BENTON, La. (KTAL/LMSS) – The trial of the Shreveport man accused of first-degree murder in the deaths of the mother and the grandmother of his two children will begin in Bossier District Court Monday morning.
Frederick Dewayne Jackson, 23, is accused in the Jan. 9, 2019, shooting deaths of 40-year-old Maeisha Simoneaux and her 22-year-old daughter, Shandrell Simoneaux, inside Shandrell’s residence in the Misty Hollow Apartments on Misty Lane in Bossier City.
According to Bossier City Police, Maeisha Simoneaux was staying with her daughter at the residence. Shandrell Simoneaux’s and Jackson’s two young children also were present in the apartment at the time of the shooting.
When they arrived on the scene, police found both women unresponsive, dead from gunshot wounds.
Police identified Jackson as a suspect in the shooting, and he was arrested the next day.
A Bossier Parish grand jury indicted Jackson on two counts of first-degree murder on Feb. 25, 2019.
Since first degree murder is punishable by the death penalty, the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center in New Orleans was contacted. Joseph Vigneri and Elliott Brown, capital defense attorneys, were appointed to defend Jackson and Vigneri represented him during his early court appearances.
In April, however, the district attorney’s office announced it would not seek the death penalty, so Vigneri and Brown were sent packing and the case was turned over to attorney Randall Fish with the Bossier Public Defenders’ Office.
Fish will represent Jackson and Bossier Assistant District Attorney Andrew Jacobs will lead the prosecution team.