NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – Derrick Groves, the last inmate apprehended following a daring New Orleans jail escape, was sentenced Friday to two life terms for a 2018 double murder, with the judge criticizing him for the disruption caused during his five months as a fugitive.
Groves, 28, appeared in court wearing shackles and an orange jumpsuit, two months after authorities found him hiding beneath a house in Atlanta. He and nine other inmates had escaped in May by crawling through a hole behind a jail toilet, leaving graffiti that read “To Easy LoL.”
A jury convicted Groves last year of two counts of second-degree murder for fatally shooting Jamar Robinson and Byron Jackson at a Mardi Gras party in 2018. He also pleaded guilty to manslaughter in two separate fatal shootings.
Orleans Parish Judge Dennis Waldron said Groves’ actions caused “concern, disappointment, frustration, and displeasure” and noted that the killings compounded the tragedy already endured by Groves’ family, including the 1994 murder of his grandmother by a corrupt New Orleans police officer. “He chose to not honor the memory of his grandmother… He made that conscious decision to go the other way and to kill, not once, not twice, not three times, but four times,” Waldron said.
Kadijah Jackson, the sister of one of the victims, described the lasting impact of Groves’ crimes. She recalled finding her brother dying after being shot with an AK-style rifle. “That moment shattered something inside me. Since that day, my life has felt like it is missing a piece that it felt it could never replace,” she said. During her statement, Groves smirked and later stared at her and the other victims’ supporters from across the courtroom.
Groves’ attorney, Peter Freiberg, said his client maintains his innocence and intends to appeal, while expressing sympathy for the victims’ families.
Judge Waldron, however, highlighted Groves’s lack of remorse and said the city would be safer with him behind bars for life. In addition to the life sentences, Groves was convicted of two counts of attempted murder for injuries caused during the 2018 shooting, resulting in two 50-year sentences stacked onto his life terms.
The judge also referenced video footage showing Groves smiling and blowing kisses after his capture in Georgia. “It is almost as if Mr. Groves thought he were a guest at a presidential motorcade as opposed to a captured fugitive, riding in a police SWAT convoy,” Waldron said, calling the behavior a “final act of defiance.”