New Orleans, LA: Orleans jury convicts man of manslaughter for shooting girlfriend in 2007

Published: Thursday, July 22, 2010, 11:34 PM Updated: Thursday, July 22, 2010, 11:51 PM
Gwen Filosa, The Times-Picayune

After two hours of deliberations, an Orleans Parish jury late Thursday night convicted Clifford Pierce of manslaughter for blasting his girlfriend with a shotgun in 2007.

Clifford Pierce
Pierce, who is already serving a life sentence for being a repeat offender, chose to take the witness stand at Criminal District Court to explain that his sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun "went off" accidentally during an argument.

"I was trying to uncock it and she started pulling at the gun and it went off," Pierce told the jury. "My finger was on the trigger."
Tammie Johnson, 36, was killed instantly by the blast in the eastern New Orleans home she and her two daughters were sharing with Pierce.
District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office secured a murder indictment against Pierce, who now faces up to 40 years for manslaughter on top of the life sentence that the jury didn't know he was serving.
Judge Frank Marullo scheduled sentencing for Sept. 16.
The jury did hear, however, that Pierce only met Johnson because of an inexplicable error by the New Orleans criminal justice system.
On June 2, 2007, Pierce was supposed to be in a Louisiana prison serving a 9-year sentence for stealing cars. Instead, he was mistakenly freed from Orleans Parish Prison in late 2006.
He met Johnson a few months later. After the June 2007 homicide, Pierce fled the state and wound up in a Georgia jail serving time on new charges.
His penchant for boosting cars got him caught, though. Pierce was charged with Johnson's murder in 2009.
Pierce said, "I got out on an error. They called me to roll out. I don't know how."
Judge Lynda Van Davis and Sheriff Marlin Gusman traded accusations of incompetence in February, when Pierce appeared for sentencing as a repeat offender - more than three years after Davis gave him the initial 9-year term.
Prosecutors David Pipes and Lynn Schiffman argued that Pierce's story of ending Johnson's life was nonsense, and demanded he explain why he fled the state.
Pierce fled in Johnson's Ford Expedition and pawned her jewelry in Texas.
He told the jury that he ran away because he was afraid no one would believe his version of what happened.
"I feel bad," Pierce said. "I loved Tammy. She was the best thing that ever happened to me. I dream and I sleep and I cry about her, and when I think about those two little girls."
The verdict was read at about 11:30 p.m. at Criminal District Court after a three-day trial.