The Latest: Lawyer says DA correct for ruling out charges

ST. MARTINVILLE, La. – The latest on a decision by prosecutors in south Louisiana to rule out criminal charges against sheriff’s deputies in the fatal shooting of a mentally ill man last year (all times local):

4 p.m.

An attorney for the sheriff’s deputy who shot and killed a mentally ill man at his Louisiana home last year is praising authorities for reaching the “correct result” and ruling out any criminal charges against his client.

Attorney Pat Magee says Sgt. Pittard Chapman of the St. Martin Parish Sheriff’s Office “had no alternative but to use deadly force” against 32-year-old Michael Noel.

Assistant District Attorney Chester Cedars announced Friday that his office determined charges aren’t warranted against Chapman or another deputy who tried to take Noel into protective custody and drive him to a hospital on Dec. 21.

In a memo, Cedars said Chapman was trapped against a door and acted in self-defence when he fired a single shot at Noel.

Magee says Chapman has remained on administrative leave since the shooting at the St. Martinville home that Noel shared with his mother, Barbara Noel.

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10 a.m.

The mother of a mentally ill man who was shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy in south Louisiana last year says she is “furious” that local prosecutors have ruled out any criminal charges over her son’s death.

Barbara Noel told The Associated Press that her 32-year-old son, Michael Noel, never posed a threat to the deputies who tried to take him into protective custody and drive him to a hospital on Dec. 21.

Assistant District Attorney Chester Cedars announced Friday that his St. Martin Parish office determined charges aren’t warranted after reviewing evidence gathered by State Police investigators. A 20-page memo by Cedars says Noel’s shooting was a “reasonable reaction to an extraordinarily intense and volatile situation which was brought on, solely and exclusively, by Michael’s conduct.”

Barbara Noel says she witnessed the deadly confrontation in the living room of her home and can’t understand how investigators can blame her son.

Noel said St. Martin Parish prosecutors didn’t inform her of their decision before releasing the memo that outlines their conclusions.

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9:15 a.m.

Prosecutors in Louisiana have ruled out criminal charges in the death of a mentally ill man who was shot and killed during a confrontation with sheriff’s deputies last year.

Assistant District Attorney Chester Cedars announced Friday that his St. Martin Parish office determined charges aren’t warranted after reviewing evidence gathered by State Police investigators.

A police report said 32-year-old Michael Noel was killed on Dec. 21 during a struggle inside his family’s St. Martinville home when he resisted deputies’ efforts to take him into protective custody and drive him to a hospital.

In March, Noel’s relatives sued St. Martin Parish Sheriff Ronald Theriot and the two deputies involved in the deadly encounter. Their suit claims Noel’s shooting was unprovoked and the result of poor training and supervision.