s held in jail and called to testify, he’d testify in shackles. We wouldn’t try to hide that, understand?” Stassi said. “If he bonds out before then, he can come how he’s dressed.”

Advocate staff writer Steve Hardy contributed to this report.

By Steve Hardy

shardy@theadvocate.com

Plaquemine — Iberville prosecutors are missing a key witness in an upcoming murder trial: a former police detective who is on the lam evading arrest on drug counts.

In November 2012, Plaquemine police arrested Cordias Walker in the death of Wilbert Myles, who was shot in the 58000 block of Allen Street following a drug dispute. Walker, who is scheduled for trial Jan. 5, has maintained he was acting in self-defense.

Plaquemine police officer Chad Fonseca was the lead detective in the case, but he may not be available to provide testimony. On three occasions in September, undercover deputies purchased prescription drugs from Fonseca, Iberville Sheriff Brett Stassi said. Earlier this month, his office identified Fonseca through social media as a wanted man.

Fonseca called a city detective from a restricted phone line and indicated he would turn himself in, Plaquemine police Chief Kenny Payne said. However, Fonseca made the call sometime before Christmas, and the chief isn’t sure whether Fonseca will be in custody by the time the trial starts next week.

Prosecutor Tony Clayton said he will do whatever he can to put Fonseca on the stand.

“I’m gonna bring him to court in shackles” if need be, the assistant district attorney said.

“He’s my main detective,” Clayton said. “He handled all the evidence. … He has created a serious issue for us.”

If Fonseca is still at large when the prosecution presents its case, Clayton said, the prosecution can introduce evidence through other officers involved in the case. However, defense attorney Shannon Battiste is already preparing to object to such a tack.

“I don’t know how they’re gonna introduce evidence that Fonseca collected without Fonseca,” Battiste said.

The defense attorney said his concern is less that the former detective has been implicated in a drug investigation and more that, should the DA’s Office present the evidence Fonseca collected, the defense would not be able to cross-examine him.

It’s possible the trial will be delayed. Two other murder trials are scheduled the same date. Prosecutors could request a continuance, which Battiste said he would fight. Or the two sides could try to strike a deal, an option Clayton said was offered before Fonseca went missing.

Battiste, however, still maintains Walker shot Myles only to protect himself.

“I think it’s the most perfect case of self-defense,” Battiste said. “Who’s going to plead guilty to defending himself at his own home?”

Battiste maintains that Myles attacked Walker at Walker’s home.

Payne, the police chief, said the DA’s Office has not contacted him about dropping the case against Walker or sending other officers to testify. According to court records, prosecutors have subpoenaed a dozen witnesses, and Payne points out that while Fonseca was the case detective, he didn’t investigate the shooting all by himself.

Neither the chief nor the prosecutor were immediately sure what effect Fonseca’s absence may have on other outstanding cases. Clayton does not believe the investigation of Fonseca will affect cases that already have closed.

Fonseca left the department in 2013 to take a job as an inspector for the city’s planning department, the chief said. Payne estimates Fonseca worked on the Plaquemine force for five to seven years and was never reprimanded for drug use during that time.

Payne and Stassi said there is no indication the drugs referenced in the counts against Fonseca were taken from city police evidence.

Stassi said it appears Fonseca had been in a motorcycle crash at some point and was prescribed painkillers, which got him into the “drug life.” Other particulars of Fonseca’s alleged crimes were unclear Monday, but he faces three counts of distribution of a schedule II controlled dangerous substance in relation to the three undercover Roxicodone buys in September, the sheriff said.

Payne believes Fonseca is still in Louisiana but not in the Plaquemine area.

Follow Steve Hardy on Twitter, @SteveRHardy.

By Danielle Maddox Kinchen

The anxious crowd that gathered at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center early Saturday looked like it could have been gathered for a Black Friday holiday shopping sale.

But the deals being offered during an annual “amnesty day” in Baton Rouge were in many ways even sweeter — a chance to pay traffic tickets and clear bench warrants from the books without having to risk arrest.

Between 1,200 and 1,500 people showed up, starting as early as 6:30 a.m. to pay off their tickets or work with judges on-site to resolve their district and city court warrants, East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar C. Moore III and Councilwoman C. Denise Marcelle said. One man showed with 25 outstanding warrants on his record, others with 10 or 11 on theirs.

The large crowd overwhelmed the staff, which was unable to service even a quarter of those who showed up. But officials said the day was a success nonetheless and sparked ideas on how to work with citizens more efficiently in the future.

The amnesty day comes amid political jousting in parish government over how to tackle the approximately 160,000 outstanding warrants, about 60 percent of which are for traffic violations, including many repeat offenders.

“It was huge,” Moore and Marcelle said during separate interviews, using identical words to describe the turnout.

More than 100 employees from multiple government agencies, including staff from the Community Center, set up shop at the center from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. to meet citizens’ needs.

Judges set aside bench warrants for unresolved traffic violations, allowing defendants to pay off the original fines and considered waiving traffic fees and imposing alternative sentences, including community service or reduced payments, for those not able to pay off the citations.

Marcelle said she saw people from all walks of life and who came from all over the state, including people from Monroe, Alexandria and Denham Springs, as well as someone who had come from Dallas to get a warrant recalled.

“Many of these people were elderly,” Marcelle said. “They came with walkers. I was stunned by people coming in with oxygen tanks.”

Once a few people went through the process and were not arrested, Marcelle said, word spread and others showed up to take care of their warrants.

In addition to asking for alternatives to fines, Moore said many came prepared to pay their tickets.

“I was very impressed by the response of the public and willingness to resolve these issues,” Moore said.

Marcelle said she and others working that day learned at least one obstacle to paying warrants that the city could address.

“What I’m hearing from public there needs to be an evening court or a Saturday court,” Marcelle said. “What I suggest to city court staff that we do a Saturday court once a month, half a day, and then we would see an influx of people paying their fines and less people skipping out on court.”

Despite their best efforts, team members from the various agencies involved were only able to address 250 to 300 people, officials estimated.

“I’m disappointed we weren’t able to handle every person that came,” Moore said. “Moving four or five courtrooms to an off-site location was a challenge.”

Those who didn’t manage to get in the door received “rain checks” — lime green slips for district warrants and pink slips for city warrants — that allow citizens the same opportunity this coming week.

Citizens with outstanding warrants in district court can go to the traffic division office in District Court Monday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. with their rain check to resolve outstanding tickets. Those with warrants in City Court, which was the case for the majority according to Moore, can go to city court any time during business hours during the upcoming week to do the same.

Moore said if people can’t make it during that time period, they should hold onto the slip and come as soon as possible, though.

In the meantime, “if they are pulled over and stopped for these traffic violations, for these only, they will not be arrested if they have their rain checks with them,” Moore said.

Moore said he looks forward to holding another amnesty day, this time hopefully at the courthouse to speed up the process.

Other agencies in attendance included district and city court judges’ offices, the Baton Rouge Prosecutor’s Office, 19th District and City Clerk of Court, the Mayor’s Office, Baton Rouge Public Defender’s Office, the Constable’s Office, the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office and the Baton Rouge Police Department.

“The biggest success for me was the good will that was shown by all our offices and how it was reciprocated by the people,” Moore said.

Follow Danielle Maddox Kinchen on Twitter, @Dani_Maddox4.

Copyright © 2015, Capital City Press LLC • 7290 Bluebonnet Blvd., Baton Rouge, LA 70810 • All Rights Reserved