A woman took a plea deal Monday that will send her to prison for 20 years and have her testify against other defendants in the October 2020 fatal shooting of a teen in Wardville, Louisiana.
25-year-old Pamela Earlene Smith pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit second-degree murder. Other charges in the indictment against her — second-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder and two counts of criminal conspiracy — were dropped.
The indictments against Smith and the four other defendants in the case were amended in May. Previously, they had been indicted on first-degree and attempted first-degree murder charges.
Early on October 20, 2020, Smith drove a car belonging to Kaitlyn Leann Carlino to a home on Orchard Loop. Carlino was in the front passenger seat, while three men were in the back.
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Prosecutors allege that 24-year-old Terrence Armstrong, 21-year-old Tyrone Markel Compton and 18-year-old Andrew Chestley Mayo got out and started shooting at the house. Inside, 17-year-old Edwin Davidson Jr. was struck in his head and died at the scene.
The group was upset about a bad drug deal that had happened the night before, according to the testimony of a Pineville Police Department detective during a March hearing for Carlino.
Detective Katy McBride testified that Carlino, Compton, Mayo, Smith and two other people had paid $90 for what they believed to be 13 Xanax pills in the parking lot of a Bragg Street convenience store. But five were Xanax, while the others were balled-up pieces of paper.
Davidson was not involved in the drug deal, police have said.
Smith was sentenced to 20 years in prison at hard labor with credit for time served back to her arrest on October 22, 2020.
Carlino also was in court on Monday. Rapides Parish Assistant District Attorney Christopher Bowman told 9th Judicial District Court Judge Greg Beard that he and defense attorney George Higgins III were close to a deal in her case.
Her hearing was continued until July 26.
Mayo has a hearing set for August 9. His defense attorney, Allen Smith III, has a motion to reduce his $925,000 bond, while the state wants to increase it.
Compton has a plea date set for August 19, and Armstrong has a pretrial conference set for July 8.
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