A Jefferson Parish judge sentenced Talvis Keller to 35 years in prison on the day his murder trial was set to begin, closing out a case that began on Christmas night 2023 when the 32-year-old fatally shot Taj Laurent Sr. inside a Harvey apartment. Keller pleaded guilty to manslaughter rather than face trial for second-degree murder, and Laurent's widow, Joann Nelson-Laurent, told the court he had taken “32 years together and 26 years of marriage” from her.
The plea deal, entered as jury selection was slated to start, spared Keller a mandatory life sentence without parole that he would have faced under Louisiana's second-degree murder statute, according to NOLA.com. Under Louisiana Revised Statute 14:31, manslaughter carries a maximum of 40 years at hard labor, and Judge June Darensburg's 35-year sentence fell just below that ceiling. Darensburg asked Keller to reflect on the mercy shown to him by the victim's family, per the outlet's report.
Laurent, 51, was a husband, father and grandfather living in Marrero at the time of his death. He went to his daughter Taj Jordan Laurent's apartment in the 1000 block of Manhattan Boulevard in Harvey on Christmas night after she called her parents for help, having found Keller in bed with another woman upon returning home, according to NOLA.com. Investigators said there was no physical altercation before the shooting, and that Laurent was unarmed when Keller shot him once in the face.
A Chaotic Escalation on Christmas Night
According to the report, Keller had refused to leave the apartment and armed himself, threatening to shoot Taj Jordan Laurent's parents in the head if they came upstairs. Laurent and his wife entered anyway, trying to calm the situation, before Keller opened fire. Emergency dispatch logs cited by WWL-TV show Nelson-Laurent first called 911 at 10:10 p.m. asking deputies to defuse the domestic argument, then called back just four minutes later to report her husband had been shot.
In the chaos that followed, Laurent's son, Taj Laurent Jr., armed himself and chased Keller out of the building, firing a single shot before Keller escaped. He later surrendered his weapon to arriving deputies and was not charged, according to reporting reviewed for this story. Keller then fled the scene entirely, according to NOLA.com's account of the case.
Suitcase Standoff Ends the Manhunt
Deputies caught up with Keller the next day, finding him hiding inside a suitcase at the Oasis Motel in Gretna, per the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office as cited by NOLA.com. Court testimony from a January 2024 preliminary hearing detailed just how far officers went to get him out: lead homicide investigator Detective Blaine Howard testified that SWAT officers fired less-lethal rounds into the suitcase to force Keller to react before taking him into custody. The Gretna Police Department assisted Jefferson Parish deputies during that operation, according to WWL-TV.
Vernadra Charles, the woman Keller was found in bed with on Christmas night, was accused of packing him into the suitcase at the motel before both were tracked down. Charles and a second co-defendant, Kentrone Robinson, each pleaded guilty in 2024 to being an accessory after the fact to second-degree murder, admitting they helped Keller evade authorities. Under Louisiana Revised Statute 14:25, that charge carries a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of up to $500.
Weeks after the arrest, a Jefferson Parish Criminal Commissioner found probable cause to keep the second-degree murder charge against Keller intact and denied a defense request to lower his $575,000 bail, keeping him held at the parish jail in Gretna as the case moved toward its scheduled August trial date.
Grief and Forgiveness in the Courtroom
Laurent's relatives ultimately consented to the manslaughter plea, but not before delivering victim impact statements that mixed grief, anger and, from his widow, forgiveness. Nelson-Laurent read a letter addressed to her husband in court, saying, “My heart is shattered, and I still can't believe I have to live in a world without you.” She also recalled that she and her husband had once taken Keller into their home and provided for him.
Taj Jordan Laurent, the daughter whose apartment became the scene of the shooting, read her own statement in court. “I'm heartbroken. I'm angry. I wish I had one more chance to tell you how much I love you,” she said. “Your legacy will always live through me. I love you forever, dad.” Nelson-Laurent, who called her husband her best friend and safe place, told the court she forgave Keller even as she mourned the decades he took from her.
