Man sentenced in 2016 Mardi Gras shooting

Published 9:51 pm Wednesday, November 29, 2017

GULFPORT (AP) — A 24-year-old man who fired fatal shots at a Mardi Gras parade on the Gulf Coast has been sentenced to 40 years in prison on two counts of manslaughter.

The Sun Herald reports District Attorney Joel Smith said Tuesday that Malcolm Dedeaux pleaded guilty Monday in Harrison County Circuit Court.

Twenty-nine-year-old Carlos Bates and 43-year-old Isaiah Majors III died in an exchange of gunfire minutes after the St. Paul Carnival Association’s annual parade in Pass Christian on Feb. 7, 2016, which drew an estimated crowd of 50,000 people. Four others, including a shooter, were wounded.

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Jessie Lee Williams Jr. pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter on Nov. 22. He received a 20-year sentence that must be served day-to-day. Williams was prosecuted as a habitual offender because of two prior felony convictions.