Busted In Acadiana

According to The Advertiser, attorneys for two men accused in the 2010 McKinley Street homicide want statements by their clients and witnesses thrown out, saying they were obtained using “coercion, trickery, deception and threats.”

Ian Trahan and Wayland Guillory are accused of beating to death Kenneth Donnelly Jr., 20, who was a UL student, and seriously injuring his roommate, Rufus Fells, at their McKinley Street home near the UL campus in October 2010.

Trahan and Guillory pleaded not guilty in April 2011 to one count each of second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder.

Thomas Guilbeau, attorney for Trahan, and Amos Valex, attorney for Guillory, filed motions in January asking 15th Judicial District Judge Marilyn Castle to suppress evidence, confessions and statements in the case.

Castle began hearing the motions Friday, but recessed the hearing at noon. She will resume the hearing on March 11.

Guilbeau argued in court Friday that detectives displayed a pattern of “lies, trickery, coercion and threats” to obtain statements from Trahan and several witnesses.

Valex said after the hearing that police officers used undue influence and showed a pattern of deception in their interviews.

“We believe that’s patently unfair and coercive,” he added.

Without those statements, “They have nothing,” Guilbeau said.

“They need the testimony of these individuals to make their case,” Amos said.

Assistant District Attorney Pat Magee said following the hearing, “We certainly don’t agree with Mr. Guilbeau’s position and we pray for a favorable ruling.”

Detective Trina Broussard testified Friday that no one was threatened or coerced into making statements implicating Trahan and Guillory.

Under questioning by Magee, Broussard said “it’s likely” Trahan was lied to in at least one of the five interrogations he underwent between Nov. 6, 2010, and Jan. 20, 2011. “It’s an interview tactic,” she said.

Broussard denied that Trahan was told prosecutors would “go easy on him” if he gave them his final statement.

That fifth and final statement came after several hours of interrogation, Guilbeau wrote in his motion. Trahan was psychologically overwhelmed at the time, having been told that Guillory and witnesses Cody Moore, Kristie Malone and Jacorey Guidry has implicated him in beating death, he wrote.

As a result, Guilbeau wrote that Trahan gave a false statement about the involvement of Guillory.

Guidry allegedly told detectives that Trahan had told him he and Guillory had beaten someone up and possibly killed them. Guidry personally informed detectives in January 2011, that his statement was not true, that he gave the statement after police threatened to arrest him, Guilbeau wrote.

Guilbeau also alleged that Moore lied in January 2011 when he told detectives that Trahan told him he and Guillory “got in a fight with the boys down the road that they got weed from.”

As a result, Moore was arrested for accessory after the fact to first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder. But he has not been indicted, Guilbeau wrote.

Malone also admitted she lied in a statement to detectives when she said Trahan and Guillory returned from buying some pills and Trahan said “somebody got killed on McKinley,” he wrote.