Press Releases
ONE FOUND GUILTY; ONE ACQUITTED IN DRUG MURDER TRIAL
February 29, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JERRY CUTNO, 35, a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana was convicted by a jury in Federal Court for using a firearm during a drug trafficking crime which resulted in the death of Paul Miller, announced U. S. Attorney Jim Letten. The defendant faces a maximum life imprisonment. CUTNO’S co-defendant, RYAN VEAZIE, 30, also of New Orleans, was acquitted for that offense as well as being a felon in possession of a firearm.
According to the testimony at trial, on June 29, 2005, Paul Miller went to an apartment in Algiers, Louisiana where he encountered CUTNO and another gunman. Further testimony revealed that CUTNO and the second gunman learned that Miller had stashed 199.8 grams of cocaine in the apartment. Once learning that, CUTNO and the second gunman concocted a plan in which to detain and rob Miller. Once Miller came into the apartment and saw the two gunman, he attempted to flee the apartment but was beaten and shot and later died outside the apartment. CUTNO fled the scene but was apprehended minutes later by a New Orleans Police Officer in a shopping center parking lot. CUTNO was returned to the scene of the murder where a NOPD canine located a firearm close to the scene of the murder based on CUTNO’S scent. CUTNO also had blood on his clothing and NOPD Officers found handcuffs and duct tape in the apartment which were to be used to restrain Miller.
Through further investigation, footprints were found in a wooded area next to the parking lot which matched the shoes CUTNO was wearing. The second gunman fled the scene and was not apprehended.
The case was investigated by the New Orleans Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as part of the Department of Justice’s Violent Crime Task Force. The prosecution was handled by Assistant U. S. Attorneys Greg Kennedy, Sean Toomey and Richard W. Rose.
