Charges were dropped after Marshall was caught again turning his life around and burglarizing another home. Previous story.
Merritt Landry, the homeowner who shot an unarmed teenager in the head after finding the intruder on his Marigny property, no longer faces criminal prosecution.
Orleans Parish prosecutors on Thursday announced the decision to decline charges following news that Marshall Coulter, 15, who survived the shooting, had been arrested in connection with burglaries in the same neighborhood. The decision also comes after a grand jury failed to take action earlier this year, leaving the viability of the case in doubt.
“I am ethically obligated not to charge an individual against whom I do not possess evidence that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed a crime,” Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro said in statement. “Such evidence does not exist in this case.”
Police arrested Landry, 33, on a charge of attempted second-degree murder after he shot Coulter, then 14, after finding the teen in the fenced-in area of Landry’s property in the 700 block of Mandeville Street.
Landry, an inspector with the city’s Historic District Landmarks Commission, has been free on bond, but the threat of prosecution loomed following the grand jury’s divided vote, as the district attorney’s office said the case remained open.
After Cannizzaro announced the decision, Landry’s attorneys said he was “overjoyed” by the decision. His father, Larry Landry said, “We’re relieved as a family that this is off our chests. The whole thing is just so sad. It was really a no-win situation.”