Partial verdict in New Orleans murder-for-hire linked to staged truck crash fraud

A jury found disbarred attorney Sean Alfortish guilty of fraud and obstruction but deadlocked on murder-related charges tied to a 2020 witness killing in New Orleans.

Mistrial declared on murder counts as jury splits in New Orleans staged-crash case

A jury in New Orleans returned a partial verdict on Thursday, 3 September, in the federal trial of disbarred attorney Sean Alfortish and Leon "Chunky" Parker, according to Google News MT — Crime (en). The two men had been accused of conspiring to murder a witness who was cooperating with the FBI's investigation into a large-scale staged vehicle-crash fraud scheme.

Alfortish was found guilty on count 1, conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, and on counts 6 and 7, obstruction of justice and witness tampering respectively. He was acquitted on count 16, a second obstruction charge, and count 17, subornation of perjury. The jury reached no finding on count 4, wire fraud.

On the most serious charges — those tied directly to the September 2020 murder of Cornelius Garrison — jurors were unable to reach a verdict against either defendant. Judge Vitter declared a mistrial on counts 11 through 15, which included conspiracy to commit witness tampering through murder, witness tampering through murder, conspiracy to retaliate against a witness through murder, retaliation against a witness through murder, and causing death through the use of a firearm.

Deliberations had begun on Friday, 28 August, following nearly three weeks of testimony.

Federal prosecutors alleged that Alfortish orchestrated Garrison's killing and that Parker carried it out. Garrison had been a participant in a years-long scheme in which so-called "slammers" intentionally drove vehicles into 18-wheelers and other commercial trucks to generate fraudulent insurance claims and lawsuits. Garrison had also recruited others into the scheme before beginning to cooperate with the FBI in 2019 as investigators expanded their probe. He was shot and killed outside his mother's home in New Orleans' Gentilly neighbourhood on 22 September 2020.

A central prosecution witness was Ryan Harris, who pleaded guilty in January 2025 to charges related to the staged crashes and admitted aiding and abetting Garrison's murder. Harris testified that Alfortish and a woman named Vanessa Motta wanted Garrison eliminated after learning of his cooperation with federal agents. Harris said he proposed Parker as the gunman, helped plan the killing, and later picked Parker up after the shooting, at which point Parker admitted carrying it out.

Defence attorneys challenged Harris's account at length, arguing he had implicated Alfortish and Parker primarily to secure a more lenient sentence for himself. Attorneys representing Parker went further, presenting video footage they said showed Harris inside a vehicle with what appeared to be an assault-style weapon, contending Harris was the actual shooter.

The mistrial on the murder-related counts leaves the most consequential allegations unresolved. Prosecutors must now decide whether to retry Alfortish and Parker on those charges.

Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)