Post by marion on Jun 20, 2006 17:49:17 GMT -5
Despite sex offender's confession to killing stepdaughter, lawyer plans to shift blame
By Emanuella Grinberg
Court TV
June 20, 2006
The 11-day manhunt in November 2002 for a missing Louisiana girl ended when her stepfather confessed to killing her and led authorities to her body in a secluded area along the Amite River.
But when Gerald Bordelon's capital murder trial begins this week, lawyers for the convicted sex offender will attempt to shift the blame to the girl's mother, the defendant's videotaped admission of guilt notwithstanding.
Livingston Parish district attorneys claim that Bordelon, now 44, told investigators he abducted 12-year-old Courtney LeBlanc at knifepoint from his estranged wife's Denham Springs home, where the girl had been left alone the evening of Nov. 14, 2002.
Bordelon, whose rap sheet for sex crimes dates back to 1982, allegedly told police that he brought Courtney to Mississippi and molested her before returning to Louisiana, where he strangled her to death on the banks of the Amite and left her body.
Jennifer Bordelon, Courtney's mother, is expected to take the stand against her estranged husband, who was under investigation for sexually assaulting Courtney when she went missing.
Bordelon's lawyer, however, has suggested his client took the fall for his wife.
"She's definitely implicated in some way," said A. Wayne Stewart, while declining to specify what he believes her role to be. "The credibility of the mother is everything to our case."
Stewart says that Bordelon's confession and knowledge of the body's whereabouts are "formidable" evidence that Bordelon can only refute by testifying in his defense.
"He has to tell jury how he knew where the body is," said Stewart. "And he knew because his wife told him."
Prosecutors did not return calls for comment.
Gerald and Jennifer Bordelon were married in Mississippi in 2001, one year after his early release from prison on forcible rape and crimes against nature convictions.
In December 2001, Courtney accused her new stepfather of molesting her in front of her half-sister. But the sister failed to testify before a grand jury, and the case floundered.
In the absence of charges against Bordelon, authorities advised Jennifer Bordelon to sever her ties with the convicted sex offender. In July 2002, she moved with her two daughters to Denham Springs, La., just across the state line.
Courtney was abducted later that year. Bordelon's lawyer claims he had moved back in with the family shortly after they settled in Louisiana, although his wife denies that.
In 2003, Jennifer Bordelon was convicted of child abuse by neglect and sentenced to probation, "for not doing enough to keep [Gerald Bordelon] away from the child," according to her trial attorney, William Sumrall.
"The authorities basically said there was child abuse because she did not do everything in her power to keep him away," Sumrall told Courttv.com.
Bordelon faces the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder and second-degree kidnapping.
By Emanuella Grinberg
Court TV
June 20, 2006
The 11-day manhunt in November 2002 for a missing Louisiana girl ended when her stepfather confessed to killing her and led authorities to her body in a secluded area along the Amite River.
But when Gerald Bordelon's capital murder trial begins this week, lawyers for the convicted sex offender will attempt to shift the blame to the girl's mother, the defendant's videotaped admission of guilt notwithstanding.
Livingston Parish district attorneys claim that Bordelon, now 44, told investigators he abducted 12-year-old Courtney LeBlanc at knifepoint from his estranged wife's Denham Springs home, where the girl had been left alone the evening of Nov. 14, 2002.
Bordelon, whose rap sheet for sex crimes dates back to 1982, allegedly told police that he brought Courtney to Mississippi and molested her before returning to Louisiana, where he strangled her to death on the banks of the Amite and left her body.
Jennifer Bordelon, Courtney's mother, is expected to take the stand against her estranged husband, who was under investigation for sexually assaulting Courtney when she went missing.
Bordelon's lawyer, however, has suggested his client took the fall for his wife.
"She's definitely implicated in some way," said A. Wayne Stewart, while declining to specify what he believes her role to be. "The credibility of the mother is everything to our case."
Stewart says that Bordelon's confession and knowledge of the body's whereabouts are "formidable" evidence that Bordelon can only refute by testifying in his defense.
"He has to tell jury how he knew where the body is," said Stewart. "And he knew because his wife told him."
Prosecutors did not return calls for comment.
Gerald and Jennifer Bordelon were married in Mississippi in 2001, one year after his early release from prison on forcible rape and crimes against nature convictions.
In December 2001, Courtney accused her new stepfather of molesting her in front of her half-sister. But the sister failed to testify before a grand jury, and the case floundered.
In the absence of charges against Bordelon, authorities advised Jennifer Bordelon to sever her ties with the convicted sex offender. In July 2002, she moved with her two daughters to Denham Springs, La., just across the state line.
Courtney was abducted later that year. Bordelon's lawyer claims he had moved back in with the family shortly after they settled in Louisiana, although his wife denies that.
In 2003, Jennifer Bordelon was convicted of child abuse by neglect and sentenced to probation, "for not doing enough to keep [Gerald Bordelon] away from the child," according to her trial attorney, William Sumrall.
"The authorities basically said there was child abuse because she did not do everything in her power to keep him away," Sumrall told Courttv.com.
Bordelon faces the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder and second-degree kidnapping.
