The state Supreme Court has agreed to hear the Lafayette Parish District Attorney's appeal of an acquittal in the slaying of local boxer Brandon Broussard.
Last spring, an appeals court vacated a murder conspiracy conviction against one of two brothers indicted in Broussard's slaying. At the time, a spokesperson for the Lafayette Parish District Attorney's Office told KATC that they would appeal the Third Circuit ruling to the state Supreme Court; today the Supreme Court announced it had agreed to hear that appeal.
In April, the Third Circuit Court of Appeal overturned the conspiracy to commit second-degree murder charge that a jury convicted Carlos Anthony Toby of in July 2021.
In December 2018, a grand jury indicted Toby and his brother, Shavis Breon Toby, both of New Iberia, in the August 2018 shooting death of Broussard, a well-known local boxer. They were both charged with second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit second-degree murder.
The shooting happened late at night on Grossie Lane. Lafayette Parish Sheriff's deputies found Broussard suffering from gunshot wounds; he was transported to a hospital but did not survive. Broussard was known as "King Tut" and had boxed professionally for several years.
The trial began in June 2020 and ended on July 3, with the jury convicting Carlos Toby of conspiracy to commit second-degree murder and acquitting him of second-degree murder. His brother was convicted on both counts; he requested that the state Supreme Court review his convictions, but that request was denied, records show.
According to appeal records, the state's theory was that Carlos Toby had lost a bar fight to Broussard, and wanted revenge. The state relied on cell phone location data and the sighting of a black Cadillac in the area of the shooting as evidence that both brothers were involved. That evidence was "fairly weak," the appeals court states.
The evidence against Shavis Toby was more solid, the records state, as part of a latex glove found at the shooting had his DNA on it.
The appeals court decided that Carlos Toby's conviction was based on "impermissible speculation" and reversed it. They also vacated his sentence; court records indicate he had been sentenced to 25 years in prison. That is the decision that the state appealed, and that the state Supreme Court has agreed to review.
