NEW ORLEANS -- One of the men charged in connection with the killing of an armored truck guard outside a Mid-City bank last year pleaded guilty in court Tuesday after reaching an agreement with federal prosecutors.
Deltoine Scott, 25, changed his plea in connection with the 2017 killing of Loomis employee Jimmy McBride.
Prosecutors in return dropped a count that charged Scott with the death of McBride, which would have resulted in a life sentence if he had been convicted at trial.
Scott, whose sentencing is set for Jan. 30, is now expected to testify against his alleged accomplice, Jerome Kieffer, and his father, Armstead Kieffer. Both men are set to stand trial on Oct. 22 in front of U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle. They each have pleaded not guilty.
Benny George, Scott’s attorney, said after the sentencing that the next few weeks will be a wait-and-see game until he is sentenced.
“I can’t promise him anything, the state can’t promise him anything. The federal government certainly cannot,” George said. “It’s up to the judge as far as what his sentence will or will not be. One thing is clear: my client has no prior record.”
According to investigators, Scott and Jerome Kieffer each held pistols when they ambushed McBride and two of his Loomis co-workers near outside Campus Federal Credit Union in the 400 block of South Galvez Street. Armstead Kieffer was positioned nearby as a lookout.
The two robbers took a bag of money but realized it was empty when they got to their getaway car. Jerome Kieffer then returned to the armored truck, and McBride was fatally wounded in an exchange of gunfire that ensued between one of his colleagues and the robbers, prosecutors allege.
The robbers fled without stealing any money.
A key break in the case came when New Orleans police pulled over Scott’s grandfather as he drove the getaway truck hours after the killing. The grandfather told authorities he let Scott borrow the truck for most of that day, and officials later obtained surveillance camera footage as well as cellphone records that tied Scott and the Kieffers to the deadly, botched robbery.
All three were later arrested and charged in federal court with McBride’s killing as well as the robbery at gunpoint of a Brinks armored car in the parking lot of a Chase Bank in the 1400 block of North Broad Street nearly two years earlier.
The U.S. government prosecutes robbery cases involving banks and armored trucks, whose money is federally insured.
It had the option of pursuing the death penalty against Scott and the Kieffers but declined to do so.
Scott pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit armed robbery, committing armed robbery, brandishing guns during the robberies, and brandishing a gun in the stick-up leading to McBride's murder. He faces decades in prison with the possibility of parole.
Wearing shackles and a red prisoner's jumpsuit, Scott said little. He answered Lemelle's questions, "Yes sir, your honor," or "no sir, your honor," and repeatedly indicated he was pleading guilty voluntarily.
“I think the government and the judge look kindly on that, that he is taking responsibility,” George said. “He was very forthright in his statements, he answered all of the questions, he understood his rights, he understood the rights he was waving and what he was pleading to.”
George said his client's family was deeply involved in the decision to plead out rather than contest the case at trial. Scott was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Haller and Michael McMahon.
New Orleans Advocate staff writer Ramon Antonio Vargas contributed to this report.