Our media partners at The Advocate, who covered the recent rail of the Toby brothers from gavel to gavel, have posted more details about what happened following the verdict yesterday.
They were accused in the 2018 slaying of Lafayette boxer Brandon Broussard. A jury decided that Shavis Toby was guilty of second degree murder and conspiracy, and his brother Carlos Toby was found not guilty of second-degree murder but guilty of conspiracy to commit second-degree murder.
During pretrial hearings, Shavis Toby had outbursts in the courtroom that his brother's defense attorney worried might prejudice a jury against Carlos Toby during the joint murder trial, our media partners at The Advocate report.
Shavis Toby, however, kept a calm demeanor during the two-defendant trial from its start on June 21 until the jury returned verdicts Saturday night, the Advocate reports.
When the verdict was returned, Shavis Toby directed a slur at Judge Royale Colbert and attempted to spit on him. Carlos Toby remained solemn, the Advocate reports.
The verdicts were a relief for Broussard's family and friends, who sat in the courtroom for two weeks of trial and the 2 1/2 years of hearings leading up to the trial, the newspaper reports.
According to the Advocate, state prosecutors spent two weeks presenting evidence to a jury in an effort to prove that Carlos Toby was the thinker and Shavis Toby was the actor who ambushed Broussard in front of a 4-year-old child as he exited his truck at about 11 p.m. Oct. 13, 2018. They said the brothers conspired to commit the murder in retaliation for a nightclub fight two weeks prior during which Broussard humiliated Carlos Toby.
Defense attorneys for the Toby brothers agreed that Broussard’s murder was gruesome but argued their clients were not responsible for it. They said the state’s evidence was circumstantial, continuously pointing to errors in law enforcement reports, questioning the accuracy of cell phone data and probing witnesses about inconsistencies in their testimonies, the Advocate reports.
To read The Advocate's full story - with links to complete coverage of the trial - click here.
