TERRYTOWN, La. -- A jury of seven women and five men took just over two hours Thursday afternoon to reject the insanity defense of Gary Francois and find him guilty of second-degree murder, a verdict that will send him to prison for the rest of his life according to our partners at The New Orleans Advocate.
Francois was accused of walking into the Foot Locker store at the Oakwood Mall in Terrytown on Christmas Eve of 2014 and shooting James Vaughn.
Had the jury agreed with Francois’ defense team that their client was suffering from psychosis on the day he killed Vaughn, he would have been sent to the state mental hospital in East Feliciana Parish for treatment.
Francois will be formally sentenced on May 18 before Judge Lee Faulkner, who presided over the trial.
