Two brothers who ambushed a 20-year-old Marrero father as he walked home from a friend's house nearly three years ago will each spend 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter. Markeith and Terrell Glapion admitted in Jefferson Parish court to killing Jakari Edwards on the 2800 block of Mt. Kennedy Drive on Dec. 2, 2023, closing out a case that began with murder charges carrying a mandatory sentence of life without parole.
According to NOLA.com, the brothers approached Edwards along with several other men before Terrell Glapion grabbed him and drew a handgun while Markeith Glapion brandished a rifle. The sheriff's office says the two men shot Edwards several times, and deputies later found him wounded in the road; he was pronounced dead at the scene. Edwards, who was a father, is shown in an undated photograph holding his son, Jakari Edwards Jr., and his sister, Imari Edwards, said Jakari did not deserve to be shot.
Detectives identified Markeith and Terrell Glapion as suspects and, per the sheriff's office, cell phone data placed Terrell Glapion at the scene of the homicide. Investigators have not disclosed a suspected motive for the shooting. Edwards' cell phone showed no evidence of a prior altercation between the men, and the same report notes that Edwards and the Glapion brothers were acquaintances who knew one another through mutual friends. Relatives told the outlet Edwards was not involved in gang or drug activity.
Manhunt Ended in Baker, North of Baton Rouge
After the shooting, the brothers fled roughly 95 miles north to Baker in East Baton Rouge Parish, according to MapSof.net. Law enforcement caught up with them there 11 days after the killing, the report notes. A grand jury had already returned indictments for second-degree murder, and the brothers initially pleaded not guilty in Jefferson Parish court, as AllSides reported in April 2024.
The case eventually turned on a negotiated plea. On Sept. 2, Markeith and Terrell Glapion agreed to plead guilty to manslaughter as a lesser charge, along with counts of being convicted felons in possession of firearms and obstruction of justice. Jefferson Parish court records show Judge June Berry Darensburg sentenced both brothers to 25 years in prison in the 24th Judicial District Court in Gretna.
What the Reduced Charges Mean Under Louisiana Law
Manslaughter under Louisiana Revised Statute 14:31 carries a maximum of 40 years at hard labor, meaning the Glapions' 25-year terms landed well below the statutory ceiling while sparing them the mandatory life sentence tied to their original second-degree murder charges, according to the Law Offices of Michael J. Vergis. Their guilty pleas also included counts of being convicted felons in possession of firearms and obstruction of justice.
Judge Darensburg, who accepted the plea, was first elected to the bench in 2006 as the first African American female judge in Jefferson Parish history, according to the Jefferson Parish Clerk of Court. She previously served as Chief Judge of the 24th Judicial District Court from 2014 to 2015.
A Corridor With a Violent History
The 2800 block of Mt. Kennedy Drive, where Edwards was shot, has seen repeated violence in recent years, including an April 2024 fatal shooting at the nearby Ridgefield Apartments, per WWL-TV. The brothers later fled the area and were caught in Baker.
The Glapion case ended with a manslaughter plea rather than a murder trial. The brothers were sentenced to 25 years in prison. For Jakari Edwards' family, the plea closes the legal chapter of a case where investigators never established why he was targeted, leaving the ambush that took his life still without an explained motive.
