BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) -
A district
court judge has once again delayed the sentencing of a convicted murderer.
G'Quan "Tootie"
Baker, 17, was found guilty of shooting and killing three people in June 2011. He
was 16 at the time of the murders.
Family members
of the victims are distraught because Baker has not been sentenced.
"I'm
upset because I think he's been a menace since he was a youth and if they don't
do something with our youth, there's a menace, we're all going to end up in
court crying over our babies that's dead," said Deidre Parker, the aunt of
one of the victims.
She is
angry because District Court Judge Don Johnson did not sentence Baker to a life
sentence. Baker killed Parker's niece.
The US Supreme
Court has ruled a juvenile cannot be given a life sentence without the
possibility of parole. Johnson said during the hearing he is not properly
guided to make this decision and stayed the entire proceedings until further
notice.
Prosecutors
plan to take the issue to a higher court.
"It's
a new law," said prosecutor Leila Braswell. "We're creating a new
territory of law. We don't have a whole lot of guidance on it. While I
understand the judge's ruling, we respectfully disagree with it. Hopefully,
we'll get some guidance from the superior court."
The issue
is headed to the First Circuit Court of Appeal. The judge has ordered everyone
back in court next month.
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2012 WAFB. All rights
reserved.
G'Quan "Tootie" Baker (Source: East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office)
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