La. city marshal convicted in boy’s fatal shooting

A Marksville, Louisiana, marshal has been found guilty of manslaughter for the shooting of a young boy who was killed in the passenger seat of his father’s car after a police pursuit, prosecutors said Saturday.

Derrick Stafford was also convicted of attempted murder for the November 2015 shooting that killed 6-year-old Jeremy Mardis and wounded his father, Christopher Few, according to Avoyelles Parish District Attorney Charles Riddle. The boy was hit by five bullets.

Mardis, a first-grader, was buckled in the front passenger seat of Few’s car when he was shot.

In September, a Louisiana judge released bodycam video showing officers firing multiple rounds into the car.

In the graphic footage, an officer appears to say, “I don’t know who all fired,” to which another officer respond, “I fired.”

Few, who was behind the wheel of a small white car, was hit. He presented his hands to the officers and eventually, slowly, crawled out of the car to lie on the asphalt.

Later, an officer is heard saying, “I never saw a kid in the car, bro.” The officer wearing the camera responded, “Yeah, he’s, ahh … the kid is …” but doesn’t finish his sentence.

During Stafford’s testimony, a prosecutor handed the defendant a photo of the dead boy and asked, “Does that show you what a 40 caliber does?”

Stafford reportedly cried on the stand at that point.

Another marshal, Norris Greenhouse, 23, was also indicted on second degree murder and second degree attempted murder charges. Greenhouse will be tried later this year.