Louisiana Attorney Wants Client Indictment Thrown Out

GRETNA, La. (AP) — Citing technical grounds, an attorney for a Bridge City man accused of killing the sole witness to a murder wants the indictment tossed out.

David Alfortish tells The Times-Picayune (http://bit.ly/KAkCZ4 ) prosecutors improperly charged Jeffery Nelson with second-degree murder in the death of Charles Smith, who identified Nelson's half-brother and another woman as the shooters in a separate Bridge City homicide.

The 46-year-old Smith was gunned down outside his Bridge City home on Aug. 17, the day before he was to give sworn testimony in a pretrial hearing in the Jefferson Parish Courthouse in Gretna against Quentin McClure and Chasity Griffin.

McClure and Griffin allegedly killed Smith's neighbor Theodore Pierce, on Jan. 2, 2011. They were indicted in April 2011 with second-degree murder and other charges.