GRETNA, LA — Monday, a Jefferson Parish jury handed up a guilty verdict in the case of a murdered cab driver from 1995.
It was Teddy Chester’s second time to be convicted for the crime. The murder happened on December 27 in the 700 block of Calhoun Street near River Ridge. Prosecutors say it was a botched robbery. A second defendant, Elbert Ratcliff, was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in 1997.
Chester was tried separately and was also convicted in 1997. But last June, a federal judge ruled that Chester was deprived of his constitutional right to effective representation, according to the DA’s office.
Chester did not testify but maintained that the other defendant, Ratcliff, was the killer. On Monday, the jury in the second trial deliberated for about 90 minutes before delivering the unanimous guilty verdict.
The verdict comes with a mandatory life sentence.