By ROBIN SHANNON
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — The convicted killer of a former East St. John High School football player and band member received a 29-year prison sentence at a hearing in Edgard Monday, according to a release from the St. John Parish District Attorney’s Office.

District Court Judge A. J. Kling sentenced Craig Moore, 21, of 2047 Champions Drive, LaPlace, to 29 years of prison and hard labor for his role in the homicide of 19-year-old Hubert Ellsworth IV, said Mike Tregre, public information officer for the District Attorney’s Office. Kling handed down the sentence at a July 15 hearing.

According to reports from the St. John Sheriff’s Office, Ellsworth, a resident of LaPlace, was shot and killed in front of the home of a friend in the 1600 block of Yorktowne Drive on July 27, 2007. A neighbor, who heard four or five gunshots ring out around 9:30 p.m. the evening of the incident, called 911 immediately. The report stated deputies arrived within minutes but found Ellsworth dead on the scene.

Tregre said a handgun found at the scene contained DNA evidence that matched Moore’s. Moore confessed to detectives he and Ellsworth had been fighting over a car stereo system and Ellsworth pulled a handgun during the dispute. Tregre said Moore admitted in court to shooting Ellsworth.

Moore was originally charged with second-degree murder and could have faced a lifetime behind bars, but a guilty plea by Moore on March 2 lowered the charge to manslaughter, which carries a maximum sentence of 40 years of hard labor.