Seven South Louisiana parishes were submitted Monday as possible venues for the first-degree murder trial of a Natchitoches woman accused in the burning death of her infant son.
Prosecutors and the defense attorney submitted their suggestions to District Judge Desiree Dyess, who took them under advisement. She did not say when she would make the selection.
Dyess earlier this month granted a change of venue in the trial of 25-year-old Hanna Barker, who faces prosecution in the July 2018 death of six-month-old Levi Cole Ellerbe.
Barker will be back in court at 2:30 p.m. Dec. 19. A trial date has not been set.
Barker’s girlfriend, Felicia Smith, 27, is also charged with first-degree murder in Levi’s death. The two were arrested after Levi’s body was found near railroad tracks in a Natchitoches neighborhood after Barker reported he had been kidnapped from her home. Levi suffered second- and third-degree burns over 90 percent of his body and died the next day at a Shreveport hospital.
According to court records, Smith confessed to setting Levi on fire, but told investigators it was Barker who came up with the plan to kill him. Barker has denied any involvement and has pleaded not guilty, as has Smith.
Smith’s next court date is Dec. 16.
