COVINGTON, LA – Two men have been sentenced for the 2016 death of a 17-year-old Mandeville boy.
35-year-old Jamie Cooper pleaded guilty to negligent homicide and distribution of synthetic marijuana.
Cooper provided the drugs that led to the death of a Mandeville teenager.
A friend of the victim called police on the night of he incident. He admitted to police he and the victim smoked a brand of synthetic marijuana known as Mojo. The surviving teen said he passed out, and when we awoke, he was in a ditch with the deceased teen on top of him.
The teens had bought $20 worth of Mojo from a middle man, 25-year-old Jarbari Pea, of Covington.
Pea pleaded guilty to negligent homicide and distribution of synthetic cannabinoids for his role in the crime.
Pea was sentenced to five years in prison on the negligent homicide charge and 10 years, with five of them suspended, on the distribution charge. His sentences are to be served concurrently.
Cooper was sentenced to five years in prison for negligent homicide and 30 years for the distribution charge. Both sentences are to be served at the same time without the possibility of sentence reduction for “good time.”
At the time of the drug deal, Pea and Cooper each walked away with $10.