Orleans Parish Prosecutors Secure Murder Conviction in 2021 Killing in the Treme

New Orleans, LA – Yesterday, June 17, 2024, Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams and Homicide Unit Chief Matthew Derbes stood with members of OPDA’s Homicide Unit and Investigations leadership to announce another trial victory for the City of New Orleans. Late Wednesday, an Orleans Parish jury returned a guilty as charged verdict for the June 2021 killing of Henry James. Defendant Barry Bowie was found guilty of second-degree murder, possession of a firearm by a felon, and obstruction of justice in this deadly act.

The trial, notable for its lack of credible eyewitnesses, was successfully tried by Homicide ADAs Forest Ladd and Carlos Torres. ADA’s Ladd and Torres received invaluable support from the trial team, which included Trial Assistant Alecia Richards, Victim Advocate Natasha Childress, and Homicide Investigator Rayvon Souffrant. NOPD Homicide Detective Miles Guirreri’s initial investigation and testimony laid a solid foundation that helped to push this prosecution forward.

Because eyewitness testimony proved inconsistent during the trial, the preparation and investigative work of the trial team took on even more importance in this case. ADAs Ladd and Torres relied on video surveillance footage, pieced together from multiple sources, to trace Bowie’s movements that placed him at the scene of the crime. Additionally, a critical phone call made from jail featured Bowie admitting to being at the scene at the time of the shooting.

The motivation and commitment shown by this trial team are emblematic of the spirit of the Homicide Unit. DA Williams envisioned the value of specialty units, such as homicide, would have before an ambitious pitch to City leadership.

Homicide Unit Chief Matthew Derbes echoed the praise from DA Williams and shared key data to highlight just how effective the unit has been in its brief existence.

“I am incredibly proud to work with everybody in this room and everyone in this building. Everyone has a single attitude: we just don’t give up on these cases.

Since August of 2023, we have had over 250 trial settings for homicide. That doesn’t include daily discovery hearings, motion hearings, arraignments, or Grand Jury presentations—all the little things behind the scenes aside from the trial. To be exact, 256 homicide cases were set for trial. Since that time, we’ve gone to trial 36 times in homicide cases, with only 4 not guilty verdicts. This is the result of time, passion, work ethic, and everybody in this room working to get a result and to get justice in each case.”