Louisiana man gets 4 life sentences for killing girlfriend and 3 children with a hammer
04/22/2022 2:31 pm PDT
JEFFERSON PARISH, La. (TCD) -- A 36-year-old man will spend the rest of his life in prison after pleading guilty to killing his girlfriend, her two children, and her niece.
In a Friday, April 22 statement, the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office announced a judge handed Terrance Leonard four life sentences for pleading guilty to killing 32-year-old Kristina Riley, her 14-year-old daughter, 10-year-old son, and 9-year-old niece with a hammer in their apartment. He also received a 50-year sentence for attempted first-degree murder of one of Riley’s other daughters.
Prosecutors reportedly did not seek the death penalty because of his guilty plea.
Leonard was arrested March 7, 2019, by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. According to the Sheriff’s Office statement at the time, Leonard "admitted to attacking the child victims as they slept, then lying in wait for Kristina Riley until she came home."
All of the children reportedly suffered "serious head trauma."
Leonard reportedly led Sheriff’s Office investigators to the hammer he used in the crime. Riley’s son Ayden Riley and niece De’ryona Encalade died at the scene. Her daughters Nashawna, 14, and Adrianna, 12, were hospitalized in critical condition.
According to WGNO-TV, Nashawna was declared brain dead a few days after the attack and died.
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