Jarrett Scott
December 17, 2007Ena Luke
December 19, 2007
A man accused of fatally shooting two women at Lucky’s Truck Stop Casino in Bayou Blue in March 2006 pleaded guilty last week to first-degree murder charges.
In a plea agreement with the Terrebonne Parish District Attorney’s Office, Romalis Gordon Jr., 35, will serve two consecutive life sentences. A last-minute plea deal spared Gordon from potentially facing the death penalty, prosecutors said.
In District Judge Johnny Walker’s court last Wednesday, Gordon admitted to the March 3, 2006, shooting of casino assistant manager Schaeffer Francis, 29, and security guard Brenda Robertson, 64, at Lucky’s on Louisiana Highway 182.
Prior to sentencing, Tony Champagne, an attorney with the Public Defender’s Office assigned to defend Gordon, read a letter written by the Houma man to the families of his victims. In it he admitted guilt and asked for forgiveness.
Gordon was sentenced to serve two consecutive life sentences at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola.
Prior to last week’s plea deal, Gordon had maintained his innocence. However, authorities maintained he was captured on surveillance video robbing the casino and slaying Francis and Roberson. He was arrested within hours of the murders traveling on Louisiana Highway 1 toward Houma in his girlfriend’s Honda Civic.
