The conviction of a Lake Charles man who shot at police officers during a standoff at a Sulphur hotel will stand.

El Jerico Jermiah Bartie was originally convicted in 2018 for shooting at eight officers during a July 2014 standoff at the Super 8 Motel in Sulphur. At the time of the standoff, Bartie was being sought for drive-by shootings on Cline Street.

Cpl. George Miller testified that during the 30-minute standoff, he and fellow officers were in the pathway as shots were being fired by Bartie. Miller testified Bartie fired numerous shots through the front door of his hotel room into a hallway containing seven law enforcement officers, and another shot through the back window of his motel room while an eighth officer was in the rear parking lot.

Miller noted the rounds fired through the door were close enough to him that he “had shrapnel hit (him) in the face.”

After his initial trial, Judge Ron Ware sentenced Bartie to 50 years on each count of attempted first-degree murder, to run concurrent.

Bartie, represented by the Louisiana Appellate Project, appealed his convictions and sentences, claiming he had not waived his right to a trial by jury. The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal ruled in favor of Bartie and vacated his convictions and sentences.

Bartie was convicted again on April 30, 2021, by a jury panel on all eight counts and was sentenced by Judge Kendrick Guidry to 50 years at hard labor, without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence on each of the eight counts of attempted first-degree murder of a police officer. He was also later labeled a habitual offender.

Bartie appealed this second conviction, claiming the prosecution failed to prove his intent to kill the officers, his rights against self-incrimination and to a fair trial were violated, his attorney failed to object to what he referred to as an improper closing argument by the prosecution and that the trial court erred in failing to redact references made by the state during the cross-examination that referenced “other crimes evidence.”

According to Bartie, he did not expect anyone to be standing in front of the door when he fired multiple rounds through it, he did not expect anyone to be near the bullet that was fired out of the window, and he claimed he never went near the window.

The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal rejected all of Bartie’s claims, saying they were without merit. The court did, however, remand instructions back to the 14th Judicial District Court to ordered to correct the commitment ordered to accurately reflect the number of counts of which Bartie was convicted and sentenced, finding “the commitment order reflects that the defendant was convicted of a single count of attempted first-degree murder rather than eight counts.”