By MOLLY DRYMAN

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE — Four LaPlace residents, arrested in November 2004 for participation in the Nov. 6 execution-style murder of 22-year-old Jerry Butler of LaPlace, have pled guilty and sentenced to the Department of Corrections.

Kevin Campbell, 22, Frank Williamson, 25, Quentin Lewis, 23, and Joseph Campbell, 21, were sentenced Feb. 21 with five years hard labor each, and credit for time served, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Four other LaPlace men were also arrested in November 2004 for taking part in this incident. These included Dauren Howard, 20, Denyen Gaines, 28, Ryan Triche, 24 and Keith Craig, 23 (arrested January 2005).

The original incident according to past reports by L’Observateur indicate the motive for the murder of Butler came from a quarrel over a hand gun, which took place in the home of Gaines and Williamson, located at 337 Arlington Drive in LaPlace.

It was reported that Butler fled the home and the other men pursued him in a car driven by Triche, according to the St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office.

According to incident reports the men chased Butler the night of Nov. 6, until the morning of Nov. 7, when they also visited the home of Butler’s mother looking for him.

On the same morning of Nov. 7, Butler returned to the home of Gaines and Williamson, where Butler was brutally beaten and then placed in the trunk of a car, and then drove Butler to the Mississippi Levee in Reserve, according to previous reports.

It was reported by the St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office that Butler was taken out of the car, placed on the ground and shot in the head execution-style, twice.

Howard was initially charged with first-degree murder, and is allegedly believed by investigators with the Sheriff’s Office to be the one who shot Butler. Howard is being held at the Sherman Walker Correctional Center awaiting a spring trial.