District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office on Friday (Feb. 8) announced it has secured murder indictments against two men accused of fatally shooting a man in the Central Business District last October.

Decarlo Carter, 22, and Devaughn Staes, 20, each were charged with the second-degree murder of 23-year-old Justin Jackson in the indictment handed up Feb. 7 by an Orleans Parish grand jury. Each faces a mandatory lifetime prison sentence if found guilty as charged.

The indictment additionally charges Carter with obstruction of justice in a homicide investigation, illegal possession of a concealed firearm, and possession of firearms in the presence of controlled dangerous substances. Ad hoc Criminal District Judge Dennis Waldron set bond amounts of $845,000 for Carter and $400,000 for Staes after the
indictment was read.

The defendants are accused of killing Jackson around 10:30 p.m. on Oct. 19, 2018. Jackson was found dead at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds in the 100 block of Carondelet Street, about a half-block from Canal Street on a Friday night.

Carter was arrested less than 24 hours after the fatal shooting. Staes was arrested nearly a month later, on Nov. 20, 2018.

Assistant District Attorney Inga Petrovich presented the case to the grand jury.

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