If Seth Fontenot, 20, is sentenced to the maximum40 years in prison for manslaughter, he won’t be eligible for release until he’s 54 years old.
“The law requires anyone convicted of a crime of violence to serve 85 percent of their sentence,” Lafayette attorney Alfred Boustany told The Daily Advertiser on Thursday.
A jury on Wednesday convicted Fontenot of manslaughter in the Feb. 10, 2013, shooting death of 15-year-old Austin Rivault, one of three boys he thought were breaking into his truck.
If 15th Judicial District Judge Edward Rubin sentences Fontenot to 40 years, he will have to serve at least 34 years in prison. If sentenced to 10 years, he will have to serve 8.5 years.
Rubin, who presided over Fontenot’s trial, has not set a sentencing date.
“I honestly don’t know what to predict on this one,” said Pat Magee, a former assistant district attorney. “I’ve seen Judge Rubin hand down sentences that I thought were fairly light, but I’ve also seen him hand down sentences that were extremely long and justified. And I don’t think anyone will be able to guess to the direction he’s heading on this case.”
The jury on Wednesday also found Fontenot guilty on two counts of aggravated battery for shooting the other boys with Rivault, Cole Kelley and William Bellamy, now both 17.
For those convictions, Fontenot could be imprisoned for up to 10 years and/or fined up to $5,000.
Typically, in cases like this, the judge allows the sentences to run concurrently, Boustany said. For instance, if Rubin sentences Fontenot to 15 years on the manslaughter conviction, the prison sentences for the aggravated battery convictions could be folded into the 15 years.
Fontenot was indicted on one count of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder and faced a life sentence.
He was held in the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center Wednesday night until the parties that posted his original bonds provided written statements extending the bonds.
He was released late Thursday afternoon.
Fontenot faces additional legal battles, including an indictment on two counts of distribution of a controlled dangerous substance, namely amphetamines, on Oct. 18, 2012, and Dec. 6, 2012.
When Lafayette Police officers retrieved text messages from Fontenot’s cellphone during their investigation into the 2013 shooting, they found text messages in which he discussed selling a few of his prescription Adderall pills to friends.
In September 2013, Lt. Michael Louviere with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Police Department interviewed two people who said they purchased pills from Fontenot, according to the police report.
The drug charges were not introduced in Fontenot’s murder trial.
There’s also a pending wrongful death lawsuit filed in 2014 by Rivault’s parents, Kevin and Renee Rivault, against Fontenot, his mother Brooke Talbot, his step-father Derrick Talbot, and ABC Insurance Company.
The civil suit was put on hold until after Fontenot’s criminal trial.
