Briceson Carter was on trial for nine felony charges, including murder.
A man who was on trial this week for murder, kidnapping and seven other felony charges stopped the proceedings on Wednesday (April 25) and accepted the state’s plea offer, avoiding a potential life sentence.
Briceson Carter, 33, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and other amended charges in exchange for a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, according to District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office.
Carter was indicted in December 2013 in connection with 39-year-old Brandy Keenan’s death two months earlier.
Keenan was killed on Oct. 12,2013. Police said her decomposed body was found in a grassy lot on Choctaw Street four days later.
Carter was already in jail when he was booked in Keenan’s death. Police arrested him on Oct. 13, after they said he kidnapped a 25-year-old woman in the Holy Cross neighborhood and forced his way into her home, where he robbed her and threatened to rape her.
At the time of his arrest, police called Carter a “career criminal.” They said his arrest record in Orleans Parish dated back to 2001 and included 17 felony arrests and 14 misdemeanor arrests.
Carter also pleaded guilty Wednesday to an amended count of second-degree kidnapping and single counts of armed robbery with a firearm, aggravated burglary, aggravated battery, attempted escape from a police officer, illegal possession of a firearm by a felon and illegal possession of a stolen firearm, said Cannizzaro’s spokesman, Ken Daley.
The plea agreement also required Carter to plead guilty in two unrelated cases to possession with intent to distribute cocaine, and to second-degree battery involving an incident while incarcerated, Daley said.
Criminal District Judge Tracey Flemings-Davillier ordered his sentences to be served concurrently for a maximum 40 years.
In a statement, Cannizzaro defended his office’s decision to enter into a plea agreement with Carter. The state was “partially impeded” by an uncooperative witness, he said, and was unsure how jurors might perceive testimony from another key witness who has struggled with drug addiction.
“I understand and sympathize with Ms. Keenan’s surviving family feeling dissatisfied with anything other than a life sentence in this case,” he said. “A loved one has been senselessly taken, and unfortunately no degree of punishment can change that.”
Assistant District Attorneys Michael Trummel and Daniel Smart prosecuted the case. Mariah Holder and Leon Roche of the Orleans Public Defenders represented Carter.
