NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Orleans Parish court records show that in a dramatic scene, Terrance Burton Jr. admitted to killing David Handy and shooting three others.
Records show that on September 12, 2009, police officers in New Orleans found Handy dying on the street with gunshot wounds to the chest. A surviving victim told police that Burton had walked into a party and opened fire.
In 2014, an Orleans Parish judge initially sentenced Burton to 40 years in prison without parole or early release after pleading guilty to manslaughter and three counts of attempted first-degree murder.
However, court records also show that his sentence was changed in May 2024 and he was released.
Handy’s family, the former assistant district attorney who prosecuted Burton, and the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s Office appear to be at odds over his release.
Court records show Handy’s mother and aunt spoke in favor of the resentencing. Their support was part of the rationale for Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams’ civil rights division.
Williams emphasized this in a press conference on Monday (August 19).
“The victims’ mother was brought to court when he apologized at the original sentencing before I was even in this office,” Williams said. “The victims’ mother was present at every court hearing and reached out to the last administration about this particular case.”
Handy’s 15-year-old daughter Dasani Harris also expressed her willingness to forgive Burton.
“Putting him in jail can’t bring my father back. No matter what happened to him, it can’t bring him back, and I don’t think he should suffer. I think he’s suffered enough,” she said.
Harris was only months old when Burton killed her father. She said she only has stories about him.
“I feel like I should have compassion for his daughter too. It’s not easy growing up without a father,” she said.
Harris’ mother declined to be interviewed, but Harris said her mother might not be so forgiving.
“She, I don’t know, I feel like she’ll never forgive him, ever,” Harris said. “But she’s trying, she’s trying to forgive him, just through my power. She’s just trying to forgive him. She’s not forgiving him at all. Even though it was a mistake, she doesn’t care. She feels like it was wrong.”
Former Orleans Parish Assistant District Attorney Jason Napoli prosecuted Burton under former District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro.
He said the opinions of victims were important to prosecutors, but criticized the Williams administration’s handling of their views.
“As a prosecutor, it is also very important not to be guided by the wishes of the victim when determining the sentence,” said Napoli.
Williams’ civil rights division, led by Emily Maw, former director of the Innocence Project New Orleans, argued, among other things, that Burton’s original manslaughter sentence (40 years without parole, conditional release or suspension) was illegal.
Napoli disputes that argument, but says that even if it were successful, it would not overturn the concurrent 40-year prison sentences for the other three charges.
“This guy went to a house party, shot his intended target and then shot anyone else who happened to be in his way,” Napoli said.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill announced that her office will review OPDA post-conviction remedies cases from January to July 2024. Burton’s case falls within that time frame.
A statement from her office said: “Post-conviction remedies are not a mechanism for revising a judgment that has long been final simply because the District Attorney disagrees with the legislature and the appellate courts on criminal justice policy. I am reviewing cases from January through the end of July in which remedies were granted. There are more that go back further, but I am beginning a close review of the files on these 40 cases.”
A Fox 8 investigation found that Williams’ office assisted in at least 28 new convictions between March and July. Twenty-three of the convicted felons are now free.
Williams was asked in September to testify before state lawmakers and explain his office’s work in the area of post-conviction assistance, and he said he plans to do so.
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