By VICKIE JAMBON

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – A LaPlace man charged with the Feb. 17, 2004 second-degree murder of his father may accept a plea-bargain in a court appearance scheduled Jan. 18.

Edward Placide Jr., 30, of 1505 Belle Point Blvd. will appear in court before state District Judge Mary Hotard Becnel at the St. John the Baptist Parish Courthouse in Edgard, stated Placide’s court records.

“He is scheduled to make a possible plea,” said a records clerk.

On April 5, 2004, Placide pled not guilty to killing his 57-year-old father, Edward Placide Sr. The murder was the first homicide in the parish in 2004.

Placide was shot twice in his right leg by his son, after the two argued in Placide’s kitchen/living room over the father’s use of another son’s 1998 Oldsmobile.

Attorney Jeffrey Hand said he does not know what action his client will take.

“He (Placide) has not made up his mind as to what he is going to do. He has not decided yet,” said Hand.

District Attorney William O’Regan said Placide did not have to accept a plea.

“No one can make him accept a plea. The decision is his,” said O’Regan. “If he does not want to plea on Jan. 18, he does not have to.”

When asked to elaborate on the plea, O’Regan said, “I have nothing more to say. I will not say whether or not a plea has even been offered to Mr. Placide.”

Deputies found Placide Sr. lying in the roadway at approximately 11:50 p.m. The man had propped himself against a vehicle parked next door to his home. A trail of blood from the nearly-dead man led 186 feet back to his garage.

The father purportedly hefted an iron fireplace poker during the argument, and the son responded, allegedly in self-defense, by firing a handgun twice in the direction of his father – striking the man’s leg, above and below his knee.

Corey Placide owned the Oldsmobile that his father and brother argued over. Living with his father, he witnessed the shooting.

Placide Sr. died in the River Parishes Hospital on Feb. 18 at 1:11 a.m.

Placide Jr. was still at the scene when he surrendered to authorities.

He remains in the Sherman Walker Correctional Center in lieu of a $500,000 bond set by Becnel.