BATON ROUGE —- As the Breeden family entered the 19th JDC courtroom on Tuesday morning for the 34th time, they finally had some good news. They could proceed with a trial for the man accused of killing their father, Carroll Breeden. Doctors found Ryan Sharpe competent to stand trial.
“We are grateful that it was obvious to both doctors that Ryan Sharpe is competent to proceed and was simply trying to avoid trial,” said Lead Prosecutor with the District Attorney’s Office, Dana Cummings.
Trial has now been set for Nov. 17, 2025 for Ryan Sharpe in the killing of BREC Commissioner Carroll Breeden. Despite the lengthy delay, it’s relief for the Breeden family that they’re one step closer now to closure.
“It’s been almost eight unbearable years without our dad, and every day has felt like we’ve been stuck in time-waiting, hoping, grieving. We finally get a trial date. It’s hard to put into words what this means to us. This isn’t just about a court date – it’s about fighting for the truth, for justice, and for some kind of peace. Our dad deserves so much more, and we’ve waited far too long for this moment,” said one of Breeden’s daughters Marcie Flotte.
Sharpe has already been convicted in the killing of Brad DeFranceschi in East Feliciana Parish in Oct. 2017 and was sentenced to life at Angola in 2024.
Ryan Sharpe is accused of going on a hunting spree in 2017, where he killed three men (Tommy Bass, Brad DeFranceschi & Carroll Breeden) and injured Buck Hornsby.
Carroll Breeden, 66, was working in his yard when he was shot and killed outside of his home in the Pride area of northern East Baton Rouge Parish on September 19, 2017. Carroll Breeden was the BREC Commissioner from 2001 to 2007. He was the third person Sharpe allegedly shot, and second man he’s accused of killing.
Despite the life sentence he’s serving, because Breeden was killed in East Feliciana Parish, District Attorney Hillar Moore and Lead Prosecutor Dana Cummings are hoping to secure another life sentence.
Baton Rouge Judge asked for “sanity commission” on Ryan Sharpe
Sharpe’s trial was slated to begin on the Breeden case on April 7, 2025. However, jury selection was put on hold and all parties reconvened to determine whether Sharpe was even capable to assist his attorney and stand trial.
Sharpe told the judge ahead of jury selection that he wanted to fire his longtime attorney Tommy Damico. He said he had paid Damico too much money to still be behind bars. He added that because he worked for the FBI, he should be held in federal prison, not Angola.
When Judge Colette Greggs asked Sharpe the next day if he still wanted to fire his attorney, he replied, “I don’t want a lawyer. My wife doesn’t want me at Angola anymore and doesn’t want Thomas Damico to represent me.”
The judge ended the hearing by ordering a sanity commission.
On May 20, 2025, all parties came back to court to notify the judge that they found Sharpe to be competent to stand trial. This is the third time he’s been found competent, twice before in East Feliciana Parish ahead of the DeFranceschi trial.
LISTEN NOW: Podcast series “Hunting Games”, a four-part special into the 2017 East Feliciana/East Baton Rouge killings.
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