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- Darion Causey
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- KiShion Griffin
COVINGTON— Darion Causey, 23, of Slidell, pled guilty Monday (Nov. 30) to obstruction of justice and accessory after the fact for helping to cover up a 2013 slaying in Slidell. District Judge Allison Penzato sentenced him to seven years in prison on the obstruction charge and five years for accessory, with the sentences to run concurrently.
Causey was the fifth and final defendant sentenced in the death of Leighton Powe, Jr., 22, who thought he was meeting a group of men on Sept. 7, 2013, behind a Dollar General store on Robert Boulevard in Slidell, to sell marijuana. Instead, the men carried out a plan to rob Powe, and one of them shot him in the head.
Last Tuesday (Nov. 24), KiShion Griffin, 20, of Slidell, pled guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 27 years in prison for his role in the killing. Griffin helped plan the robbery but has maintained that he was not present when Powe was killed.
Powe met the men to sell marijuana, but soon after he climbed into the front passenger seat, Bobby Isidore, 22, one of the backseat passengers, grabbed Powe from behind. Another passenger, Felix Adams, 23, fired the fatal shot. The men then drove a few miles and dumped Powe’s body in a ditch just beyond the Slidell city limits.
Afterwards, Adams set the truck on fire, and Trenton Johnson, 21, the truck’s owner and the driver on the night of the crime, reported it as stolen. Within a week, the Slidell Police Department had pieced the crime together and arrested all of the men.
Johnson pled guilty in December 2014 to manslaughter and received a 25-year sentence in exchange for testifying against the others. After a jury trial, Adams was found guilty of second degree murder and obstruction of justice, and he was sentenced in April to life in prison plus 20 years. Isidore also was convicted by a jury of second degree murder and sentenced in July to life in prison.
Assistant District Attorneys Jay Adair and Becky Jo Hollen handled the Causey and Griffin cases.