By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – Having been re-indicted on second-degree murder charges in connection with the death of their 8-year-old son M.L. Lloyd III, Errol and Tonya Victor are scheduled to answer to the charges against them during a May 3 arraignment in LaPlace.

A St. John the Baptist Parish grand jury re-indicted the Victors on April 12, just two months after District Judge Madeline Jasmine ruled the previous indictment against the Victors was invalid because a member of the St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office seved on the jury and wore a shirt advertising his employment with the force.

The Victors will be arraigned before District Court Judge Mary Hotard Becnel during a 9 a.m. hearing at the St. John Parish east bank courthouse annex, located at the Arcuri Center in LaPlce. Becnel was assigned the case in the re-indictment.

Although the case is being treated like a completely new trial, Assistant State Attorney General Julie Cullen, who is handling the prosecution, said Monday that motions and evidence introduced during previous court proceedings are still fair game.

“I have no objections to the introduction of old motions, should the defense chose to use it in the new case,” Cullen said. “It all depends on who is representing them in the new case.”

Cullen said the Victors’ current attorney, Lon Burns, filed a motion to be removed from the case. She said she does not know who has been chosen to take over.

The Victors had originally been charged with first-degree murder in April 2008 in the days following Lloyd’s death. Those charges were downgraded to second-degree murder in the second indictment, which was thrown out by Jasmine in February.

Lloyd died April 1, 2008, after he was taken to River Parishes Hospital in LaPlace by Errol Victor, Tonya Victor, and Lloyd’s stepbrother, Errol Victor Jr. According to reports from the Sheriff’s Office, the boy was unresponsive when the family arrived and was later pronounced dead. The family immediately fled the hospital after Lloyd was dropped off.

Sheriff’s investigators and state prosecutors have said Lloyd died after being severly whipped and beaten at home by his parents. The family has vehemently denied the accusations.

Errol Victor Jr. had been named in the initial indictment as an accessory after the fact to murder, but Cullen said Monday those charges have since been dropped.