From life to 90 years: Man gets reduced sentence in Deven Brooks' 2022 murder

Terrance Lavalais pulled the trigger and killed Deven Slade Brooks while he was bound and gagged so his wife wouldn't have to shoot him, he testified at her trial last year.

His testimony, weeks after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, was part of the plea bargain he struck with the Rapides Parish District Attorney's Office. In exchange for his help and testimony, he might get his sentence reduced if the court determined he had provided "substantial assistance" against his two co-defendants.

Lavalais was in court on Monday to collect on that part of his deal, but neither he nor Brooks' family were happy with the outcome.

After oral arguments and victim impact statements, 9th Judicial District Court Judge Greg Beard granted the recommendation of Rapides Parish Assistant District Attorney Lea Hall to reduce Lavalais' life sentence to 90 years in prison without the possibility of parole, probation or suspension of sentence.

Beard already had sentenced Lavalais on Feb. 1, 2023, as his trial was about to begin. He testified against his wife, Jamaria Randle, later that month. She was convicted by a jury of second-degree murder and is serving a life sentence.

Tremaine Veal, Randle's cousin, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and armed robbery in August as jury selection for his trial was underway and was sentenced to 100 years in prison.

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Brooks' body was found on Jan. 11, 2022, at Alexandria's Levee Park near the Red River. His body was bound with steel cables, Gorilla Tape and zip ties. The three had kidnapped him from his Ball apartment sometime over the previous weekend in a scheme to get money that he had inherited.

As Monday's hearing began, Beard told Hall that Lavalais already had been sentenced to the mandatory sentence of life. Hall agreed, but said he entered into the plea bargain with him and intended to uphold the part about reducing his sentence, even though it was against the wishes of Brooks' family.

Hall said Lavalais provided information he didn't know about the case, things that only those who killed Brooks could have known. He acknowledged it "fills the family with anguish" that Lavalais might get any other sentence than life in prison, but he said Lavalais had been consistent in his assistance both in and out of court.

"My sense of justice says this is how it must be," said Hall.

He said he was in a difficult position because he knew no one would be happy with the result.

Lavalais' attorney, Christopher LaCour, said he was "so not in agreement" with Hall's recommendation. He said his client cooperated with the prosecution, something not looked upon nicely by his fellow inmates, only to see his sentence reduced to 90 years.

LaCour said if he had known that, he might have told Lavalais to stick with a jury trial.

"It just doesn't seem balanced, but Terrance is due something," he said. "Ninety years is just another life sentence."

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Three members of Brooks' family and a friend gave victim impact statements, and all of them asked Beard not to reduce Lavalais' sentence.

Barbara Wright, one of Brooks' grandmothers, said Lavalais chose "over and over again" to terrorize her grandson before his death. She called him a murderer and a threat to her family who only was in court because he was concerned about himself.

"It's shameful that he's here expecting us, Deven's family, to support a lighter sentence," she said.

Wright said the family does not want to revisit the case in court and definitely doesn't want to look at the face of evil again. Lavalais should serve the sentence he originally received, she said.

Brooks' mother, Candace Blood, cried as she spoke to Beard. She told him that, if not for Lavalais, there would be no need for trials.

"But for him, my son would be alive today," she cried, asking Beard to keep the life sentence.

"He took my baby from me," she said. "He took my son, and he did not care."

She pointed to Hall, LaCour and Beard as officials who know the justice system. The family does not, she said.

"We didn't choose to be here. We would give anything not to be here."

Beard didn't announce his decision immediately, spending time discussing the lack of case law regarding the scenario, whether Lavalais actually did provide substantial assistance and what the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal said in its opinion denying Randle's appeal about Lavalais' contributions.

He ruled that Lavalais did provide substantial assistance and reduced the sentence, and LaCour asked for his objection to be on the record. Beard also noted that, in the plea bargain, Lavalais agreed not to file an appeal, motions to reconsider his sentence or an application for post-conviction relief.

This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: Terrance Lavalais' sentence reduced to 90 years in Deven Brooks murder