The jury that will determine the fate of a Natchitoches woman accused in the burning death of her infant son will come from South Louisiana.
District Judge Desiree Dyess has selected St. Landry Parish from among a half-dozen suggested venues submitted in November by prosecutors and the defense.
The change of venue was granted earlier this year for 25-year-old Hanna Barker, who faces prosecution in the July 2018 death of her almost seven-month-old son Levi Cole Ellerbe.
District Attorney Billy Joe Harrington has announced he’ll seek the death sentence against Barker if she’s convicted.
The trial is set to begin in October. Once seated, the jury will be taken to Natchitoches Parish for the actual proceedings.
Prosecutors say Barker concocted a plan with her girlfriend, Felicia Smith, 27, to kill Levi. Smith is also charged with first-degree murder.
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.