Background
De’Andrus Long Jr., who was 17 at the time, was charged with second-degree murder and three firearm- and property-related felonies after Kirean Harris was fatally shot at a Madison Parish truck stop. Surveillance video showed Long opening Harris’s passenger door, punching him, and returning toward his vehicle. When Harris emerged holding a handgun, Long fired before Harris raised the weapon, and continued shooting after Harris fell. Some rounds entered the truck stop and endangered patrons.
On the morning of the indictment, defense counsel filed a juvenile-court request for a competency examination and commission, but no commission had been ordered, appointed, or set for hearing. After indictment, the district court stayed proceedings, later found Long incompetent, committed him for restoration treatment, and ultimately found him competent in September 2024. In November 2025, Long pleaded guilty to an amended manslaughter charge without reserving issues for appeal; the State dismissed the other counts. The court imposed 27 years at hard labor.
The Court’s Holding
The court affirmed. It held that the indictment divested juvenile-court jurisdiction because Louisiana Children’s Code article 305(E) is triggered when a competency or sanity commission is ordered—not merely when a defendant files a request. The record supported the trial court’s finding that no commission had been ordered before the grand jury returned the indictment. The court also held that article 305 governs procedure, not subject-matter jurisdiction, and that Long suffered no prejudice because the criminal court promptly stayed the case and provided competency proceedings, restoration treatment, and a competency determination.
The court further held that no separate competency-to-plead evaluation was required. Long had been found competent to proceed, and the governing competency standard applies equally to trial and guilty pleas. The plea record—including the written waiver and the court’s Boykin colloquy—supported the finding that Long knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily pleaded guilty.
The 27-year sentence was not constitutionally excessive. The trial court reviewed a presentence report, addressed aggravating and mitigating sentencing factors, and expressly considered Long’s youth and cognitive limitations. Long also obtained a substantial benefit by reducing a second-degree-murder charge carrying mandatory life imprisonment to manslaughter, with dismissal of three other felony charges.
Key Takeaways
- A juvenile competency filing does not prevent indictment under article 305(E) unless the court has ordered a competency or sanity commission.
- Louisiana does not require a distinct competency-to-plead-guilty evaluation when the defendant has been found competent to proceed.
- A 27-year manslaughter sentence was upheld where the shooting followed an initiated confrontation, continued after the victim fell, endangered bystanders, and replaced a second-degree-murder charge.
Why It Matters
The decision distinguishes raising competency from obtaining a court-ordered competency commission in cases involving juveniles subject to adult-court prosecution. It also emphasizes that a procedural irregularity in the timing of competency proceedings will not undo a conviction absent prejudice when the defendant later receives the statute’s substantive protections.
For sentencing, the ruling illustrates the weight given to a negotiated reduction from second-degree murder to manslaughter, even where the defendant is young and has cognitive limitations.