BENTON, La. -Delandro Fleming, the man accused of fatally shooting an elderly man last week as the victim arrived at his daughter's home, should have been in jail at the time but had been mistakenly released, likely due to a clerical error, court records obtained by KTBS 3 News show.
Fleming, 22, of Shreveport is now jailed in Bossier Parish in connection with the slaying of Wilmer Monette, 76, outside his daughter's home in Jamestowne subdivision just south of Benton. Bossier sheriff’s deputies said a man approached the victim shortly after he got out of his vehicle and shot him repeatedly before fleeing in a getaway car driven by a young woman. There is no early indication the victim and his accused killer knew each other and a motive for the slaying has not been determined, sheriff's deputies said Monday.
At the time of the slaying, Fleming should have been behind bars serving a two-year prison sentence for attacking a corrections officer at a juvenile jail in Monroe, according to court documents from Ouachita Parish obtained by KTBS News. But he was mistakenly released from custody in Ouachita Parish last year, likely due to a clerical error that happened as his case moved between juvenile and adult courts.
The documents indicate:
- In 2018, Fleming was sentenced to be incarcerated in a juvenile detention facility until he turned 21 for a home invasion and armed robbery in Shreveport where multiple shots were fired. While serving that sentence at a youth facility in Monroe, Fleming was involved in an attack on a corrections officer.
- Fleming was 18 years old at the time of the attack and thus a legal adult, and that case was prosecuted in Ouachita District Court. He pleaded guilty on Nov. 3, 2021, and was sentenced to two years in prison -- with the stipulation he begin that sentence only after completing his juvenile term.
- Although the state Office of Juvenile Justice placed a detainer in Fleming's file on July 6, 2022, law-enforcement authorities in Ouachita Parish mistakenly released him on March 25, 2023, after he turned 21, without him beginning his two-year sentence for attacking the corrections officer.
KTBS News has reviewed court records showing that some of Fleming’s criminal records were filed in the Ouachita Clerk of Court’s system under an incorrect birth date, thus creating two sets of records for the same individual. The conviction requiring Fleming to serve additional time was under theentry with the incorrect birth date.
KTBS News contacted the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office in an effort to find out what happened as the case moved through the two court systems. Sheriff's deputies and clerks routinely are in courtrooms to record details of sentencings so they can be shared with corrections officials.
Ouachita Sheriff's Col. Larry Knight said Monday he had not heard about the mistaken release and that the Sheriff's Office would look into the matter. Neither he nor Chief Deputy Marc Mashaw, who will become sheriff in less than two weeks, had responded by Tuesday morning.
The court documents also reflect:
- Fleming has a criminal record dating to at least 2018, when he was found guilty of the home invasion in Caddo Parish and sentenced by Juvenile Court Judge Paul Young to a jail term ending when he reached the age of 21.
- In October 2020, Fleming was charged with simple battery for punching and kicking another youth during an altercation at Swanson Center for Youth in Monroe. Since he was a legal adult at the time, Fleming was prosecuted in Ouachita District Court, where he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to time served, court records show.
- In December 2021, Fleming was charged with aggravated battery for attacking another male inmate. He was again prosecuted in adult court and was sentenced to serve six months in jail, with the sentence to run at the same time as his juvenile term, court records show.
- In December 2022, Fleming allegedly participated in a jail disturbance and was charged with simple escape and rioting. The charge was reduced to resisting an officer and he was convicted on May 25, 2023. Ouachita District Judge Larry Jefferson sentenced him to six months in the parish jail with credit for time served, court records show.
Fleming is currently jailed in Bossier Parish under a $1 million bond in connection Monette's death.He made his initial appearance in Bossier District Court on Monday and the public defender's office was appointed to represent him. He has not entered a plea and Chief Public Defender Mike Miller did not return phone calls from KTBS News seeking a comment on behalf of Fleming.
Fleming was arrested hours after Monette's slaying. Bossier sheriff's detectives, aided in part by a neighbor seeing the license plate number of the getaway car, quickly developed Fleming as a suspect, and with assistance from a Shreveport police tactical team, arrested him at his residence on Captain Shreve Drive in Shreveport.
Bossier sheriff's deputies said Fleming refused to make a statement to detectives and the motive for the slaying of Monette is not known. There is no early indication the victim and his accused killer knew each other, deputies said.
Monette's wife and daughter were inside the daughter's home when he was shot.
The alleged driver of the getaway car, Destiny Landers, 23, of Shreveport, was arrested the same morning as Fleming at a location in north Shreveport. She is jailed under $500,000 bond.
