Man charged in serial killings isn’t facing death penalty

Published 7:37 pm Monday, April 2, 2018

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana prosecutors aren’t seeking the death penalty against a suspect charged with killing three men and wounding a fourth in a string of shootings last year.

District Attorney Samuel D’Aquilla told The Associated Press on Monday that he informed Ryan Sharpe’s defense attorney of his decision not to seek the death penalty against the 36-year-old man over a deadly shooting in East Feliciana Parish. D’Aquilla added that he still reserves the right to seek the death penalty if “something changes for us dramatically” as the case proceeds.

Sharpe is charged with first-degree murder in the Oct. 9 shooting of Boy Scouts employee Brad DeFranceschi, who was gunned down while trimming weeds in front of his house.

Subscribe to our free email newsletter

Get the latest news sent to your inbox

The charges that he faces in the other three shootings aren’t punishable by a death sentence.