Doctor: Victim’s body had drugs, old bullet round
The man allegedly shot to death in 2009 at the behest of Baton Rouge rapper Torence “Lil Boosie’’ Hatch had marijuana and other drugs in his system and a bullet from a previous shooting in his body at the time of his slaying, a Lafayette pathologist testified Sunday.
Dr. Joel Carney, who performed the autopsy on Terry Boyd’s body in October 2009, also testified at Hatch’s first-degree murder trial that the 35-year-old Boyd had 14 old scars on his body.
In their opening statements to the anonymous jury a day earlier, prosecutor Dana Cummings acknowledged that Boyd had recently been released from prison when he was fatally shot inside a home on Vermillion Street, and Hatch’s attorney, Jason Williams, argued that “a lot of folks had some ill will’’ toward Boyd.
Carney testified Sunday that Boyd suffered three gunshot wounds in the Oct. 21, 2009, shooting that took his life. Each bullet exited Boyd’s body. He said the results of a toxicology test showed the presence of marijuana, morphine and codeine in Boyd’s system.
Carney also said he removed a bullet from Boyd’s left upper back that was “encased in old scar tissue.’’
When Hatch attorney Martin Regan asked Carney to count the number of scars on Boyd’s body, the pathologist listed 14.
In other testimony Sunday, several Baton Rouge police detectives said they had no leads in the wake of Boyd’s killing, but Williams suggested Boyd’s mother gave them a possible lead in the name of Michael Charles, also known as “Big Fancy’’ and “Big Mike.’’
Williams said Boyd and Charles were once incarcerated together at the same prison, but the detectives did not inquire about Charles.
Chuck Smith, an East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney’s Office investigator and case agent in the Hatch case, testified he later learned that Charles’ real name was Michael Charles Carter, and that he had died early last year.
Hatch, 29, is accused of paying Michael “Marlo Mike’’ Louding, also of Baton Rouge, to kill Boyd. Prosecutors say Louding confessed to shooting Boyd and told authorities Hatch paid $2,800 for the killing.
Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty against Hatch, meaning he would receive an automatic sentence of life in prison if convicted as charged.
Louding, now 19, was 17 at the time of Boyd’s death and also is charged with first-degree murder in the killing. He is not eligible for the death penalty because of his age.
Louding is charged in five other killings over a 14-month span, starting with the Feb. 9, 2009, shooting death of local up-and-coming rapper Chris “Nussie” Jackson, and ending with the April 1, 2010, double-murder of Charles Matthews and Darryl “Bleek” Milton.
Louding is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Jackson; Marcus Thomas on April 25, 2009; and Matthews and Milton. He also is charged with second-degree murder in the killing of Michael Smith on Dec. 18, 2009.
Louding was 16 at the time of Jackson’s and Thomas’ deaths.
Adrian Pittman, 38, of Baton Rouge, also is charged with first-degree murder in Boyd’s death.
Louding and Pittman, the alleged getaway driver in the Boyd killing, have not been tried. They are expected to testify at Hatch’s trial.
Hatch is serving an eight-year prison term after pleading guilty in November to conspiring to smuggle drugs and other illegal contraband into Dixon Correctional Institute and the Louisiana State Penitentiary.
A third day of testimony is scheduled to begin Monday at 9:30 a.m. in state District Judge Mike Erwin’s courtroom.
The jury is being sequestered in a hotel for the duration of the trial.