Defendant in “Mop Bucket” murder pleads guilty to manslaughter

On Tuesday, a murder trial, which has come to be known as the “Mop Bucket” murder, was set to commence in Judge Gary Ortego’s courtroom of the 13th Judicial District Court. However, before jury selection began, a plea agreement was reached between the State of Louisiana, which was being represented by Evangeline Parish Assistant District Attorney Marcus Fontenot, and the defendant, Larry Slaughter, and his counsel, attorney Jacob Fusilier.
Slaughter was originally facing a second degree murder charge after he was accused of drowning 29-year-old Latoya Richard in a mop bucket back in January of 2015. The deceased lady’s body was discovered the day of the incident in the home she shared with Slaughter on High School Drive in Ville Platte.
When Slaughter appeared before Judge Ortego on Tuesday, he pled guilty to one count of manslaughter.
In exchange for his admission of guilt, the defendant received 30 years at hard labor with 20 of those years being suspended. The defendant is set to serve 10 years at hard labor.
The plea agreement was reached in part due to the fact that District Attorney Trent Brignac said the state’s case was built largely upon circumstantial evidence. “This plea agreement was reluctantly done,” said Briganc. “However, with the family of the victim’s input and after looking at the evidence in the case, they seemed pleased with the outcome and relieved to finally have closure for their loved ones.”
In terms of why the defendant took the plea, Slaughter’s attorney said, “My client took a pragmatic approach and made a logical choice and accepted the plea deal.”
Fusilier also shared, “We have some very good judges in this parish. Judge Ortego was fair in this case, and we did win some of our pre-trial motions.”
In this matter, Fontenot was assisted by assistant district attorneys Chris Ludeau and Nick Monier.
Following the plea, Brignac said of his prosecutors, “I want to commend the work of Marcus Fontenot, Chris Ludeau and Nick Monier in this case. They did a really great job.”