NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Federal prosecutors in New Orleans say they will not seek the death penalty against five men charged in the 2012 slaying of a federal witness in a health care fraud scheme.
Louis Age Jr., 69, and four others were indicted last year in connection with the shooting death of Milton Womack, 60.
Despite Womack’s death, Age was convicted in a $17 million fraud scheme. He is serving a 15-year sentence.
He, his son, Louis Age III, and three others faced a possible death sentence if convicted on charges that included conspiracy to obstruct justice by murder.
But prosecutors said in a court document Monday that they won’t seek execution for any of the five. The filing did not give a reason for the decision.
In addition to Age and his son, defendants include Stanton Guillory, 24; Kendrick Johnson, 41; and Ronald Wilson, 44.
All have entered not guilty pleas.
Womack was an employee of Age III in a health care business. He was shot to death in New Orleans in July 2012.
The Ages and Johnson also are accused of offering bribes and using threats and intimidation to keep witnesses from cooperating with authorities.
Guillory’s criminal record includes an arrest as part of a highly touted multi-agency roundup of alleged gang members announced in 2013. He had faced a charge of second-degree murder in the death of a 5-year-old child struck during gang-related gunfire in 2012. Records show state prosecutors dropped the charge, noting that he was in federal custody and reserving the right to reinstitute it later.
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