Todd Kelvin Wessinger | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 28, 1967 Louisiana, U.S. |
| Criminal status | Incarcerated on death row in Louisiana |
| Conviction | First-degree murder (x2) |
| Criminal penalty | Death (x2) |
| Details | |
| Victims | Stephanie Guzzardo, 27 David Breakwell, 46 |
| Date | November 19, 1995 |
| Location | Louisiana |
| Imprisoned at | Louisiana State Penitentiary |
Todd Kelvin Wessinger (born November 28, 1967) is an American convicted murderer sentenced to death for the murders of two restaurant employees in Louisiana during an armed robbery. On November 19, 1995, Wessinger shot four people in a mass shooting, killing David Breakwell and Stephanie Guzzardo, at a local Baton Rouge restaurant. Wessinger was found guilty in 1997 of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death, and he is currently imprisoned on death row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, awaiting his execution, which has yet to be scheduled.
On November 19, 1995, 27-year-old Todd Kelvin Wessinger, a former dishwasher, committed a mass shooting at a restaurant where he had once worked, resulting in the deaths of two of his former colleagues. [1] [2]
On the day in question, Wessinger entered the restaurant with a .380 semi-automatic pistol after arriving at the restaurant on a bicycle. Wessinger and the bartender, Mike Armentor, greeted each other and immediately after entering the restaurant, Wessinger fired two shots at Armentor from the back and Armentor collapsed on the ground with severe abdominal injuries. Afterwards, Wessinger held the dishwasher, Alvin Ricks, at gunpoint and wanted to shoot him in the head, but the gun jammed and failed to discharge, and Ricks quickly escaped the restaurant, with Wessinger misfiring the gun while trying to aim for Ricks's leg. Ricks and Willie Grigsby, another employee, ran across the street after their escape to call the police, with Ricks informing Girgsby that he identified the shooter. [2] [1]
Meanwhile, back at the restaurant, Wessinger continued his shooting spree. He pointed his gun at the restaurant manager, Stephanie Guzzardo, who was about to call the police. Guzzardo pleaded for her life but Wessinger shot and killed the 27-year-old manager. After he removed approximately $7000 from the office, Wessinger found the 46-year-old cook David Breakwell hiding inside the cooler. Despite Breakwell's pleas for mercy, he was shot by Wessinger. [2] [1]
After murdering Guzzardo and shooting both Breakwell and Armentor, Wessinger fled the restaurant on his bicycle. Both Armentor and Breakwell were subsequently found by paramedics responding to the scene, but Breakwell died on the way to the hospital. Despite the severity of his wounds, Armentor survived with timely medical intervention. [2] [1]
On November 28, 1995, nine days after he killed both Stephanie Guzzardo and David Breakwell, Todd Wessinger was arrested in Garland, Texas, and extradited back to Louisiana, where he was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the Baton Rouge restaurant shootings, [2] [3] and if convicted of first-degree murder, Wessinger faced the death penalty. [4]
On June 24, 1997, after a trial lasting two days, an East Baton Rouge Parish jury found Wessinger guilty of first-degree murder on both counts, and his sentencing hearing began the next day. [5] [6]
On June 26, 1997, the jury returned with their verdict on sentence, unanimously recommending two deaths sentences for both the murder charges preferred against Wessinger. [5]
On September 17, 1997, Wessinger was formally sentenced to death by the trial judge in accordance with the jury's recommendation. [5]
On May 28, 1999, the Louisiana Supreme Court dismissed Todd Wessinger's appeal against his death sentence and murder conviction. [2]
On September 4, 2003, District Judge Richard Anderson rejected Wessinger's request for a new trial. [7]
Nine years later, Wessinger was issued a death warrant, and his execution date was set as May 9, 2012. On April 14, 2012, Wessinger appealed for a new trial in his case. [8] Two weeks after Wessinger filed the appeal, on April 25, 2012, a stay of execution was granted to Wessinger while pending his appeal for a new trial. [9] [10] A hearing was granted by a federal judge in May 2012. [11]
On July 29, 2015, U.S. District Judge James Joseph Brady ordered a new sentencing hearing for Wessinger, whose death sentence was vacated but with his murder conviction upheld. Brady ruled that Wessinger's trial counsel was deficient in their conduct and this violated the constitutional rights of Wessinger. In response to the reprieve, Stephanie Guzzardo's father called the ruling a "stab in the back" and accused Brady of having no compassion for the victims' families. [12] Prior to the ruling, Guzzardo's father affirmed that he would not want Wessinger to be given life imprisonment for murdering his daughter and sought to have the death penalty carried out in Wessinger's case. [13]
In July 2016, Wessinger and another condemned killer Shedran Williams (who killed a policeman in 2004) applied to join a 2012 federal lawsuit filed by Jessie Hoffman Jr. and Christopher Sepulvado against the constitutionality of the state's lethal injection protocols. [14] The lawsuit itself was concluded in 2022. [15]
On July 20, 2017, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals revived the death sentence of Wessinger. [16]
On January 8, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Wessinger's appeal and confirmed his death sentence for the Baton Rouge restaurant shooting. [17]
Another appeal was filed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Wessinger's lawyers argued in this appeal that the jury presiding Wessinger's original trial did not hear mitigating evidence from his trial counsel, which included the child abuse and brain damage caused by a stroke suffered by Wessinger during his childhood, factors that would have allowed him to be spared the death penalty. [18] The petition was likewise rejected by a near unanimous vote of 8–1 on March 5, 2018. Guzzardo's father reportedly applauded the decision by stating, "It’s one step closer to justice." [19]
On December 20, 2022, Wessinger's petition for habeas relief was granted by U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles, who ordered Wessinger to undergo a new sentencing trial, and the state prosecutors had since filed an appeal against the ruling. [20] [21]
In June 2025, deGravelles once again ordered a new re-sentencing trial, but the prosecution filed an appeal against the decision. [22]
In 2023, as Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards approached the end of his term, he publicly announced his opposition to the death penalty and his support for its abolition in the state. Despite this, on May 24, 2023, the Louisiana legislature voted down a bill that aimed to abolish capital punishment. [23] [24] Stephanie Guzzardo's father testified in opposition to the abolition of capital punishment, stating that he supported the execution of Wessinger and emotionally recounted during a legislature hearing about how his daughter was gunned down despite her plea for mercy, and was offended by those who cited the expensive costs of death penalty cases, claiming that this was like an insult to "put a price tag" on his daughter's life. [25]
A month later, in June 2023, 56 out of the 57 death row inmates in the state filed clemency petitions in hopes of having their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment by Edwards before his term ended. Wessinger was one of those 56 prisoners that petitioned for clemency, and their applications were referred to the Louisiana Board of Pardons and the Committee on Parole. [26] [27] [28] In response to the clemency petition of Wessinger, Stephanie Guzzardo's father expressed that he wanted Wessinger to be executed for murdering his daughter, and he promised to oppose the commutation of Wessinger's death sentence, and was critical of Wessinger's multiple attempts to escape his execution. [29] [30]
In July 2023, the Board rejected all 56 petitions, citing that the inmates were ineligible because their filings came too soon after recent judicial rulings on their appeals. According to the rules, clemency petitions could only be filed at least one year after the final appeal decision. [31] In October 2023, the Board also denied further clemency requests from five death row inmates, including the state's only female condemned prisoner Antoinette Frank. [32] [33]
Eventually, the Louisiana Board of Pardons and Parole decided to conduct a clemency hearing for Wessinger. Wessinger's lawyers argued that their client suffered from mental deficiencies induced by a pediatric stroke, and this information was not presented before the jury. [34]
On November 27, 2023, Wessinger was denied clemency. [35] [36]