Man pleads guilty as accessory in fatal Mardi Gras shootings
Published 9:37 pm Friday, July 21, 2017
GULFPORT (AP) — A Mississippi man has pleaded guilty to charges that he was an accessory after the fact to shootings that killed two people last year after a Mardi Gras parade.
News outlets report Jermaine Rashod Ratcliff of Gulfport entered his plea in court Thursday, saying he lied to police questioning him after the Feb. 7, 2016, shootings at the end of a Mardi Gras parade in Pass Christian. Two parade attendees, Carlos Bates and Isaiah Majors, were killed by the gunfire.
Three men — Malcolm Dedeaux, Donald Dedeaux and Jessie Lee Williams Jr. — are charged with second-degree murder charges in the shootings. They are scheduled to stand trial in October.
District Attorney Joel Smith said in a news release Ratcliff will be sentenced after the other suspects’ cases are resolved.