Calcasieu Parish Murderers

The Rideau Report, released in 1990, studied all murder convictions in Calcasieu Parish between 1889 and 1976. It found a 100 percent death sentencing rate for black men convicted of murdering whites; a death sentencing rate of 23.3 percent for whites convicted of murdering other whites; and a death sentencing rate of 10.4 percent for blacks convicted of murdering blacks.

Defenders of Calcasieu Parish's practices complained that the Report was too broadly focused, and that what occurred in 1889 had no relevance to how criminal defendants were treated in the mid-twentieth century. Therefore, listed below are only those Calcasieu Parish murder convictions from 15 years before Wilbert Rideau's 1961 conviction to 15 years after it. The narrower context merely magnifies the institutionalized racism and the staggering unfairness of Mr. Rideau's continuing imprisonment.

To understand the following list, it is important to know that offenders are eligible for parole after serving one-third of their commuted sentence and are discharged without parole after serving one-half. In other words, a governor's commutation reducing a sentence from Life to 30 years means the offender could be paroled after 10 years, but if he failed to make parole, he would be freed outright after 15 years. Except where "Death" is noted, all original sentences were Life.

Name	Date of crime, conviction or sentence	Race of Offender/Victim	Date of commutation or resentencing	Commuted to
Joseph Holden	1/21/46	b/b	12/27/57	cut to 15 years
Eugene P. Hardy	5/29/46	b/b	1/20/53	cut to 12 years
Luther Washington	10/25/46	b/b	5/5/52	cut to time served
Melton Lewis	1/24/47	b/b	---	disposition unknown
Isaac Thomas Jr.	10/21/48	b/b	3/31/52	cut to 10 years
Dalton Hebert	2/2/53	w/w	12/10/60	cut to time served
F. L. Booker	1/21/46	b/b	12/22/66	discharged
Robert Lee Sauls DEATH	6/2/53	b/w	6/10/55	electrocuted
Willie Clark (2nd Offender)	2/9/55	b/b	12/18/68	cut to 10 years
Joseph Fontenot	11/12/56	b/b	7/18/59	cut to 9 years
Wm. Brady McGehee	5/20/57	w/w	9/29/59 12/23/59 9/19/60	cut to 10 years cut to time served pardon
Clarence Coleman (3rd Offender)	6/9/58	b/b	12/22/69	cut to 10 years
Sammie W. Ousley	10/26/59	w/w	12/16/70	cut to 10 years
Archie Lee Morris	2/8/60	b/b	2/9/66	cut to parole eligibility
Leroy Cole	3/2/61	b/b	5/9/63 11/23/76	cut to 15 years pardon
Wilbert Rideau DEATH	4/11/61	b/w	Resentenced to Life in 1973 pursuant to Furman v. Ga.	still incarcerated
Billy J. Wright	3/26/62	w/w	5/29/67	cut to 9 years
Welton Pleasant	9/29/62	b/b	---	died in prison after 3 years
John T. Miller (4th Offender)	9/27/62	w/b	7/19/71	cut to 15 years
Cleve J. Thibodeaux (2nd Offender)	11/27/62	w/b	11/2/71	cut to 21 years
Roger Jones	4/11/63	b/b	10/21/74	cut to 30 years
Ira L. Brinlee	10/13/63	w/w	11/27/73	cut to 25 years
Taylor Fuselier	11/23/66	b/b	9/17/76 8/2/79 12/18/79	cut to 30 years cut to time served pardon
Elrick Manuel (3rd Offender)	12/29/67	w/w	9/1/77	cut to 33 years
Lacy R. Adaway	4/16/69	w/w	12/22/76	cut to 40 years
Hugh L. Peet	6/20/69	w/w	9/5/78	cut to 30 years
Joe Willie Vick	11/5/69	b/b	3/30/80	cut to time served
Charles Lee Brown	3/3/71	b/b	12/14/76	cut to 10 years
David Foy DEATH	9/9/71	b/w	Resentenced to Life in 1973 pursuant to Furman v. Ga.	still incarcerated
Paul Leonard Hardy	11/8/71	b/b	3/5/84 12/3/85	cut to 45 years cut to 20 years
Jimmy McCauley DEATH (2 murders)	1972	w/w	Resentenced to Life in 1973 pursuant to Furman v. Ga. 7/25/95	cut to 60 years
Franklin Jones	2/14/72	b/b	---	still incarcerated
Larry K. Barnard	2/17/73	w/w	---	still incarcerated
Charles Fontenot	4/9/73	b/b	1/24/78	cut to 20 years
Haze Triplett (no death penalty available at this time due to Furman v. Ga.)	5/8/73	b/w	---	still incarcerated
Louis Joseph Bellard	1/21/74	w/w	---	still incarcerated
James Brumfield	6/12/74	b/b	---	died in prison in 1994
Stanislaus Roberts DEATH	5/9/74	b/w	Resentenced to Life in 1976 pursuant to Roberts v. La.	still incarcerated
Glenn Richardson DEATH	12/6/74	w/b	Resentenced to Life in 1976 pursuant to Roberts v. La. 3/11/88	cut to 30 years
Sonny Davenport	12/17/74	w/b	11/10/87	cut to 40 years
Freddie Duhon	2/26/75	b/b	12/21/87	cut to 25 years
Darryl J. Moore	6/2/76	w/w	1/23/84 1/19/86	cut to 40 years cut to time served