Busted In Acadiana

Acc0rding to The American Press, authorities said David Caleb Fontenot, accused of murder, tried to have a witness killed.

Fontenot, 22, already facing second-degree murder charges in the 2011 death of Stephin Bergeron, was indicted Monday on a new charge of solicitation of murder.

Fontenot is accused of killing 20-year-old Stephin Bergeron in a drive-by shooting off Highway 27 in Carlyss.

Another man said to be involved in the case, Devin Blake Badon, 20, pleaded guilty in June to negligent homicide. Prosecutors said Badon helped Fontenot obtain a gun and bullets, but that it was Fontenot who pulled the trigger.

Fontenot’s murder trial is set for May 20.

Through a video feed, Fontenot entered a plea to the new charge Monday, saying, “I’m trying to understand where it came from, but I would like to plead not guilty.”

Jail officials overheard

Fontenot speaking with an associate on a jail phone about having the witness killed, Assistant District Attorney Cynthia Killingsworth confirmed.

According to his grand jury indictment, “Fontenot solicited another to commit or cause to be committed a first- or second-degree murder” on Aug. 10, 2011.

The person to whom Fontenot told the proposition is being “cooperative” with law enforcement and has no charges against them, Prosecutor Rick Bryant said.

Bryant and Killingsworth declined to say who Fontenot’s associate was or who he was trying to have killed. Both cited the safety of those involved.