DANIEL TYLER GOODEN

PAULINA – St. James Parish, normally recording a low rate of homicides, saw its first murder late Monday night. Just before midnight the St. James Parish Sheriff’s office received a call from Anna Monique Green, 20, of Paulina. Deputies dispatched to the 3173 Kirklin Drive address found Cordell Joseph Clayton, 27, with a knife wound in the left side of his chest. Clayton had been stabbed once in the heart with an ordinary kitchen knife or steak knife, said Sheriff Willy Martin. Clayton was taken to St. James Parish Hospital, where he died from the wound. Green was taken into custody and charged with second-degree murder. The stabbing was allegedly the result of a domestic dispute between the couple, though the reason for the fight was not determined, said Martin. “This was another passion crime. Clayton was hit one time and it punctured his heart,” added Martin. This is the first homicide since last March, when a carjacking resulted in the third murder of 2000, an abnormally high number of homicides in the parish. “We’ve had a good stretch without a homicide, but how can you stop these?” said Martin. “If you know of a lot of problems in the home we can deal with it, but in this case there was not a lot you could do to prevent it,” he added. Green is currently being held at the St. James Parish Sheriff’s office jail. Judge Alvin Turner has set bond at $200,000. Clayton was the son of Joyce Clayton Butler and the late Eric Nicholas and stepson of Alfred Butler Jr. He was also the grandson of Berthella Nicholas and Ernest Sr. and the late Louizer Clayton. He was preceded in death by his grandmother, Louizer Keys Clayton. Services are today at 11 a.m. at Evergreen Baptist Church, Paulina, with interment at Antioch Cemetery, Paulina. Visitation starts at 9:30 a.m.