The state Supreme Court has reversed a lower court's ruling and reinstated the murder convictions of two Vermilion Parish brothers.
In July 2022, Jazaylon Levy, 18, died in a drive-by shooting; law enforcement described him as "an innocent bystander."
In August 2023, a unanimous jury convicted brothers Donald Briggs III and Stefan Briggs of second-degree murder in the slaying.
In April 2025, the Third Circuit Court of Appeal reversed the convictions and vacated the brothers' sentences, finding that "evidence presented was insufficient" to convict them of murder.
This week, the state Supreme Court reversed that ruling.
"The Third Circuit Court of Appeal reversed defendants’ convictions, concluding the evidence was insufficient because the State failed to exclude every reasonable hypothesis of innocence. Finding that the court of appeal erred in substituting its verdict for that of the jury, we reverse, reinstate defendants’ convictions and sentences, and remand to the appellate court for consideration of the pretermitted assignments of error," the SCOLA ruling states.
The Court writes that prosecutors asked for a review of the Third Circuit's ruling regarding the evidence.
"In particular, the State contends that the appellate court improperly weighed the evidence and substituted its own judgment for that of the jury. We agree," the ruling states.
Levy died July 14, 2023 after being shot at the Stone Bridge Apartment complex on Rodeo Drive. Law enforcement officers found him suffering from a gunshot wound, and he was pronounced dead at the hospital.
During the trial, Prosecutor Calvin E. Woodruff, Jr. presented video evidence to the jury of the two defendants entering and leaving an Abbeville Wal-Mart shortly before the shooting, then video of the two defendants at a Delcambre convenience store shortly after the shooting, a release from the District Attorney's office states.
Other video evidence showed the defendant’s vehicle leaving the scene immediately after the shooting took place and witnesses testified at trial about the Briggs arriving at the apartment complex in a silver Mercedes Benz, and about both of the defendants arriving at the Delcambre convenience store less than twenty minutes after the shooting, the release states.
Levy had recently moved to Abbeville, and law enforcement believed he was not the intended target of the Briggs shooting, but that he was an innocent bystander.
Following their convictions, the brothers were each given the mandatory Louisiana sentence for second-degree murder: life in prison without benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence.
