Accused cop killer’s pretrial hearing set for Friday

On the heels of one capital murder trial, the Lafourche Parish District Attorney’s Office will embark on another death penalty case.

Billy J. Daigle, a 42-year-old Bayou Blue man, is accused of running over Lafourche sheriff’s deputy Martha Woods-Shareef in a stolen pickup truck after trying to burglarize a Chackbay convenience store on Aug. 20, 2008.

White-Shareef’s death occurred one year to the day that Camille and Braxton Hebert were murdered by their mother in Mathews.

Daigle’s motion hearing had been scheduled for May, but was postponed because of the Hebert trial. The hearing has been rescheduled for Friday, June 26, in District Judge Jerome Barbera’s courtroom at 9 a.m.

Barbera is expected to rule on several motions put forth by Daigle’s defense, including a motion to quash the grand jury’s indictment on capital-murder charges on the grounds that the death penalty is cruel and unusual.

Lafourche Parish District Attorney Cam Morvant submitted the official motion seeking the death penalty on Dec. 15.

Kerry Cuccia, director of the New Orleans-based Capital Defense Project of Southeast Louisiana, and Ray Bigelow are representing Daigle.

In late January, Daigle’s defense team looked to have the charge of attempted first-degree murder of Louisiana State Police Trooper Corey J. Brunet dismissed. Police say while Daigle was fleeing, shortly after hitting Shareef, Daigle tried to run down Brunet near the St. Charles Bypass intersection.

Neither defense attorneys were available as of press time to disclose whether they still planned to seek dismissal of the attempted first-degree murder charge.