Tony Procell
Former Police Officer Robert Barthelemy
Death penalty sought against Natchitoches cop
Sabine Parish District Attorney Don Burkett filed notice Wednesday afternoon of his intent to seek the death penalty against a Natchitoches police officer indicted earlier in the day on charges related to the Aug. 20 kidnapping and beating death of a Many man.
The notice, filed with the Sabine Parish clerk of court, states the death penalty will be pursued at Robert Barthelemy’s trial because of two reasons:
• The offender was engaged in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of second degree kidnapping;
• The offense was committed in an especially heinous, atrocious or cruel manner.
The death penalty and life in prison are options for defendants convicted in capital murder cases. Burkett reached the decision on going for death following discussions with the family of homicide victim Tony Procell, 24, and after “consideration of the facts of the case.”
A formal notice is not a legal requirement; however, it’s been the veteran district attorney’s process in other capital murder cases prosecuted in Sabine and DeSoto parishes.
“The notice says why and what ground I am claiming. I adopted this practice to say I’m seeking the death penalty and why it statutorily applies,” Burkett said.
Burkett filed another death penalty notice last month on an unrelated homicide in Sabine Parish.
Indictments were handed up on Barthelemy following a special morning session that lasted more than two hours. Burkett could not disclose what was said and who testified in the closed-door discussion, but confirmed law enforcement officers connected to the investigation of Procell’s death were the primary ones offering evidence.
The grand jury agreed with the charges lodged last month by the Sabine Parish Sheriff’s Office against Barthelemy: first-degree murder, second-degree kidnapping and home invasion.
Barthelemy will be arraigned, a process where he enters an initial plea, before District Judge Stephen Beasley on Sept. 26. Shreveport attorney Daryl Gold is representing Barthelemy.
The court action comes as family and friends are saying their good-byes to Procell. A wake was held Wednesday, and a funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. today at Siloam Baptist Church in Many, with burial in Trinity Baptist Church Cemetery.
Procell’s body was discovered Aug. 25 in a shallow grave in Winn Parish. Investigators say he suffered extensive head injuries. A shovel and bat are being tested for DNA evidence to determine which one was the potential murder weapon.
Barthelemy, 34, of Natchitoches, is accused of forcing Procell at gunpoint from his home then driving him to Winn Parish, where he was killed. Barthelemy was arrested early the next morning in south DeSoto Parish following a car chase.
He initially denied harming Procell but then stopped cooperating with investigators. Searchers scoured areas familiar to Barthelemy in Natchitoches Parish and ultimately located Procell’s body just over the parish line.
The men, both of whom served together in the Louisiana Army National Guard, apparently were involved in a dispute involving a woman.
http://www.theadvertiser.com/article...pping-homicide
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