Judge declares mistrial after jury convicts Alfortish on fraud counts

Retrial planned on murder counts tied to FBI cooperator’s killing

A federal jury in New Orleans deadlocked Thursday on five murder-related charges against Sean Alfortish and Leon “Chunky” Parker, and US District Judge Wendy Vitter declared a mistrial on those counts after more than 30 hours of deliberations in a three-week trial. Prosecutors said they will retry the murder counts.

The jury convicted Alfortish of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, two counts of mail fraud, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering. He was found not guilty of another count of obstruction of justice and of subornation of perjury.

Jurors could not reach verdicts on charges of conspiracy to commit witness tampering through murder, witness tampering through murder, conspiracy to retaliate against a witness through murder, retaliation against a witness through murder, and causing death through use of a firearm.

The unresolved counts center on the killing of Cornelius Garrison, who prosecutors said was cooperating with the FBI in its investigation into the staged-crash scheme. Prosecutors accused Alfortish and Parker of conspiring to kill Garrison in the front door of his mother’s home after learning he was talking to federal investigators, and alleged that Alfortish paid Parker to carry out the killing.

At a Thursday press conference, US attorney David Courcelle of the eastern district of Louisiana called the verdict “an important step towards justice,” saying that “Alfortish and Parker exploited the courts to benefit themselves and confederates.”

“Today’s verdict is an important step towards justice,” Courcelle said. “Alfortish and Parker exploited the courts to benefit themselves and confederates.”

Alfortish’s attorney, Shaune Clarke, told reporters after the verdict: “They brought every resource of the federal government that they could bring. They brought five assistant US attorneys on to the case. They had a phalanx of FBI agents. They tried in every way possible to convict Sean Alfortish of murdering a federal informant. And the jury did not find in their favor.” Clarke added: “They couldn’t prove it this time. And they’re not going to be able to prove it the next time because it isn’t true. It didn’t happen.”

“We’re appreciative of the jury refusing to convict on this evidence, which we think was an appropriate decision, and I’ll leave it at that,” Stephen Haedicke, Parker’s attorney, said on the courthouse steps.

Alfortish faces 90 years in prison. Parker, who previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy and two counts of mail fraud, faces up to 60 years.

The trial stemmed from “Operation Sideswipe,” a federal investigation in which more than 63 people have previously been convicted in a scheme that involved so-called “slammers” who would get into accidents with 18-wheelers to file fraudulent insurance claims.