News - Local

Friday, Nov. 06, 2009

Man to serve 15 years for manslaughter

Shooting was over cousins’ argument

GULFPORT — Earl Lee Braziel will serve 15 years for manslaughter for a fatal shooting after Braziel involved himself in an argument between his cousin and another man.

Braziel, 28, was charged with murder in the Dec. 13, 2006, slaying of Jessie Orlando Dedeaux of Gulfport. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge on Monday.

Circuit Judge Roger Clark sentenced Braziel on Friday, giving him 20 years but suspended five, leaving 15 to serve.

Once out of prison, Braziel will be on probation for five years.

Dedeaux was 24. He was shot once in the head.

The case went to trial on the murder charge in November 2008 but a mistrial was declared on a procedural issue raised by the defense.

Braziel’s cousin claimed that Dedeaux’s cousin had taken money from him, Huffman said. The shooting occurred after Braziel walked over to a driveway where Dedeaux and his cousin were visiting in the 4000 block of Ponderosa Drive. Dedeaux’s cousin drove him to Memorial Hospital, where Dedeaux died.

“The defendant maintained it was self-defense and that there were others in the area who had guns,” Huffman said. “However, our facts would show that the only witness in this case stated that it was not an act of self-defense.”

Dedeaux’s mother addressed the court Friday “in an understandably emotional statement of how his death has affected the family,” Huffman said. “The family is satisfied that justice has been done.”