A Baton Rouge-area serial killer has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2017 drive-by shooting of 48-year-old Brad DeFranceschi, a Boy Scout leader and father of two. Ryan Sharpe killed DeFranceschi while he was doing yard work at the Avondale Scout Reservation in East Feliciana Parish. 20th Judicial District Attorney Sam D’Aquilla says the penalty for First-Degree murder is life imprisonment or capital punishment.
“We did not go for the capital punishment provision. We just went for the life imprisonment,” said D’Aquilla.
Sharpe was found guilty of first-degree murder by an East Feliciana jury in August, which deliberated for less than an hour. D’Aquella says this follows a previous conviction in 2019 that was overturned in 2020 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled nonunanimous jury verdicts unconstitutional.
“It was retroactive only to the cases that were recently decided or on direct appeal,” said D’Aquilla.
D’Aquilla says he hopes Sharpe’s life sentence brings closure to the families of his victims after years of legal proceedings.
“Just really glad it’s complete, and I hope the families have some relief. You know, everybody can put this behind us now,” said D’Aquilla
He’s also accused in the shooting deaths of 62-year-old Tommy Bass of East Feliciana and 66-year-old Carroll Breeden, who was gunned down in front of East Baton Rouge Parish home. Sharpe also allegedly shot Buck Hornsby in East Feliciana, but he survived the shooting.
