Busted In Acadiana

Earlier this year 24-year-old Adam Batiste was arrested for second degree murder after being accused of beating his 18-year-old girlfriend Gabrielle Spencer to death. Batiste is being held in the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center on a $250,000 bond, however a Grand Jury has not been convened to our knowledge.

Today, 11 days after 18-year-old Seth Fontenot was arrested for shooting and killing 15-year-old Austin Rivault, and injuring his two friends a Lafayette Parish Grand Jury indicted him on one count of first degree murder and two counts of attempted first degree murder.

This by far is the fastest we have ever seen a grand jury convene. The next closest would be Brandon Scott Lavergne who was arrested July 5th, 2012 and indicted 13-days later.

Here are a few examples of other Grand Jury proceedings in our area that took many months:

• Carl James Phillips was accused by the Lafayette City Police Department of the July 28th, 2012 murder of John Joseph Dean. Phillips was arrested on September 13th, 2012 in Texas and charged with one count of second degree murder. On November 28th, 2012 a Lafayette Parish Grand Jury failed to indict Phillips on murder charges. Phillips is no longer in custody at the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center
• Elwood Billiot was accsused by the Lafayette City Police Department of the April 14th, 2012 murder of Sidney Syons. Billiot was arrested days after the murder in Houma and charged with one count of first degree murder. On November 28th, 2012 a Lafayette Parish Grand Jury failed to indict Billiot on murder charges. Billiot is being held in the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center on unrelated charges.

Do the math between the arrest dates and the date a grand jury met, it sure the hell wasn’t 11 or 13 days. Long way 2 go!