In an emotional New Orleans courtroom Monday, one of the two men tied to the parking-lot shootout that killed comedian Brandon “Boogie B” Montrell was handed a 15-year state prison sentence. The plea deal closes the first major criminal chapter in the December 2022 killing outside a downtown grocery and has Montrell’s family renewing calls for change around youth violence and public safety.
Plea deal and sentence
Charles Cannon, 25, accepted a deal that let him plead guilty to aggravated criminal damage to property and discharging a firearm in public. He was then remanded into custody to begin serving a 15-year term. Prosecutors said surveillance footage showed Cannon returning fire after being shot at by a co-defendant, turning the Rouses parking lot into a crossfire that fatally struck Montrell as he sat in his car. The agreement and sentence followed a court resolution reached last month, according to Fox 8.
How the shooting unfolded
The confrontation broke out on Dec. 23, 2022, in the Rouses Market parking lot at 701 Baronne St., where two men exchanged gunfire and Montrell was hit and later died. U.S. Marshals later arrested a suspect in Houston, and investigators pursued multiple persons of interest in the days after the shooting, according to earlier reporting. The Baronne Street store is listed on Rouses’ site as its Warehouse District location, now inextricably linked to the case, as detailed by Rouses and earlier coverage from The Associated Press.
Co-defendant and family reaction
The district attorney’s office says the other alleged shooter, Jabrill Cowart, remains jailed in lieu of a $500,000 bond and is set for an August trial on a second-degree murder charge. In court and again outside afterward, Montrell’s mother, Sherilyn Price, called the parking-lot exchange “nonsensical” and said she cannot forgive the role Cannon played in her son’s death. “He is culpable, because he had some decisions that he could’ve made and Brandon wouldn’t have died,” Price told the judge and reporters, according to Fox 8.
Legal context
Cowart faces a second-degree murder charge. Under Louisiana law, a conviction for second-degree murder can carry life imprisonment at hard labor without the benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence. The statutory language and penalty framework appear in La. R.S. 14:30.1, as compiled by Justia. Legal analysts note that penalties for related firearm offenses and the outcomes of plea deals can vary widely depending on the specific counts and the agreements reached in court, according to the same state code guidance.
Cannon is now in state custody to begin serving his sentence, and attention will shift to Cowart’s scheduled trial this summer. Montrell’s family has said they hope the prosecutions and the spotlight on the case push local leaders to invest more in violence-prevention and conflict-resolution resources in Orleans Parish.
