A Jeanerette man was sentenced to 60 years in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty in a drive-by shooting that left an eight-year-old child dead.
At the time of the February 2020 shooting, sheriff's deputies told KATC that the child, identified as Jamal Robinson, was the only person injured when Jonas Hawk shot rounds into a group of people outside a home on N. Neco Town Road.
Hawk, now 31, of Jeanerette, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and to being a felon in possession of a firearm, and was sentenced to 60 years in prison, District Attorney M. Michael Haik III said in a release.
At the time, Hawk was prohibited from possessing a firearm, as he had a prior conviction for aggravated flight from an officer and was on probation for attempted possession of a firearm by a convicted felon at the time of the offense.
A jury trial was scheduled for Monday, April 28 in this matter. However, Hawk pled guilty to manslaughter and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and was sentenced to 60 years at hard labor without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence.
Hawk was sentenced to the maximum on both charges—forty years at hard labor for his manslaughter conviction and twenty years at hard labor without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence for his possession of a firearm by a convicted felon conviction. The sentences are to run consecutively, or at the same time.
This case was prosecuted by Ashley Hammons and Brady Holtzclaw and was investigated by the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office with assistance from the Jeanerette Police Department, the Jeanerette Marshal’s Office, and the Acadiana Criminalistics Laboratory.
