Killing of Jeremy Mardis

Overview

On the night of November 3, 2015, Jeremy Mardis, a six-year-old boy diagnosed with autism, was killed in Marksville, Louisiana, when two law enforcement officers fired into the vehicle in which he was a passenger. His father, Christopher Few, who was driving, was also shot and seriously wounded. The shooting followed a roughly two-mile car chase that began after officers Derrick Stafford and Norris Greenhouse Jr. of the Marksville Marshal's Office attempted to stop Few's vehicle. The chase ended on a dead-end street near the Marksville State Historic Site, where Greenhouse and Stafford fired 18 rounds into the car around 9:30 p.m. Few was struck in the head and chest despite reportedly having his hands raised, and Mardis, seated in front and wearing a seatbelt, was hit by five bullets and killed instantly. The confrontation was partly captured on a responding officer's body-worn camera.

Background

Few had moved from Mississippi to the Marksville area in 2014 and lived with Mardis and Few's mother. On the night of the shooting, Few and his fiancée Megan Dixon had argued at a bar and driven off separately; Dixon told investigators she saw a marked police car following Few before the pursuit began. Investigators later found no evidence of an outstanding warrant for Few or a firearm in his vehicle at the time of the shooting.

Officers and arrests

Greenhouse and Stafford, both affiliated with the Marksville Police Department and moonlighting as deputy marshals, surrendered on November 6, 2015, and were charged with second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder. The Louisiana State Police, led by Colonel Mike Edmonson, investigated the shooting, and officials said body-camera footage was a key factor in the speed of the arrests. Two other officers who responded to a backup call, Lieutenant Jason Brouillette and Sergeant Kenneth Parnell, were placed on administrative leave; ballistics testing showed neither of them fired his weapon. The Avoyelles Parish district attorney recused himself because Greenhouse's father worked as an assistant district attorney in that office, and the Louisiana Attorney General's office prosecuted the case. A gag order was issued by Judge William Bennett in November 2015, and bail was set at $1 million for each officer.

Trial and outcome

Stafford's trial began March 13, 2017. On March 24, 2017, a jury convicted him of the lesser offenses of manslaughter and attempted manslaughter; he was sentenced to 40 years, with half to be served without parole and eligibility for parole after 20 years. On September 29, 2017, Greenhouse pleaded guilty to negligent homicide and malfeasance in office, receiving five years and two years respectively, for a combined seven-year sentence. He was paroled in 2019 after serving about 21 months. The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, FBI, and U.S. Attorney's Office also participated in the investigation.