Triple murder suspect faces lethal injection

Prosecutors will pursue lethal injection for the man accused of killing a mother and her two children at their Lockport apartment last November, District Attorney Cam Morvant II confirmed.

Houma-native David Brown, 35, is charged with killing Jacqueline Nieves and her two daughters, 7-year-old Gabriela Nieves and 20-month-old Izabela Nieves, sexually assaulting two of the victims and attempting to burn the Lockport apartment while Jacqueline’s husband Carlos Nieves Jr. slept on the first-floor couch.

A grand jury indicted Brown on three counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of sexual battery and one count of aggravated arson.

Brown pleaded not guilty to all charges at his arraignment last week, Morvant said.

During a January press conference announcing the charges, Lafourche Sheriff Craig Webre said the sheriff’s office collected physical, testimonial, forensic and video evidence. Brown’s DNA matches evidence collected at the crime scene, and the knife Brown allegedly used was recovered at the scene.

Brown was invited by a coworker to the Lockport apartment complex Nov. 3 to watch a football game, Webre said. It was in the early morning hours of Nov. 4 that Brown allegedly returned to the complex after going to a local bar and committed the crime.

The murder charges were not brought forward for nearly three months. In the meantime, Brown was incarcerated and held in violation of his probation after being charged with an unrelated charge on the same day.

Prior to the alleged murder, Brown entered an adjacent apartment and touched a sleeping woman, according to Leroy Hebert, the woman’s husband. She awoke and, cursing, demanded he leave the apartment, Hebert said. Brown was charged with unauthorized entry into an inhabited dwelling and simple battery.

First-degree murder is a capital offense in Louisiana, as are homicides against victims younger than 12.

Morvant’s office last sought the death penalty for the four immigrant workers connected to the death of Angela Laudun in 2010. The charges against the men were later reduced from first-degree murder, and three eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter with the fourth pleading to obstruction of justice.

The state of Louisiana has executed three people convicted of murder since 2000, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

The last person executed from Tri-parish jurisdiction was David Dene Martin, convicted of four counts of first-degree murder in Lafourche Parish. He was electrocuted on Jan. 4, 1985.