News & Stats
LaPlace man pleads guilty
Teen shot to death in 2007 after fight
Saturday, March 14, 2009 ~ By Victoria St. Martin,Times Picayune
A 21-year-old LaPlace man pleaded guilty to manslaughter for the 2007 shooting death of a LaPlace teen, and is awaiting sentencing, said a spokesman for the St. John the Baptist Parish district attorney's office.
Craig Moore, 2047 Champions Drive, pleaded guilty March 2 before District Judge J. Kling for fatally wounding Hubert Ellsworth IV during an argument, said Maj. Mike Tregre, the district attorney's office spokesman.
Moore's plea to manslaughter is punishable up to 40 years at hard labor.
In September 2007, Moore, accompanied by his attorney, turned himself in to authorities after evidence tied him to Ellsworth's shooting.
Ellsworth, 19, of LaPlace was shot to death in front of a home in the 1600 block of Yorktowne Drive around 9:40 p.m. on July 27, 2007.
According to a Sheriff's Office report, a caller on Yorktowne heard four or five shots just before Ellsworth was found.
Tregre said a handgun found at the scene contained DNA that matched Moore's.
Moore told authorities that he and Ellsworth had been fighting over a car stereo system and that Ellsworth pulled a handgun, Tregre said.
Moore admitted in court to shooting Ellsworth, Tregre said.
A pre-sentence investigation, where interviews are conducted with the victim's family and the defendant's family, was ordered, according to a district attorney's office news release. The investigation is being conducted by the Department of Probation and Parole.
Tregre said Moore will be sentenced at a later date, based on the interviews.
Moore, who was originally booked in 2007 with second-degree murder and held without bond, is being held in the Sherman Walker Correctional Facility in LaPlace on a $500,000 bond.