SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – After more than two hours of delays, closing arguments are underway in the joint trial of two men accused in the murder of off-duty Shreveport police officer Chatéri Payne.
Officer Payne was fatally shot on Jan. 9, 2019, as she prepared to leave for her shift as an SPD patrol officer.
Tre’veon Anderson, 29, and 41-year-old Glenn Frierson are charged with one count of second-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit second-degree murder in Payne’s death.
Lawrence Pierre, 24, was originally scheduled to go on trial with co-defendants, but instead pleaded guilty on the morning the trial was set to begin. In exchange, the prosecution dismissed the conspiracy to commit murder charge.
Both sides wrapped up their respective cases Tuesday, in the twelfth day of the trial, with the defense homing the state’s final witness, a DNA analyst who testified the major DNA found on the Glock 23 40-caliber gun that killed Payne did not belong to either of the defendants.
Instead, only the DNA of 26-year-old Dunnivick Hicks was found on the weapon. Hicks is Pierre’s first cousin, and the weapon was found in his apartment a few days after Payne’s death.
Kari Dicken, a forensic DNA scientist and analyst at the Northwest Louisiana Crime Lab in Shreveport, also testified that an analysis of the magazine found in the truck of Pierre’s car found the major DNA belonged to Pierre.
When called back to the stand, Dicken said she could neither confirm nor deny that any of the defendants’ DNA was on the gun – only that the Hicks’ DNA was on it.
If convicted, both Frierson and Anderson each face a mandatory life term in prison without benefit of probation, parole or reduction in sentence.
