Hung jury for pair accused of murder in NOLA accident scam

Alfortish, regularly described as a disbarred attorney, was simultaneously convicted on several fraud charges. Those charges were part of the sweeping indictment that also had charged attorneys Vanessa Motta (Alfortish’s former beau) and Jason Giles with their central roles in the scam. Motta and Giles were convicted in March and await sentencing while being held in jail. 

Neither Motta nor Giles were implicated in the murders though there was testimony that suggested Motta was aware to some degree of a potential plot against Garrison.

Convicted on other charges

Alfortish also was convicted on two charges of obstruction and suborning perjury while being acquitted of two others. The Alfortish convictions involved his efforts to get Garrison out of the U.S. to avoid prosecution. The two acquittals on similar charges involved allegations he sought a fellow jail inmate to lie on his behalf.

According to NOLA.com, the website of the New Orleans Times Picayune, jury deliberations went on for more than 30 hours over five days. It was only toward the end of that period that the jury asked its first question, involving a map of the city. 

According to the reporting from NOLA.COM, Alfortish’s lawyer, in remarks to the media after the verdicts were announced, said the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana “brought every resource of the federal government that they could bring. They brought five assistant U.S. attorneys onto the case. They had a phalanx of FBI agents. They tried in every way possible to convict Sean Alfortish of murdering a federal informant. And the jury did not find in their favor.”

NOLA.COM also reported that assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Payne immediately requested a hearing for a new deal to try Alfortish and Parker. The two also were returned to custody. 

Harris’ custody wasn’t enough

The most damning testimony of the trial came from Ryan Harris, who had pleaded guilty for his involvement in the staged accidents and the Garrison murder.

According to local media reports, Harris testified that he had recruited Parker for the shooting and that he had driven Parker after Garrison was murdered in the doorway of his mother’s home. But that testimony apparently was not enough to get the jury to 12 votes for conviction.

Parker already had pleaded guilty to mail fraud and conspiracy and faces a sentence of 60 years, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. 

Earlier sentences on mail and wire fraud handed down to participants in what prosecutors dubbed “Operation Sideswipe” have been as light as home confinement, though there have been penalties  that hit four years. 

Few other trials

Before the trials of Motta and Giles and then Alfortish, none of the other more than 50 indictments in the case for wire fraud, mail fraud or both had gone to trial, either being settled with a guilty plea or are still awaiting resolution. 

In a prepared statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District, the convictions and possible length of sentencing got the most play, while the failure to reach a verdict on the most serious charges received one sentence.

While the various convictions over the years have nabbed some people who were paid as little as $1,000 for riding along in a car that targeted a truck for a collision, two other significant players in the scam also await sentencing after having their judgement day postponed numerous times.

Two other big sentencings await…still

Danny Keating is an attorney who pleaded guilty in June 2021 for being a ringleader in the scam. Damian Lebeaud pleaded guilty in August 2020 to his own set of charges for involvement in Operation Sideswipe. Both men testified in the Motta/Giles case.

Keating’s sentencing is now set for October 8. Lebeaud is to be sentenced December 3.

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