‘A heaviness’ settles over mom as Hancock man appeals verdict in Vanessa Mauffray death
Just when she thought she could breathe, Darlene Deschamp’s phone rang.
Her daughter’s killer, Eugene Butler, was appealing a Hancock County jury’s guilty verdict against him. He wanted to be released from a 12-year prison sentence.
Deschamp once again had to relive the boat crash in June 2016 on Bayou Caddy that took the life of her 19-year-old daughter Vanessa Mauffray.
Deschamp was in Circuit Court on Friday, her first cousin there for support, as an attorney argued Butler had been wrongly convicted of manslaughter because of criminal negligence: speeding, driving on the wrong side of the bayou, failing to maintain a proper lookout, failing to avoid a collision.
Hester wanted the chance to question anyone else who might have heard the conversation.
“It’s tragic,” argued attorney Michael Hester of Long Beach. “But it’s an accident. It’s not a crime.”
Hester argued there is not a speed limit on the bayou and no right or wrong side for a boat to travel on.
Testifying from the grave
He also said the jury should have been allowed to hear that Vanessa’s boyfriend, Ryan Necaise, had smoked marijuana before they went crabbing that morning in a borrowed boat.
Although Necaise initially tested positive for the drug, another test within days of the accident was negative. His admission to smoking pot was deemed irrelevant and was not disclosed to the jury during the October trial.
Butler did test positive for marijuana but, Hester argued, he had not smoked before piloting the boat and did all he could to help after the crash, taking Necaise and Mauffray back to shore and calling 911.
Circuit Court Judge Larry Bourgeois, who presided over the trial and heard the appeal, reminded Hester that Butler was not charged with boating under the influence.
Hester also talked about Vanessa Mauffray testifying from the grave through her father, who took the witness stand during the trial. Before she died, Vanessa told him that Butler was looking behind him seconds before the crash.
Barring a reversal of the jury’s verdict, Hester asked that the judge let Butler out pending an appeal of his conviction.
Eugene Butler’s fate decided
Prosecutor Chris Daniel said Butler himself admitted that he was traveling at 25 to 30 miles per hour in his boat — too fast for the bayou. Daniel also argued the jury heard Ryan Necaise testify and was able to assess his credibility.
Instead, he said, the jury found Butler had committed “a constellation of wrongful acts” that added up to guilt in Mauffray’s death.
“The jury had the facts,” Daniel said. “They assessed the credibility of the witnesses and they found culpable negligence.”
Bourgeois sided with the prosecution.
“Just because there are differences of opinion, the court is not going to invade the purview of the jury,” the judge said. “They are the sole weigher of the facts.”
Mauffray left court with her cousin. “It just brought it all up again,” she said. “It’s a heaviness where before you could breathe.”
