Press Releases
DEFENDANT SENTENCED TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING CRIME WHICH RESULTED IN DEATH
December 17, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JERRY CUTNO, age 35, a resident of New Orleans, LA, was sentenced today to life imprisonment by U.S. District Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle for using a firearm during a drug trafficking crime which resulted in a death, announced U.S. Attorney Jim Letten. Additionally, CUTNO was also sentenced to twenty (20) years imprisonment for conspiracy with intent to distribute cocaine which led murder.
According to court records, CUTNO was found guilty by a federal jury after trial in February, 2008. According to the testimony at trial, on June 29, 2005, Paul Miller went to an apartment in Algiers, Louisiana where he encountered CUTNO and another gunman. Further testimony revealed that CUTNO and the second gunman learned that Miller had stashed 199.8 grams of cocaine in the apartment. Once learning that, CUTNO and the second gunman concocted a plan in which to detain and rob Miller. Once Miller came into the apartment and saw the two gunman, he attempted to flee the apartment but was beaten and shot. Miller later died outside the apartment. CUTNO fled the scene but was apprehended minutes later by a New Orleans Police Officer in a shopping center parking lot. CUTNO was returned to the scene of the murder where a NOPD canine located a firearm close to the scene of the murder based on CUTNO’S scent. CUTNO also had blood on his clothing and NOPD Officers found handcuffs and duct tape in the apartment which were to be used to restrain Miller.
The case was investigated by the New Orleans Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as part of the Department of Justice’s Violent Crime Task Force. The prosecution was handled by Assistant U. S. Attorneys Greg Kennedy, Sean Toomey and Richard W. Rose.
