EAST FELICIANA — After deliberating less than one hour, a 12-person jury unanimously found Ryan Sharpe guilty of the first-degree murder of Brad DeFranceschi following a week-long trial.
Inside the courtroom, there were tears of joy from the victims’ families as the guilty verdict was read out loud. Outside the courthouse, there were hugs among the families and lawyers.
Sharpe was charged with killing DeFranceschi and two others during the summer and fall of 2017. Investigators also believe he nearly killed a fourth man during a shooting spree across East Feliciana and East Baton Rouge parishes.
Sharpe was previously convicted of killing DeFranceschi in 2019. During that trial, he was found guilty by 11 jurors, with one juror voting not guilty. However, a Supreme Court ruling overturned that conviction due to a state law change requiring unanimous verdicts in criminal convictions.
The retrial for Ryan Sharpe
Only UWK was in the courtroom throughout the week-long trial. Jury selection began on July 29, with five men and seven women seated.
During the trial, the state presented 14 witnesses, including the victim’s wife, Kaylene DeFranceschi, over four days. The state rested its case around 9:30 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 2nd. The defense called three witnesses: Ryan Sharpe’s father, his sister, and one of Sharpe’s closest childhood friends. After less than an hour and a half, the defense rested its case.
The jury was charged with the case at 3:11 p.m. Friday and by 4:07 p.m., they returned with the guilty verdict.
First-degree murder carries a mandatory life in prison sentence. The death penalty was taken off the table in this case.
Sharpe’s family offered prayers to the victims after the verdict was read.
“I pray that today’s verdict will bring them closure to this horrific event,” his mom told UWK outside the courtroom, speaking out for the very first time in seven years. “Through our grief today, we would like to offer our prayers to the victims and their families, that have always been there. We offer them peace.”
“We’re very disappointed in the verdict. We thought that we had proved a case that my client was not sane at the time of these actions. Obviously, it was a strong case in guilt and innocence,” said Sharpe’s attorney Tommy Damico. “Mr. Sharpe is not an evil person. In my opinion, Mr. Sharpe, there just wasn’t something right with him. I believe that the sanity was an issue.”
Damico said as of now, he does plan to look at options for appealing the decision. As for the victim’s family, Todd Quebedeaux says they’re finally able to move on.
“Seven years of living around his schedule, his attorney, the court, but now we’ll be able to move about our lives,” said Brad DeFranceschi’s father-in-law Todd Quebedeaux.
“He can still talk to his father. Brad’s kids cannot and he has taken that from us. He has taken so much from the Breedens, the Bass’s and Buck Hornsby. If there’s one thing I can say, it’s that I hope he repents,” said DeFranceschi’s wife Kaylene.
“I don’t think there’s any amount of justice for what he did and how he effected so many families and the lives he took. We are very happy about the verdict. I want to credit all the law enforcement, especially my people who worked on this case relentlessly. I want to also say it’s an unbelievable job by the district attorney’s office,” said East Feliciana Sheriff Jeff Travis. “I hope he gets the maximum. This whole parish was in fear when he did what he did.”
Hunting Games
Sharpe shot and killed DeFranceschi as he was cutting grass on his property in a rural part of East Feliciana Parish on October 9, 2017. His wife, Kaylene, was inside their home with their 12-year-old son when he was killed.
DeFranceschi was Sharpe’s fourth and alleged final victim. He is also accused of shooting Tommy Bass, Buck Hornsby, and Carol Breeden.
Hornsby was the only one who survived Sharpe’s attacks. He miraculously survived after being shot twice while on a morning jog by hiding and playing dead until Sharpe allegedly drove off. During this spree, Sharpe is accused of wreaking havoc and instilling fear across East Feliciana and East Baton Rouge parishes. Sharpe told investigators that he was hunting men to fill government-issued hunting tags.
The entire case is featured in a Louisiana Unfiltered podcast series.
Each of Sharpe’s alleged victims were highlighted during the East Feliciana trial. Sharpe is also expected to stand trial in East Baton Rouge Parish.
- July 8, 2017: Tommy Bass was in his driveway when Sharpe allegedly pulled into the driveway and shot him at close range. Bass died on the scene.
- Sept. 12, 2017: Buck Hornsby was out jogging when he was shot twice with a small gauge shotgun. He was the only person who survived being shot at.
- Sept. 19, 2017: BREC Commissioner Carol Breeden was shot while he was outside spraying weed killer near his driveway in East Baton Rouge Parish, just a stone’s throw away from East Feliciana Parish. Breeden also died on the scene.
- Oct. 9, 2017: Camp Avondale’s Brad DeFranceschi was shot at four times. Three of the bullets hit him and killed him immediately.
Sharpe’s insanity defense
With the victims’ families and Ryan Sharpe’s parents in the courtroom, opening statements began around 1:30 p.m. on July 30, 2024. Sharpe attended the trial wearing a gray dress shirt and black pants, with a graying beard. Throughout the first day, he was seen mumbling to himself, occasionally shifting his gaze from the jury to those presenting the case. He would sometimes smile or smirk, particularly when a 911 tape was played, in which a frantic wife begged for first responders after her husband had been shot.
“I expect the state to prove first-degree murder. I expect the state to prove Ryan Sharpe was the shooter, but your job doesn’t end there. Ryan Sharpe was known by all his friends as a great guy,” said Sharpe’s attorney, Tommy Damico.
The defense attorney described Sharpe as an outgoing person who hosted crawfish boils and frequently spent time with friends. He noted that the gate to Sharpe’s property was always open as a ‘welcome’ sign. Sharpe’s plumbing business thrived after the 2016 flood because he was constantly working on homes.
“That’s who Ryan Sharpe was. I say that because the Ryan Sharpe sitting there [pointing to Sharpe in the courtroom] is not the one I described,” Damico continued. He added that Sharpe’s friends mentioned he “started telling really weird and wild stories” and his parents observed that “his stories got stranger and stranger.”
Damico noted that the crawfish boils stopped, Sharpe stopped calling his friends, and he abandoned his favorite hobby of running and preparing dogs for competitions. Sharpe was not one to visit a doctor, which may explain the lack of a medical history indicating insanity. Damico mentioned that when Sharpe’s father, Bill Sharpe, entered his home, he found nearly $7,000 worth of uncashed checks. Sharpe’s customers were calling to tell him they had his money or owed him money, amounting to nearly $20,000, but Sharpe never collected it.
“He was living in an illusion. ‘I’m supposed to call when I fill a tag,'” Damico quoted Sharpe as saying. He explained that Sharpe told law enforcement he wasn’t shooting people for fun, but felt he had to fulfill tags.
Damico also mentioned that Sharpe described a bureau comprising an agent, State Police, and ‘the richest man in the country,’ who allegedly called and voted that Tommy Bass ‘had to go.’
Prosecutors argued that Sharpe was an avid hunter and a member of a hunting club. They contended that despite his claims of insanity, Sharpe was not on any medication and had no history indicating insanity. They also pointed out that during the killings, Sharpe maintained his job as a plumber, had permits for his plumbing business, and interacted with the public.
“What he did is cruel. He chose to be cruel. Choosing to be cruel is not the same as insanity,” assistant district attorney Kaylin Alleman argued. She also informed jurors that Sharpe had undergone numerous tests, and doctors all found him to be competent.
Sharpe’s Confession
The day after DeFranceschi’s murder, Sharpe called the East Feliciana Sheriff’s Office to report that he had fulfilled his tag by shooting and killing DeFranceschi. After a game of cat and mouse, Sharpe was arrested and taken to the Violent Crime Unit in East Baton Rouge Parish, where he confessed to all the shootings.
During the trial, the prosecution played the confession video, in which jurors heard Sharpe describe how the hunting tags worked. He claimed that he was instructed to fill five tags. Having already killed a deer, which counted for two tags, he had three remaining. He stated that he was required to call and report each filled tag to receive credit, which is why he called after allegedly killing DeFranceschi. When asked if he had any more tags to fill, Sharpe told investigators he had a few more to go.
“If you hadn’t gotten me today, two or three days from now, all my tags would have been filled,” Sharpe said in the confession video. He elaborated that ‘The Bureau’ had assigned him 12 tags and gave him four years to fill them.
Sharpe explained that if he didn’t fill the tags, his friends were being picked up and taken to a hotel. To get them out of the hotel, he had to fill tags.
In his confession, Sharpe walked detectives through the alleged shootings of all four men, detailing how and why he chose his victims. He claimed he hunted the men based on calls from ‘The Bureau’ and received points based on the color of the shirts the men were wearing. This, he said, was why he chose to kill Carol Breeden, who was in his yard wearing a green shirt.
He added that he did not take his cell phone when filling the tags. Although he needed his phone for his plumbing business, he left it at home while filling tags to avoid being tracked.
*Cameras nor any electronics are allowed inside the courtroom in East Feliciana Parish for the Ryan Sharpe trial.*
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