Man gets 20 years in beating death of Alexandrian in Lafayette
A man was sentenced to 20 years for the 2010 beating death of an Alexandrian in Lafayette.
Man gets 20 years in beating death of Alexandrian in Lafayette A man was sentenced to 20 years for the 2010 beating death of an Alexandrian in Lafayette. Check out this story on thetowntalk.com: http://www.thetowntalk.com/story/news/local/2015/07/10/man-gets-years-beating-death-alexandrian/29974551/
Ian Trahan (far left), who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the 2010 beating death of Kenneth Donnelly Jr. of Alexandria, is escorted into the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center in downtown Lafayette on Thursday. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.(Photo: Paul Kieu, The Advertiser)
LAFAYETTE – A 20-year-sentence has been handed down for a man who pleaded guilty to the 2010 beating death of an Alexandria man who was a student at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Trahan
, 27, was sentenced Thursday to 20 years in prison at hard labor for killing UL Lafayette freshman Kenneth Paul
Jr. in his McKinley Street home in Lafayette.
Donnelly, 20, was a member of the National Guard and a 2008 graduate of Holy Savior Menard Central High in Alexandria.
Kenneth Paul Donnelly Jr. (Photo: Courtesy)
Trahan had been facing a second-degree murder charge in May when he pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
On Thursday, 15th Judicial District Court Judge Marilyn Castle rejected an agreement to take five years off Trahan's sentence if he cooperated with police by identifying a third suspect. Assistant District Attorney Janet Perrodin said the third person stood lookout on the front porch while Trahan and Wayland Guillory assaulted Donnelly and Rufus Fells.
"We could not find anything useful or truthful in his statements," Perrodin said. "So we're asking the judge to issue the original 20-year sentence."
Perrodin said Trahan gave contradictory information during questioning, and police were unable to identify the third suspect in the slaying. She and his attorney, Tommy Guilbeau, agreed they would reduce Trahan's sentence if he cooperated.
Guilbeau chose not to speak during the sentencing.
Because Trahan committed a violent crime, he will be required by Louisiana law to serve at least 85 percent of this sentence — 17 years. He may not be released from prison until he's in his early 50s.
Guillory had been charged with second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder. In a plea deal in which he agreed to testify against Trahan, Guillory's murder charge was reduced to manslaughter, and the attempted murder charge was dismissed.
Guilbeau declined to comment after the sentencing.
On the night of Oct. 28, 2010, Guillory and Trahan entered Donnelly and Fells' home and beat the two with a crowbar.
Fells was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Donnelly was pronounced dead at the scene.
Reports say Fells has since moved back to Alexandria.
According to an arrest affidavit, Trahan was questioned twice by police, but denied having information about the homicide.
But on Jan. 19, 2011, friends of Trahan and Guillory told detectives that the two had left Trahan's apartment to buy drugs.
Once they returned, Trahan and Guillory "were nervous and 'shaky' and inquired if they had heard about a 'murder on McKinley Street,'" the affidavit said. One of the associates later said that Trahan told others that he had "beat someone bad and might have killed him" in the McKinley Street area.
About a month after he was charged for the 2010 murder, Trahan was found guilty of marijuana and Xanax possession.
Thursday's sentence will be added onto the five years he's serving at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola for those drug charges.
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