NEW ORLEANS — A day after John Honore was convicted of murder in the fatal carjacking of 73-year-old grandmother Linda Frickey, Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams held a press conference to formally announce a unanimous guilty verdict against the 18-year-old.
"The conviction of Honore and his accomplices serves as a reminder that violent acts in the City of New Orleans will not go unpunished," DA Williams said. "Human beings who hurt human beings in this city will be held to account."
When asked about Honore, who was 17 years old at the time of the crime, being charged and convicted as an adult, Williams responded frankly about the intersection of crime and young people.
"I don't think that there is anyone here that wants to see a young person spend significant years in jail, and I also know there is not a single person in this room who believes that it is okay to drag a 73-year-old woman to her death," Williams said. "
"The juvenile system is set up in a way that a person would be done with any sentence at the age of 21. That wouldn't be accountability," he continued. "That wouldn't be justice for a family. And nor would it be enough time to fix what was broken in that person that caused them to make a bad choice after bad choice that took a life.
"So, every time Mrs. Linda was kicked, that was a choice. Every time she was punched, that was a choice. Every time she was maced, that was a choice. Every yard he drove with her attached to that seatbelt of the two football fields [in length] that he drove was a choice, and choices have consequences.
"Suggesting that a person's age should absolve them of any consequences ... I'm not quite sure how he thought that was going to play," Williams concluded. "I think the unanimous jury verdict made that very clear."
The three other defendants Lenyra Theophile, Mar’quel Curtis, and Briniyah Baker, pleaded guilty last week to attempted manslaughter in exchange for 20-year sentences.
With the conviction, Honore faces a mandatory life sentence with a chance at parole after 25 years. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 12.
Watch the entire press conference below:
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