New Orleans man admits to role in Slidell-area murder

A 20-year-old New Orleans man today admitted to participating in an attempted armed robbery that led to a Salvadoran man's death in the Slidell area.

Grant Gethers took the stand in the St. Tammany Parish courthouse and expressed his remorse, and state Judge Richard A. "Rick" Swartz sentenced him to eight years in prison for manslaughter.

Gethers had been charged with second-degree murder alongside Glenn Carter, 19, of New Orleans, Edric "E" Cooper, 21, of Slidell, and Jace "Slim" Washington, 21, of Slidell.

The four men tried to pull off a robbery at a trailer near Slidell where Jose Luis Martinez-Carpio was cooking on April 29, 2007. At that time, Gethers, who was the only one without a gun, was 18 years old.

Gethers ran out of the trailer when Carter fired the fatal shots, according to various testimony.
Gether's private attorney, Alan Black, and Assistant District Attorney Jack Hoffstadt asked Gethers if he felt remorse.

grant.gethers.jpgGrant Gethers

"I'm sorry," he told the court. "It was a mistake and should have never happened. I'd take it back . . .  He was killed for no reason, for stupidity."

"To this day I've ruined multiple lives in multiple ways."

Swartz said he did "appreciate that Gethers has expressed the truth and some remorse today... (but) any lesser sentence would deprecate the seriousness of the offense."

Martinez-Carpio was cooking fish and talking on the phone with his girlfriend when four men entered the Madison Street trailer where he lived, according to testimony. Martinez-Carpio grabbed a kitchen utensil to defend himself and was shot three times.

Martinez-Carpio and six others lived in the run-down, yellow-stained trailer at 35591 Madison St. All were in the country illegally from El Salvador, Honduras or Mexico, authorities have said.

Carter, who planned the robbery and shot Martinez-Carpio, was convicted on Aug. 9 of second-degree murder and is serving a mandatory life sentence in prison.

Edric "E" Cooper, 21, of Slidell pleaded guilty to manslaughter on Aug. 11. He fired a shot into the trailer's floor and attempted a second shot, but his gun jammed, according to testimony.

He was charged with second-degree murder as well, but two days after Carter's conviction, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter, with the caveat that he would testify at Washington's trial.
Cooper did testify and on Dec. 9 was sentenced to 12 years behind bars.

Manslaughter carries a maximum of 40 years in prison.

Washington was tried on a charge of second-degree murder, but a 12-member St. Tammany Parish jury took about three hours on Oct. 14 to find him guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter for his role.

He's scheduled to be sentenced on April 23 and has continued to maintain his innocence despite several of his co-perpetrators' testimony against him, including Gethers' confession on Thursday afternoon.