Monday,
December 15, 1997
NATIONAL Page A1
TWO ACQUITTED IN MURDER OF
FOOTBALL PLAYER
VICTIM'S FAMILY, FRIENDS STUNNED BY QUICK VERDICT
By NATALIE POMPILIO Staff writer
A jury took about two hours Sunday to acquit two
New Orleans men of the 1995 murder of Fortier High
School football player Randy Roberts.
Ronald Long, 22, and Deandre McKinley, 19, hugged
their attorneys after the verdict was returned in the
first-degree murder trial. Supporters slapped hands as
they rose to congratulate the defense team.
Sitting behind the prosecution table, Roberts' family
sat stone-still. Even after spectators had begun
leaving the room, they sat with arms around each
others' shoulders and eyes pointed straight ahead.
"I have no doubt in my mind that they killed my son, "
Yolanda Roberts, the victim's mother, said outside the
courthouse.
Randy Roberts was gunned down about a block from his
Hollygrove home in November 1995. Another teen
involved in the incident, Sean Conway, was shot and is
paralyzed.
Prosecutors said Long and McKinley killed Roberts
because Long was interested in Roberts' girlfriend.
They depicted Roberts as a youth with a positive
attitude and a perpetual smile.
But defense attorneys described a very different
Roberts. He was furious that Long would be interested
in his girlfriend and attempted to ambush Long and
McKinley as they left the girl's home. The bullet that
killed Roberts, they said, was the result of "friendly
fire."
The quick verdict in the six-day trial was a
vindication of two men who have been in prison for the
last two years, said McKinley's attorney, Jeffrey
Smith.
The prosecution, Smith said, had no evidence that
either defendant had even fired a gun on the night of
Roberts' murder.
Prosecutor Kevin Gillie was not available for comment.
As the jurors filed out of the courtroom, Judge Calvin
Johnson wished them a "Merry Christmas and Happy New
Year." The sentiment did not sit well with Yolanda
Roberts. She accused the judge of running a "kangaroo
court."
"(The defense) just wanted their clients home for
Christmas, but my son is never coming home, " she
said.
