Results 1 to 10 of 10

Thread: Louis D. Coleman III Sentenced to LWOP in 2019 MA Murder of Jassy Correia

  1. #1
    Senior Member CnCP Legend
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Posts
    2,243

    Louis D. Coleman III Sentenced to LWOP in 2019 MA Murder of Jassy Correia





    Death penalty in play for horrific killing of Jassy Correia

    By Laurel J. Sweet
    Boston Herald

    Louis D. Coleman III could face the death penalty if convicted of kidnapping, beating and strangling Jassy Correia before driving her corpse to Delaware four days later stuffed in a suitcase, U.S. Attorney Andrew E. Lelling said Sunday.

    Lelling said his Boston office will prosecute the multi-jurisdictional case as he announced a federal charge of interstate kidnapping resulting in death, which he said is death penalty eligible. He said no decision has been made on whether to seek a death sentence.

    “When it comes to death-penalty determinations at the federal level, we talk to Washington. It’s a long process, so I couldn’t tell you at this point whether we will or will not,” Lelling said.

    Coleman remained in custody at the Howard R. Young Correctional Institution in Delaware Sunday pending his expected initial appearance Monday in U.S. District Court in Wilmington. Lelling said it could take up to two weeks to transfer him back to Boston.

    Coleman additionally faces state charges in Rhode Island bought by Providence police Friday of kidnapping, failure to report a death and mutilation of a dead body. Lelling said those charges will likely remain dormant while Rhode Island officials assist the feds with their superseding case.

    If prosecutors don’t pursue the death penalty, Coleman faces a mandatory life sentence in federal prison if convicted.

    A criminal complaint released Sunday was accompanied by an FBI affidavit that spells out the horrific timeline of the young mother’s fate, including that her body, bound with duct tape and coated with what Lelling said appeared to be baking soda, had been wrapped in a sofa cushion inside a black trash bag inside a suitcase.

    Following a medical examination of Correia’s remains that Lelling stressed are very preliminary, he said, “There is no indication that she was sexually assaulted.” He also noted she had not been dismembered.

    Coleman, the target of a sweeping manhunt last week, was arrested by Delaware State Police Thursday afternoon when they pulled over his California-registered red Buick sedan on Interstate 95 south near Wilmington.

    “When asked if anyone else was in the car with him, Coleman said, ‘She’s in the trunk’ — or words to that effect,” Lelling said, adding, “I think there is probable cause to believe that he killed this girl.”

    When asked by troopers about a bandage on his cheek during his booking, Lelling said Coleman is alleged to have responded, “It’s from the girl.”

    Lelling said Correia, the mother of a 2-year-old daughter whose last hours of life were spent celebrating her 23rd birthday with friends at the Venu nightclub in Boston’s Theater District, died from blunt-force trauma and strangulation.

    Investigators are still piecing together what happened.

    Lelling said there’s no indication the two knew each other, but it appeared from the video footage reviewed so far that Correia stepped into Coleman’s car “under her own power. She’s mobile, she’s able to walk.”

    But at some point between Boston and Providence, “It does appear she put up a struggle,” he said. “In the red sedan that was stopped there are cracks in the forward windshield on the passenger side. We don’t yet know whether those are connected to a struggle in the vehicle. She died of strangulation and there was significant bruising on her. There are definitely indications that she did not go quietly.”

    Investigators said Coleman went shopping at a nearby Walmart on Tuesday and purchased three Tyvek suits, duct tape, two candles, electrical tape, a mask, surgical gloves, safety goggles, an odor respirator and bleach.

    Among the items seized from Coleman’s Buick were a new pair of long-handled loppers traditionally used for cutting up tree branches, a plastic gas container, a butane lighter and disinfectant wipes, Lelling said.

    On Wednesday, Lelling said surveillance cameras picked him up coming home with a new suitcase. “You can see the tags on it in the video,” he said.

    Thursday morning at 1:15 a.m., “Coleman is seen wheeling that suitcase away from the apartment to the elevator and then out of the building to his car, where he hoists it into his trunk. It appears to bear some weight,” Lelling said. “At least based on camera footage, between Coleman arriving at his apartment complex at about 4 a.m. on Sunday and leaving at about 1 a.m. on Thursday, Ms. Correia does not leave the apartment.”

    A search warrant executed at Coleman’s rented home in unit 602 at 95 Chestnut St. in Providence Thursday yielded hooded coveralls and respirator masks. In a dumpster outside, investigators recovered an empty box of baking soda, an empty package from a car air-freshener, a pair of bleach-stained men’s jeans with a belt and a bag containing plastic sheets, among other items.

    Boston Police Commissioner William G. Gross, who stood with Lelling Sunday along with new FBI Boston Special Agent in Charge Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins, Providence Police Chief Hugh T. Clements Jr. and U.S. Marshal John Gibbons, called the multi-jurisdictional partnership involved in the investigation “a serious team hellbent on justice because no family should ever, ever have to go through this again.”

    Bonavolonta called Correia’s murder “a heinous crime” and said, “We mourn the loss of a young life taken much too soon and our sympathies go to her friends, family and especially her young daughter, who is now faced with the sobering reality of having to grow up without her mother … Rest assured we will not stop until all leads are exhausted and justice is served.”

    https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/03...-in-the-trunk/
    Last edited by Steven; 06-05-2022 at 05:53 AM.

  2. #2
    Senior Member CnCP Legend
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Posts
    2,243
    April 9, 2019

    Louis D. Coleman III pleads not guilty to kidnapping charge in connection with death of Jassy Correia

    By Jacqueline Tempera
    MassLive.com

    Louis D. Coleman III, the Providence man accused of kidnapping and killing 23-year-old Jassy Correia after she celebrated her birthday at a nightclub in February was arraigned in a Boston federal court on Tuesday.

    Correia’s family held hands as they walked the halls of the Moakley court house in Boston Tuesday. They filled the first two rows of seats, sitting side by side in silence as the man accused of kidnapping and killing Correia was led into the room in an orange jumpsuit.

    Judge Page M. Kelley asked Coleman, 32, if he understood the charge against him. He nodded his head and waived a formal reading of his indictment.

    Coleman pleaded not guilty to a charge of kidnapping resulting in death, which carries a sentence of death or life in prison, prosecutors said. If convicted, Coleman could face the death penalty.

    Police say Correia, who left behind her 2-year-old daughter Gabriella and a large Cape Verdean family in Dorchester, crossed paths with Coleman while celebrating her birthday at the Boston nightclub Venu on Feb. 24.

    Authorities say Coleman kidnapped Correia early that morning and took her to his Providence apartment. Footage from outside his residence showed Coleman allegedly carrying Correia’s limp body - still dressed in the orange romper she wore to the nightclub - inside just before 4:30 a.m.

    Correia’s father reported her missing to the Boston police on Feb. 26, prompting a massive search for the young mother. Authorities focused Coleman, who was seen on surveillance video walking toward his red sedan with Correia before she disappeared.

    The same day, Coleman was caught on video entering his apartment building with Walmart shopping bags. Authorities obtained a receipt from a Providence Walmart, which revealed that Coleman bought three protective suits, duct tape, candles, electrical tape, one mask, surgical gloves, two pairs of safety goggles, an odor respirator and CLN release bleach bath, officials said.

    A few days later, on Feb. 28, Coleman was pulled over by troopers in Delaware.

    “She’s in the trunk,” he allegedly told state police when they asked if someone else was in the car. Correia was found in Coleman’s trunk wrapped inside a sofa cushion cover. Coleman was arrested and has remained in federal custody since.

    U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said Correia died from strangulation and blunt force trauma.

    Coleman is being represented by two court-appointed attorneys, Jane Peachy and David Hoose.

    His lawyers are to return to court June 14 for a status conference.

    https://www.masslive.com/boston/2019...hout-bail.html

  3. #3
    Senior Member CnCP Legend
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Posts
    2,243
    Death penalty decision coming soon in kidnapping, killing of Jassy Correia

    Feds say they’ll decide in 60-90 days

    By Sean Philip Cotter
    Boston Herald

    Federal prosecutors say they expect to decide within three months whether to seek the death penalty for the man accused in the brutal kidnapping and killing of Jassy Correia, the young woman taken from outside of a Boston club last year.

    Prosecutors told Judge M. Page Kelley in a court appearance Friday that they expect to know whether they’ll seek death penalty for Louis D. Coleman III in “60 to 90 days.”

    Coleman, a Providence man charged with kidnapping resulting in death, wasn’t present for the very brief status conference in federal court downtown on Friday, during which prosecutors and defense attorneys spoke briefly about the prospect of a death penalty trial. The word “death” wasn’t spoken as attorneys and the judge referred to the “authorization.” Prosecutors said they needed more time to consider the issue.

    Coleman pleaded not guilty in April to abducting the 23-year-old Dorchester mother from a birthday celebration with friends at a Boston nightclub and dragging her body into his apartment early on the morning of Feb. 24.

    Four days later, Coleman was behind the wheel of a red Buick, driving south on Interstate 95, when Delaware state troopers stopped him. When they asked if anyone else was in the car, Coleman allegedly said, “She’s in the trunk.” Correia’s body was found in the trunk.

    A duffel bag, a pair of new long-handled loppers, plastic garbage bags, clothing, a red plastic gas container, a green butane lighter, black gloves, air fresheners, tinted safety glasses, plastic Walmart bags, cloth work gloves, a new set of pliers, a laptop, a computer hard drive and disinfectant wipes were also recovered from the vehicle, prosecutors said.

    Investigators have said they also obtained surveillance video from the lobby of Coleman’s Providence apartment building,that showed him dragging her body toward an elevator.

    Massachusetts doesn’t have the death penalty, but Coleman’s federal charge carries that option. There are currently two people on death row for crimes committed in Massachusetts that were charged and tried in federal court: Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and South Shore spree-killer Gary Lee Sampson. Both continue to appeal their sentences, which call for death by lethal injection.

    Prosecutors and the defense told the judge in the Coleman case there have been no plea discussions so far. A trial, the prosecutors estimate, would take about three weeks, but attorneys said it’s too early to schedule it. Both sides continue to debate what the prosecution should be required to turn over in discovery.

    Coleman’s public defenders also asked for the question of whether Coleman will seek to plead not guilty by reason of insanity to be put off to the next court date, which is scheduled for March 26.

    https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/01...jassy-correia/

  4. #4
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Posts
    33,217

    Feds to weigh death penalty for man charged in Jassy Correia abduction, killing

    Prosecutors are expected to weigh the death penalty at a Tuesday hearing for the man accused in the brutal kidnapping and killing of Jassy Correia, the young mother abducted near a Boston bar last year.

    Louis D. Coleman, arrested last February in Delaware with Correia’s body in the trunk of his car, may also decide whether he intends to pursue a defense of insanity, his public defenders wrote in a status report to the federal court.

    Tuesday’s hearing via teleconference in U.S. District Court was scheduled in March before coronavirus concerns forced a rescheduling.

    Correia, a 23-year-old Dorchester mother, was at a birthday celebration with friends at a Boston nightclub last February before she was kidnapped. Coleman was allegedly captured on surveillance video dragging Correia’s body into an elevator early the next morning at his Rhode Island apartment.

    Delaware state troopers stopped Coleman four days later driving south on Interstate 95 and Coleman allegedly told troopers, ‘She’s in the trunk.”

    Investigators also found numerous tools in the vehicle including loppers, garbage bags, protective gear and a computer hard drive, prosecutors said.

    In January, prosecutors told the court they expected to decide within three months whether to seek the death penalty for Coleman. The defendant wasn’t present at the January hearing, and it’s unclear if Coleman is will attend Tuesday’s hearing.

    U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling’s office did not return a request for comment.

    Coleman’s federal kidnapping resulting in death charge carries the death penalty option, which has been levied against two other Massachusetts criminals in federal court: Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and South Shore multiple-killer Gary Lee Sampson. Both Tsarnaev and Sampson are appealing their capital punishments.

    https://www.lowellsun.com/2020/05/26...ction-killing/
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

  5. #5
    Wilso
    Guest
    Deadline set for prosecutors to decide on death penalty in Providence murder case

    BOSTON — A federal judge on Tuesday gave federal prosecutors until Sept. 10 to decide if they will seek the death penalty against Louis D. Coleman III, the Providence man accused of abducting a woman outside a Boston nightclub whose body was found in his trunk.

    “If it’s not going to be a death-penalty case, we shouldn’t litigate it like one,” U.S. District Court Chief Judge Frank Dennis Saylor IV said in a remote conference with federal prosecutors and the defense team for Coleman.

    The deadline comes as Attorney General Merrick B. Garland issued a memorandum July 1 imposing a moratorium on federal executions while a review of the Justice Department’s policies and procedures is pending.

    Saylor noted that memorandum Tuesday, but observed that it didn't bar federal prosecutors from seeking the death penalty going forward.

    Saylor has set a Feb. 28 start date for Coleman’s trial in the death of Jassy Correia, who was celebrating her 23rd birthday at a Boston nightclub when authorities allege she was kidnapped. Coleman has pleaded not guilty.

    “We’re kind of in a holding pattern,” Coleman’s lawyer, Jane Peachy, said Tuesday. The death penalty decision will dictate how they intend to proceed with motions to suppress, she said.

    “This really can’t wait forever. … This is something where we can’t turn on a dime,” Saylor said as Coleman, 34, observed from the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls. Wearing a tan prison outfit, Coleman remained silent during the proceedings.

    Correia was last seen early Feb. 24, 2019, getting into a car outside a Boston nightclub with a man authorities allege was Coleman. Hours later, video captured Coleman carrying Correia’s limp, half-naked body into 95 Chestnut St., in Providence, where he lived in apartment 602, investigators said.

    While Correia was never spotted exiting the building, Coleman was seen struggling to put a new suitcase into the trunk of his car, authorities have said.

    The body of Correia — a young mother — was found naked, with “significant” bruising, and bound with duct tape in Coleman's trunk when he was stopped by police in Delaware, authorities said. Correia died of strangulation.

    Coleman, formerly of California, is facing federal charges that he abducted Correia and willfully transported her in interstate commerce in the furtherance of offenses that ended in her death.

    If convicted, he would face a mandatory life sentence.

    https://www.providencejournal.com/st...se/8032272002/

  6. #6
    Moderator Ryan's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    Newport, United Kingdom
    Posts
    2,454
    Any potential federal death penalty case must be approved under U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. If unapproved, the death penalty is dropped in the appropriate case.
    "How do you get drunk on death row?" - Werner Herzog

    "When we get fruit, we get the juice and water. I ferment for a week! It tastes like chalk, it's nasty" - Blaine Keith Milam #999558 Texas Death Row

  7. #7
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    20,875
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  8. #8
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    7,316
    Louis D. Coleman III, accused of kidnapping and killing 23-year-old Jassy Correia, heads to trial in Boston

    Will Katcher, masslive.com

    Jassy Correia wanted to celebrate her 23rd birthday at a Boston nightclub. Four days later, she was found dead in the trunk of a man’s car in Delaware.

    More than three years later, the man accused of kidnapping and killing Correia will go on trial Monday in US District Court in Boston.

    Louis D. Coleman III, a 36-year-old Providence man, faces a federal charge of kidnapping resulting in death in connection with the February 2019 incident. Prosecutors have declined to seek the death penalty against Coleman, who will instead face life in prison if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty.

    It was after 2 a.m. on Feb. 24, 2019, that Correia left Venu, a Boston club, with her friends. Coleman was also at the club and approached Correia after she had gotten into an argument with friends outside.

    Surveillance footage showed Coleman and Correia leaving together into a red sedan, police said. Two hours later, more footage showed Coleman parking outside his Providence apartment. He got out of his car, returned with a blanket, and carried and dragged a woman inside, whom investigators believe was Correia.

    Two days later, Correia’s father and a friend report the Dorchester mother of a young girl missing. That same day, police said Coleman traveled to a Providence Walmart for duct tape, surgical gloves, bleach, and other items.

    Coleman was identified as a suspect within days of Correia’s disappearance but was gone from his apartment by the time police searched the residence on Feb. 28.

    That afternoon, Delaware State Police stopped him on Interstate 95 near Wilmington. When a trooper asked if anyone else was in the car, Coleman responded, “She’s in the trunk,” investigators said.

    There, police said they found Correia’s lifeless body inside a sofa cushion, inside a plastic bag, inside a suitcase, in the trunk. Police she was covered in what appeared to be baking soda. Other items, including pruning shears, a plastic gas container, a lighter and gloves were also located inside the vehicle.

    Correia died by strangulation, prosecutors have said, and suffered blunt force injury to the head, torso, upper body and neck.

    While in a Delaware State Police holding cell and under arrest, Coleman was asked about an injury on his cheekbone covered by a bandage.

    He told troopers it was “from the girl.” Later, Coleman changed his mind and said the wound happened after he cut himself shaving, court filings said.

    Prosecutors do not need to prove that Coleman killed Correia — only that he kidnapped her, resulting in her death, the Boston Globe reported.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime...ton/ar-AAX4Ivb
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

  9. #9
    Senior Member CnCP Legend
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Posts
    2,243
    Louis Coleman found guilty in kidnapping death of Jassy Correia

    CBS Boston

    BOSTON - A federal jury found Louis Coleman guilty on Wednesday in the 2019 fatal kidnapping of Jassy Correia outside a Boston club.

    Coleman was convicted on one count of kidnapping resulting in death. Family members in court screamed out "Yes!" as the verdict was read.

    Correia disappeared after a birthday celebration in the city. Police in Delaware stopped Coleman's car four days later and found Correia's body in the trunk.

    Coleman now faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison. Prosecutors decided last year they would not pursue the death penalty.

    Sentencing has been scheduled for September 22.

    Joel Correia, Jassy's brother, said after the verdict that Coleman is "More than a killer," and said "what he did was disgusting."

    "I'm going to think about my sister every day, because it's the one sister I got," he said. "We got justice. But it's not going to bring my sister back."

    Closing arguments were held in the trial on Tuesday and deliberations began that day.

    On Wednesday, the judge in the case dismissed a juror, though it is not yet clear why.

    Coleman's defense team filed a renewed motion for acquittal, arguing "the evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction."

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbs...on-kidnapping/

  10. #10
    Senior Member CnCP Legend
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Posts
    2,243
    Man Who Kidnapped Mass. Mom Before Her Death Sentenced to Life in Prison

    A federal jury found Louis Coleman guilty in June of kidnapping Jassy Correia, leading to her death

    By Katelyn Flint
    CBS Boston

    The man who was found guilty earlier this year of kidnapping a young Massachusetts mother outside a Boston nightclub, leading to her death, was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without parole.

    A federal jury found Louis Coleman guilty in June of kidnapping Jassy Correia, in a case that captured national attention and unearthed the agonizing details surrounding her kidnapping and death back in 2019.

    Coleman's conviction had carried a mandatory life sentence. He will be allowed to serve his sentence in Airzona near his family.

    "Coleman was found guilty by a jury of tricking Jassy into believing he was going to give her a ride back to her friend's apartment and instead holding her against her will, sexually assaulting her, strangling her to death and embarking on a massive effort to cover up his crimes," Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy said after Coleman was found guilty.

    Correia's father, Joaquim Correia, was one of many family members who attended the entirety of the three-week trial. He said after the trial that he'd vowed to see it through because he'd brought Jassy to the U.S. as a young girl.

    The verdict, he said through a translator, "proved once again that this individual is a criminal. He doesn't have a right to be in society. This is satisfactory to me."

    Prosecutors had argued that Coleman sexually assaulted and strangled Correia -- who'd been out celebrating her birthday -- before stashing her body in a suitcase in his trunk, where it was found four days later when he was stopped on Interstate 95 in Delaware.

    They presented graphic evidence against Coleman, including video of him carrying Correia piggyback to his car after she was pushed out of an Uber that wasn't hers into the cold night. Prosecutors said Coleman took Correia to his apartment in Providence, Rhode Island, where he stuffed her body in a suitcase.

    "She never arrived home, and the reason why is this defendant and his actions," Assistant U.S. Attorney Elianna Nuzum said during the trial. "He sexually assaulted her, strangled her to death and transported her across state lines. Then he tried to cover it up."

    Coleman had pleaded not guilty to kidnapping Correia. His attorneys said the woman had attacked him and died in the car during the fight, but that Correia went with him willingly.

    "What happened in that car was not a planned event and not initiated by Louis Coleman," his defense attorney, David Hoose, said in court during the trial.

    Coleman was charged with kidnapping leading to death because federal law only provides murder charges in certain cases, prosecutors said.

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbc...58842/%3famp=1

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •