LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP) — A Louisiana appeals court has upheld a man’s attempted murder conviction for stabbing a stranger who threw a beer can at him during an argument outside a truck stop casino.
The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal rejected DeWayne A. Sylvester Sr.’s argument that his 10-2 conviction is unconstitutional under a 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, The American Press reported.
The Supreme Court decision affected only future cases and those in which the defendant’s appeals had not been exhausted.
Sylvester, of Lake Charles, is serving 15 years after being convicted in 2017 of attacking Gerald Carter outside the EZ Aces Casino in Lake Charles, where Sylvester and a child had stopped to use the restroom after driving from Lafayette.
Sylvester testified that the fight in February 2016 started after Carter accused him of following Carter.
urveillance video presented at the trial shows the men walking outside the casino and Carter throwing a beer can at Sylvester, who then stabs Carter in the neck and torso with a box cutter.
Sylvester was resentenced to 40 years after being declared a third felony habitual offender in October 2018, but won an appeal that returned his term to 15 years.
