NEW ORLEANS — It only took a jury half an hour to reach a verdict in the trial of a New Orleans teen accused of armed robbery in alleged carjacking of a woman at gunpoint.
Since 2021, the New Orleans teen has escaped state custody three different times.
18-year-old Curtis Tassin was found not guilty on Thursday morning.
It was a very quick decision by the jury, and even losing arguments wrapped up in less than an hour.
In between the alleged escapes, prosecutors say Tassin carjacked a 33-year-old woman while holding a gun to her head.
During closing arguments, the defense tried to sway the jury by reminding them the alleged victim didn’t choose Tassin when presented with a lineup.
But the prosecution asked the jurors how the victim could possibly remember the victim’s face with a gun against her head.
Craig Mordock, an attorney not involved in Tassin’s case, explained the difference between armed robbery and carjacking charges.
Carjacking has a sentence of five to twenty years in Louisiana, whereas armed robbery has a much higher and longer sentence, fifteen to ninety-nine years,” Attorney Craig Mordock said.
If convicted, Tassin faced up to 99 years in prison.
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