EDGARD — A LaPlace man was sentenced to 30 years in prison this week after pleading guilty to manslaughter in connection with the April 2014 killing of 17-year-old Calvin Edmond III of LaPlace.

According to District Attorney Bridget A. Dinvaut’s office, the victim’s mother, Shazell Johnson, gave a statement to the Court during sentencing, encouraging Isaiah London Jones to seek his Lord and Savior. She also advised Jones that she forgave him for the pain he caused her family.

After Judge E. Jeffrey Perilloux accepted the guilty plea, Jones, 19, was sentenced to 30 years with the Department of Corrections. According to the District Attorney, had Jones decided to take the matter to trial, he would have faced a sentence of life imprisonment on the original charge of second degree murder.

“Jones was charged as an adult due to the nature of the criminal charges, though he was a juvenile at the time of the offense,” a release from Dinvaut’s office said.

“After discussing the matter with the victim’s family, the District Attorney allowed Jones to plead to the reduced charge of manslaughter. The decision was made with the blessing of the victim’s family and in consideration of the youthfulness of the defendant at the time of the offense.”

Jones was arrested for shooting into a group of juveniles as they walked near the intersection of Yorktowne Drive and Fairway Drive during the evening hours of April 22, 2014. Responding officers found Edmond in the front yard of a local residence, struggling to hold onto life.

Authorities said Jones knew the juvenile victims, and it appears Jones may have held some lingering animosity to one or more of the juveniles.

Edmond was shot once in the head as he retreated from Jones’ attack. He was air lifted to a New Orleans hospital, where he later died.

Authorities said witness statements led investigators to Jones, who, with his parents present, gave multiple conflicting statements to detectives and initially refused to admit any culpability in the shooting.

Detectives executed a search warrant at the Jones residence on Williamsburg Drive, where they found spent shell casings matching those found at the scene of the shooting.

Assistant District Attorney J. Philip Prescott Jr. led the prosecution, assisted by Assistant District Attorney Leandre Millet. Attorney Martin Regan represented Jones.