Ankle Monitor Executive & Employee Indicted on Negligent Homicide Charges
The owner and an employee of an ankle monitoring company have been indicted on negligent homicide charges after a man being monitored killed his estranged wife and himself according to The Advocate.
West Feliciana Parish District Attorney Sam D'Aquilla says the owner of American Electronic Monitoring owner Van Hopkins and employee Deborah Shirley have been indicted in the case.
D'Aquilla says Marshall Rayburn was released on bond in 2021 after allegedly raping his estranged wife. He was issued an ankle monitor. The DA says Rayburn ended up going multiple places he was not supposed to go based on the terms of his bail. He ultimately, according to the prosecutor stalked his wife, Peggy. In September prosecutors say Rayburn shot Peggy and then killed himself.
According to officials, there were multiple instances where Marshall Rayburn was not confined to his home. He went to places to run errands, and he even went to a sex shop. The prosecutor says at no time did Shirley report any of this to law enforcement.
D'Aquilla told The Advocate,
We wanted justice for Peggy and her family. But we also want to put a spotlight on the ankle monitoring system.
The family has also filed a civil suit against American Monitoring Company, Hopkins, and Shirley.
Who runs the system? It's unclear who is ultimately supposed to as even the Louisiana Attorney General issued an opinion saying it's not up to law enforcement. East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore III says their system, for example, is run through the courts.
D'Aquilla is hoping that real change and a clear program of who regulates the system will come out of these court proceedings.