By Elyse Carmosino
The Advocate
BATON ROUGE, La. — The man accused of wounding 11 people in a shooting at a fraternity party just off Southern University’s campus had previously been let out on bail twice within a month-long period on separate domestic violence and attempted armed robbery charges, and was awaiting trials for both at the time he allegedly fired into the crowd of students Friday, court records show.
On Monday, East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore III requested Jaicedric Williams, 22, be held without bond in the shooting at the fraternity, citing the fact that Williams had already been out on bond on an arrest of domestic abuse battery when the shooting incident happened.
Court documents show, however, that just one month after he was arrested in October 2020 for punching a woman in the face, Williams was arrested again, accused of attempting to rob a man at gunpoint.
In both cases, he bonded out of East Baton Rouge Parish Prison shortly after his arrests.
“It’s absolutely (frustrating),” Moore said, adding that cases like Williams’ are frequent: “We oftentimes see repeat offenders out on bond for whatever reason.”
Just before 2 a.m. Friday, Baton Rouge police responded to calls about a shooting at the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity house on Harding Boulevard. Authorities initially said nine people were wounded in the chaos, but later announced two additional victims had come forward with minor injuries, raising the tally to 11. At least nine of those injured were students.
Later that day, officers arrested Daryl Stansberry, 28, and Miles Moss, 24, as alleged accomplices in the incident. Both men face 11 counts of accessory after the fact of attempted first-degree murder and one count of illegal use of a weapon or dangerous instrumentality.
Williams was taken into custody Sunday on 11 counts of attempted first-degree murder and one count of illegal use of a weapon or dangerous instrumentality.
According to arrest documents, Williams was previously arrested on Oct. 13, 2020, after police responded to a complaint from a woman about a man refusing to leave her residence. Upon arrival, the woman told officers that her boyfriend, identified as Williams, had punched her “with a closed fist” during an argument the month prior, causing her to need stitches. Responding officers noted a large scar on the woman’s face.
Williams was taken into custody that day but bonded out on $5,000 bail under the condition he not contact the woman.
Less than two weeks later, on Oct. 21, arrest documents show Williams pulled a gun on a man in a convenience store parking lot in an attempt to get the individual to hand over his firearm. The man allegedly shot Williams in his abdomen, leaving the then-20-year-old hospitalized for a month, DA Hillar Moore said.
Williams was arrested for attempted armed robbery on Nov. 12. Four days later, a bond of $40,000 was set in Judge Ronald Johnson’s court room, records show.
An aide of Johnson’s said Monday that he declined to comment on the case. That same evening, Judge Brad Myers approved a bond hold in the case, the trial for which has been continued to Feb. 22 next year.
Public officials have put pressure on judges in recent months to be less lenient in offering bail to those accused of violent crimes.
At a press conference last month, Police Chief Murphy Paul and Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome expressed frustration that many shootings in East Baton Rouge Parish are committed by offenders recently jailed on other violent offenses.
In particular, Paul pointed to an Aug. 25 nonfatal shooting where the suspect, identified by BRPD as 39-year-old Luke Simmons, had been arrested in the December 2021 shooting death of Lance Robertson, 41. Simmons was out on bond at the time of the August incident.
In a statement released in the wake of the shooting near Southern University, Broome urged local leaders to continue engaging their communities to address the underlying causes of violence, calling for changes to laws that allow easy access to firearms.
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