A Lafayette jury has found a local rapper guilty of provoking violence that led to a man’s death in 2012.
Lafayette District Court Judge David Smith sentenced Eric “Vicious” Johnson to 16 years in prison Tuesday following Johnson’s February conviction of inciting a riot with death.
Immediately following the sentencing, Johnson’s attorney Harold Register asked the judge to reconsider what felt feels is excessive, but Smith declined.
Johnson, a Lafayette rapper, was convicted on Feb. 25 by a 10-2 verdict of inciting a riot that led to the shooting death of Ray Ryan, 43. He was convicted of leading a group to Ryan’s apartment building for retaliation for a fight the night before, prosecutors have said. Shots were fired during a fracas and Ryan, called an innocent bystander, was found dead.
Register said he will not appeal the case to the Third Circuit Court of Appeal in Lake Charles. He said he feels the evidence presented at the trial did not meet the criteria in the state law defining the crime. He added that he feels there were conflicting witness statements and testimony about what happened that night.
