By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – A 21-year-old LaPlace man awaits sentencing after pleading guilty to manslaughter in connection with the 2007 shooting death of a LaPlace teen, according to a release from the St. John District Attorney’s office.

Craig Moore, 2047 Champions Drive, LaPlace, entered his plea March 2 before District Judge A. J. Kling, said Maj. Mike Tregre, spokesman for the District Attorney’s Office. Moore was charged with gunning down 19-year-old Hubert Ellsworth IV during an argument in front of a home on Yorktowne Drive in LaPlace on July 27, 2007.

Tregre said Moore, who turned himself in to authorities in September of 2007 after evidence linked him to the murder, was originally charged with second-degree murder and could have faced a lifetime behind bars. Moore’s plea to manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of 40 years of hard labor.

According to a report from the St. John Sheriff’s Office, Ellsworth was shot and killed in front of the home of a friend in the 1600 block of Yorktowne Drive. A neighbor, who heard about four or five gunshots ring out around 9:30 p.m. the evening of the incident, called 911 immediately. The report stated that deputies arrived within minutes but found Ellsworth dead on the scene.

Tregre said a handgun found at the scene contained DNA evidence that matched Moore’s. Moore confessed to detectives that he and Ellsworth had been fighting over a car stereo system and that Ellsworth pulled a handgun during the dispute. Tregre said Moore admitted in court to shooting Ellsworth.

Tregre said the district attorney’s office has ordered a pre-sentence investigation, where interviews with family members of the victim and defendant are conducted. He said the interviews will be conducted by the Department of Probation and Parole. Moore’s sentence will come at a later date based on the results of the interviews.

Tregre said Moore is being held at the Sherman Walker Correctional Facility.