Ex cop gets life in prison for murder of Tony Procell
Natchitoches Police Officer Robert Barthelemey had made multiple threats against Tony Procell in the hours and days leading up to Procell’s murder, on August the 20th of 2013, according to testimony in Barthelemy’s first degree murder trial, which ended this past Thursday at the Sabine Parish Courthouse.
In fact, Procell’s mother had visited offices of the Sabine Sheriff’s Department and the Natchitoches City Police Department on the very morning that her son was taken from his Many home by Barthelemy and later murdered. Trish Procell was taking precautions in what she feared could become a dangerous situation, pursuing help through the best channels she knew of to protect herself, her property, and most of all, her family. Specifically, she wished to keep Barthelemy away from her son after Barthelemy became angry upon learning Tony Procell had sexual relations with his estranged wife.
Sadly, however, by this time little could be done to stop the the ominous coming actions of the madman Barthelemy was or had become.
And this is what the verdict in Barthelemy’s trial was to determine, whether Barthelemy coldly planned the kidnapping and brutal murder of Procell or whether he temporarily lost his sanity in the heat of a moment’s time and beat Tony to death with a baseball bat. Sabine District Attorney Don Burkett and his team built a case which sought to prove that Barthelemy knew exactly what he was doing when he killed Procell. Conversely, Barthelemy’s multi-attorney defense team attempted to convince jurors that their client killed Procell because he briefly lost his ability to reason and determine right from wrong due to a psychological condition resulting from his service in the U.S. Armed Forces in Iraq years ago.
After about two hours of deliberation, at 9 p.m. on Thursday, Oct.16, a 12-person jury from St. Landry Parish concluded that Barthelemy did kidnap Procell and did intend to kill him. First degree murder was the jury’s verdict, and the following day, the jury began hearing testimony in preparation for them to decide whether Barthelemy will spend the rest of his life in prison or will be put to death by lethal injection.
The jury, however, did not ultimately have to make this difficult decision, as Barthelemy and his attorneys offered a final hour settlement to Burkett and to the Procell family that he would accept life in prison, no chance of release, and agree not to pursue any legal appeals of his verdict or sentence.
The possibility of a death penalty in this case had brought a second team of attorneys and their aids to the Sabine Courthouse to watch this trial closely, tediously monitoring all processes in order to plan future strategies for appeals in the event the jury sentenced Barthelemy to be put to death.
The trial, before Eleventh Judicial District Judge Stephen Beasley, began Friday before last (Oct. 9) at 1 p.m. and has continued each day, Saturday and Sunday included, until this past Saturday morning when the settlement was announced in Court.
Through the first five days of trial, Burkett and Assistant District Attorney Anna Garcie unfolded the complex case for jurors, piece by piece, through a series of witnesses, their testimony, and over 75 exhibits.
During the several months prior to Procell’s murder, the 13-year marriage of Barthelemy and his wife, Sandy, had been irreparably damaged by the last but apparently most serious of a series of affairs Robert Barthelemy had engaged in. This affair, which was at least Barthelemy’s fifth extramarital affair, was with a woman identified as “Kelly.” The affair started in the fall of 2012. Soonafter when Sandy found out about it, Robert told her he “wanted to see where it went,” basically not quite dumping her but rather putting her and their marriage on hold. (It became apparent after hearing much testimony that Sandy suffered extremely low self esteem and had become very meek as a result of having endured years Robert’s disregarding treatment of her).
By the end of 2012, Robert led Sandy to believe the affair was over and he was going to try to make their marriage work for their sakes and the sakes of the three children they shared. According to testimony, however, Robert was lying to Sandy about having ended the affair and he continued to see Kelly. He was also lying to his mistress, telling her that he was separated from Sandy.
Robert and Sandy lived in Goldonna at the time, and Robert was working as an officer for the Natchitoches Police Department. His affair with Kelly was largely carried out at the National Guard Armory in Natchitoches, where the two slept together many nights… Robert telling Sandy and the National Guard supervisor that his reason for staying there was simply logistical and economical, so that when he worked for the PD, he didn’t have to spend additional time and money on the road traveling back and forth from Natchitoches to Goldonna. The supervisor of the National Guard unit out of Natchitoches testified he was aware that Robert stayed at the Armory many nights, but was not aware that he was carrying out an extramarital affair there.
In late May or early June, Sandy learned that Robert and Kelly’s relationship has continued, when Robert calls her while she is driving and tells her Kelly may be pregnant with his child. (Kelly later testified that she and Robert were trying to get pregnant, again, Kelly believing that Robert is separated). Sandy is so distracted by the news that she wrecks her car into a tree. She is hospitalized and prescribed pain medication for injuries. A few days later, Sandy gets a phone call from Kelly asking her to give Robert a quickie divorce so she and Robert can marry and their child will not be born out of wedlock. An extremely depressed Sandy intentionally overdoses on her pain meds, in an attempt to end her life. She was committed to Brentwood’s mental health facility for a few days and was prescribed antidepressants. Robert later flushed her meds in the toilet, angry with her actions.
Sandy, beaten down emotionally but resolved to accept that she and Robert’s relationship was over, invited Kelly to have dinner at her and Robert’s home (which was now a mobile home in Robeline). She said she wanted to get to know Kelly at least to some extent since she would ultimately be a part of her children’s lives. At this meeting, Sandy learned from Kelly that she and Robert’s affair had never ceased, but rather continued since its beginning. Kelly learned that Robert had never separated from Sandy.
“They both learn he’s been lying to both of them the whole time,” Burkett told jurors. “Telling them both, ‘you are the one.”’”
This is on July 17, the date that Sandy noted in her testimony that she was certain her marriage was over for good. She consulted with an attorney and was taking action to begin divorce proceedings. She began actively searching for somewhere to live. She had been occasionally staying with her sister-in-law through recent tough times with Robert. A couple days later, Trish Procell offered for Sandy to stay with her at her home just out of Many.
According to testimony, Trish and Sandy had met three years earlier, through the National Guard.
Robert was a National Guardsman who had served two tours of duty in Iraq. Procell also served in the National Guard and served one tour of duty in Iraq. In this one tour of duty, Procell served as a soldier under Barthelemy, who was his platoon sergeant.
It was during this time that Sandy met Trish as part of a family support network for this platoon. Sandy and Trish communicated often regarding their loved ones overseas, and they eventually formed a friendship, occasionally keeping in touch with each other even after Robert and Tony had returned from Iraq. Learning of Sandy’s falling on hard times with her marriage, as well as emotionally and financially, Trish stepped in as a friend to help her in ways she was able to. She some times brought her to and from her job at a law firm in Natchitoches, and opened her doors to Sandy. Sandy began living with Trish (and her husband, Tony Procell Sr. when he was home from his oil job in Saudi Arabia) off and on. She stayed with Trish many nights, alternating between there and her sister-in-laws and back to her and Robert’s Robeline residence to spend time with the children.
The friendship between Sandy and Trish grew stronger, as Trish provided a nurturing relationship for the emotionally scarred Sandy and Sandy was immensely grateful for Trish and her family and their kindness. At some point, Sandy and Tony began friendly communications and they had sexual relations on two occasions and flirted occasionally through text messages.
At some point on or about Aug. 16, Robert some how became suspicious that Sandy had become close to another man. He was scheduled to report to this weekend (Aug. 16-19) for duty for the National Guard at Camp Beauregard near Alexandria. Even though he was still seeing Kelly, Robert was livid about the possibility of Sandy seeing another man. He was determined to find out what was going on, and specifically, the identity of the man in her life. He told his National Guard supervisor that he would have to leave the weekend duty early because he had a pull a patrol shift for the Natchitoches Police Department, and he left Saturday. Knowing Sandy was staying with their kids at the Robeline home, that is where Robert went. This was Saturday, Aug. 17.
Sandy testified that the kids were asleep and she was lying in her bedroom texting Tony when Robert busted through the door and grabbed the phone from her. The conversation she had been having with Tony through a series of text messages was both partly casual and partly sexual in nature. Tony had asked her to send some nude photos of herself, and she did. Robert saw the texts and photos and became enraged. He tried calling Tony from his phone. Tony did not answer Robert’s call and texted Sandy telling her Robert just called him. Robert had Sandy’s phone by this time though.
During trial, Sandy was asked to read the next sequence of text messages pulled from her phone. It was one of the most emotional times of the entire trial.
“Robert has my number and he is calling me, but he doesn’t know who I am,” Tony texted, thinking Sandy was still the recipient of his texts.
Sandy read the next series of texts, all from Robert, as Assistant DA Garcie stated each time of each text.
10:20 p.m. “I know that, this is Robert,” Sandy quietly read Robert’s text to Tony.
Sandy became teary eyed.
10:21 p.m. “Got you now,” she read, crying.
10:30 p.m. “Tony, you done,” she read, her voice shaking and tears flowing.
10:48 p.m. “See you soon, sweetheart.” Sandy could barely speak at this point.
11:01 p.m. “You better man up and meet me.”
11:16 p.m. “You f***ing pussy.”
11:17 p.m. “Run bitch.”
Sandy had to regain her composure to continue her testimony. She told of Robert’s anger and recalled that he told her he was going to kill Tony, cut off his penis, and bring it to her.
Sandy collected her composure and thoughts again on the stand as she was asked to remember what happened next. She explained that she told Robert that she would get her own place and break all ties with the Procells, even move back with him if that is what he wanted. She would do anything if he would leave Tony and the Procells alone.
Sandy said that by the next day, Sunday, Aug. 18, Robert seemed to have calmed down.
“He seemed fine,” Sandy said. The two and their children went to church that night (she said this was possibly the first time Robert went to work since he returned from his first deployment in Iraq in 2005). After church, Sandy went to Trish’s home one last time, to return the pickup truck she had borrowed from Trish. Robert followed her there so he could take her back home. Sandy left two notes in the cab of the truck… one for Tony and one for Trish, knowing Robert was not going to let her talk to Trish for any length of time while she returned the keys.
“Words can’t express my gratitude,” Sandy read from her letter to Trish, again beginning to cry on the stand. She thanked her for taking her in, taking care of her, and making her feel like part of her family… one of the first times in many years she felt like she belonged somewhere. She explained Robert had seen some messages between her and Tony and was very angry. “You will always hold a special place in my heart, and I will always protect those I love.” She thanked Tony for the fun times they had together and said he made her feel special. She told Trish and Tony that for their protection, she was severing relations with them and going to do whatever it took to appease Robert, even if that meant getting back with him. She offered much love to them.
By this time, Trish already knew something was up. She had received a voice message on her cell phone from Robert saying that Tony would pay for sleeping with his wife. Also, Robert had texted her late Saturday night, Aug. 17 the following three texts:
“Trish, this is Robert. Your son Tony has been sleeping with Sandy. He is done.”
“He is dead meat.”
“I see you set them up. Great job u better hope I don’t catch him.”
According to testimony, on Sunday and Monday, Robert portrayed calmness to Sandy but all the while was aggressively stalking Tony, trying to find out where he lived. He met his National Guard buddies as they returned from duty Monday and asked at least one Guardsman if he knew where he could find Tony. Michael Gregg testified for the prosecution, but his testimony was clearly reluctant. He dodged and avoided questions and definitive answers as much as he could get away with, but did acknowledge that Robert told him about Sandy’s affair with Tony and said he was going to kill Tony. He admitted he had told authorities after Tony disappeared that Robert had told him he would kill him and it would be “slow”. Again, this was Monday, Aug. 19.
Gregg also admitted that it was very difficult for him to testify because Robert is and has been his friend. In fact, he admitted he had been communicating with Robert during the trial and had brought him multiple Red Bull drinks at the Courthouse the day he was taking the stand and the previous day.
Gregg said that on that 19th day of August 2013, Robert asked him to help him find Tony. Gregg said he told Robert it was not worth it for him to kill Tony, that he could understand him wanting to beat his ass, and even understand him beating his ass. Just don’t kill him, Gregg said he advised Robert. He said he felt Robert had heeded his advice.
Some time during the day on Monday the 19th, Robert is believed to have went to Trish Procell’s home and slashed all four tires of Trish’s husband’s truck which Sandy had borrowed. Trish testified that when she returned home Monday evening, she discovered the damage. She immediately suspected Barthelemy.
Tuesday morning, Aug. 20, Sandy was supposed to take the Envoy she and Robert owned from their Robeline home to work in Natchitoches. She told jurors that Robert said he needed the vehicle on this morning, and so he took her to work.
This same morning, in Many, Trish left her home early to report the damage to her truck to law enforcement authorities. She said she filed a criminal complaint with the Sabine Sheriff’s Department and they issued her a “forbidden to enter property” notice against Barthelemy. She further told jurors that local Sheriff’s authorities advised her to bring this to the attention of the Natchitoches Police Department since Robert was currently a police officer there. She did just this, speaking to Internal Affairs at NPD, and was advised that Tony himself would have to file a complaint with them regarding the threats on Tony’s life that had been made.
Robert had continued his attempts to find where Tony lived, apparently finding out the day before that he lived with a State Policeman named Joey and using Facebook, and determined the address of the New Hope Road home at which Joey lived. He kidnapped Tony from this residence on Tuesday, Aug. 20.
Later on Tuesday, Robert picked Sandy up from work and the two went to their Robeline house. Robert said that during the day, he had cleaned up the house and handled a discipline issue with their youngest son, as well as picked up the other kids from school. Sandy said while she was making dinner that evening, Robert got a phone call. She said he told her it was a police matter and he left the house with his service pistol. A bit later in the evening, she saw the lights of police cars coming to her house. Police came to her door and said they were looking for Robert. She told them she thought he was at work. They (Sabine Sheriff’s deputies) did not tell her why they were looking for him, but did ask her to come to the Sheriff’s Department.
Clueless as to what this was all about, Sandy agreed to go to the Sheriff’s Department and hastily tried to make arrangements for someone to watch her kids. She said she called Trish, having no one else close to her to ask for such a favor in the spur of the moment. Trish did not answer her phone.
At this time, according to other testimony in the trial, Trish along with an army of family, friends and law enforcement authorities were frantically searching for clues as to Tony’s whereabouts, armed with the frightening knowledge that he had in fact been kidnapped by Barthelemy earlier that morning.
Because of the very fresh and very recent threats made to Tony, Trish and family would have naturally suspected Barthelemy to be the reason Tony had not been seen or heard from since that morning. But because of a single bit of evidence, everyone involved by now knew Barthelemy had taken Tony.
State Trooper Joey Carroll was the “Joey” living with Tony at the time of the murder. The two had known each other for a while and were close friends. They were living in a double wide trailer belonging to Carroll.
As a witness, Carroll testified that he was on patrol in Sabine Parish for Louisiana State Police Troop E on Tuesday Aug. 20. He left early in the morning for his shift and returned home at noon for a break. He said Tony was not at the residence at this time, yet his vehicle was in the driveway and his cellphone was left charging on the kitchen counter. He was a bit puzzled by this, but didn’t think too much of it. When he returned at the end of his shift, in the afternoon, he realized Tony was still not at the home.
Carroll called Tony’s mother, Trish, and found out she did not known where he was. Joey had six video surveillance cameras positioned around his property. He looked at footage on his digital video recorder, and found some footage of Tony going in and out of the house, taking trash out and the like, that morning. He then discovered an alarming video segment time stamped 10:01 a.m. This segment, from an outside camera at the front door area, showed a man, who was holding a handgun at his side, walk out of the front door and hold the door open as Tony walked outside. Joey’s small dog ran outside at this time, and Tony walked a few steps forward, bent over and picked up the dog, then put him back in the house. The two then walked towards from the house and towards the driveway. The front of a white SUV was visible in the video. The unidentified man appeared to go towards the driver’s side of the vehicle and Tony appeared to go towards the passenger’s side.
Some minutes pass before the vehicle leaves the premises.
Jurors were shown this video as well as still images taken from the video, clearly showing the suspect holding a handgun to his side.
Armed with this video, Carroll contacted State Police and local Sheriff’s authorities. They responded and reviewed the video. Through Trish, authorities were aware of the threats that Robert had made to Tony and were able to identify Robert as the man in the video with Tony.
Carroll said that was the only footage he found on the recorder and the Barthelemy’s defense made much ado about this, particularly since the clip didn’t show Barthelemy specifically pointing a gun at Tony or appearing in any way aggressive, pointing out that even Carroll said at the time that he was struck at how “calmly” the exit from the house took place and that it did not appear to be “hostile-type situation.”
Sheriff’s Det. Fred Denham, who handled digital media in cases for the SPSD (such as obtaining camera footage) admitted that he did not look at all the video footage from the day that Tony disappeared, but instead only obtained the segment that Carroll directed him to look at. Because the defense maintained throughout the trial that Barthelemy did not kidnap Tony, but rather merely asked him to go with him to meet with Sandy so the three of them could sort out things regarding their relations, they suggested any other video from the same front door camera or another outdoor camera or any of the interior cameras would have shown a peaceful encounter between the two.
Upon cross examination by defense attorneys, Carroll said he was unsure why there were no other video segments recorded that morning. He explained the recordings from the cameras are activated by motion sensed in the cameras and sent to the digital video recorder. He said not all of his cameras were working, and some were wired while others were wireless which effects reliability of the motion activation. He could not explain why the front door camera, which was working, did not pick up Barthelemy coming to the front door or even Joey himself arriving at the house for his lunch break.
Side diversions regarding video footage aside, it was clear by Tuesday afternoon that Tony had disappeared at the hands of Barthelemy, an angry man who had threatened Tony’s life on multiple occasions to multiple people.
Once Sandy arrived at the Sheriff’s Department, learned Tony was missing, and learned about the video footage, she fainted in horror.
An urgent search for Barthelemy was underway, in desperate hopes that finding him would lead to finding Tony alive and well.
But Barthelemy had already been clued in to the fact that police knew he had taken Tony. He had thought he pulled off the perfect crime, Burkett told jurors, taking Tony 120 miles and three parishes away deep into a remote place in a swampy area of the wilderness of Kisatchie Forest in Winn Parish, killing him and leaving his body for no one to find. He had returned home, cleaned up, and carried on normal routine activities to complete his rouse. So when he received a phone call from Natchitoches Assistant Police Chief Kerry Hargrove… the call that Sandy testified Robert received before grabbing his service pistol and leaving the house… Robert casually told his supervisor he had not been to Many at all this day. That was Hargrove’s initial question to Barthelemy.
Hargrove informed Robert that there was video surveillance footage showing him and Tony leaving Tony’s residence in Many. He informed his patrolman that he needed to get in touch with Sabine Sheriff’s authorities regarding Tony’s disappearance.
According to evidence and testimony during the trial, after receiving that call, Barthelemy drove back to the scene of the crime. Once there, he dragged Procell’s body a short distance, closer to the Saline Lake, and hastily covered him with a layer of dirt, leaves and other debris.
He then went “on the run” so to speak. Investigators told the jury how they were able to eventually use cellphone positioning data to track Barthelemy as he was on the run and begin pursuing him with solid leads. Using his two-way police radio, Barthelemy was able to monitor police communications and avoid capture for a while. It wasn’t until late Tuesday night, close to Wednesday morning, that Barthelemy was finally captured, on Interstate 49 in DeSoto Parish.
Authorities spoke to him for a while in a subsequent standoff, trying to get him to surrender. During this time, he threatened suicide, but eventually surrendered.
While in custody in DeSoto Parish for kidnapping Procell, Barthelemy refused to accurately give information about Tony’s fate or whereabouts. During extensive questioning by Sabine Sheriff’s Det. Bradley Marr, Det. Jake Rivers, and two State Police authorities, Barthelemy stuck to a story that he took Tony from his house and set him free a bit off of La. Hwy. 117 in Kisatchie Forest, between Natchitoches and Fort Polk. He explained he was angry at Tony because she was sleeping with his wife, and so when he found out where Tony lived, he went there to “talk to him.” He found the door unlocked so he entered the mobile home and found Tony standing in the kitchen. He said he told Tony he wanted him to come with him so they could talk about the situation with Sandy in Natchitoches. Tony put on a shirt, grabbed his sunglasses and left with him. He said he made Tony sit in the back seat because “I didn’t want to see him… I didn’t want him up next to me.”
Barthelemy further stated that after dumping an alive and well Tony Procell in the woods, he went back to his Robeline home, made a sandwich, washed dishes, took a shower, and then picked the kids up from school… end of story. He said repeatedly he did not harm Tony.
“I didn’t lay a hand on him,” he told authorities in his lengthy interviews, of which video footage was played for the jury. He told authorities his goal was merely to “scare the shit” out of Tony, because he had found out that he was sleeping with his wife.
“I trained this guy (in the National Guard) for almost eight years,” he said, telling of his perceived betrayal.
He described the location where he dumped Tony, and even drew a map for authorities, who continually pressed him for the real story as this story was not believable considering it had been over 12 hours and no sign of Tony.
“The fear we have is that you harmed him,” Det. Jake Rivers told Robert.
“I was pissed,” Barthelemy said. “I wanted to beat the shit out of him… I didn’t lay a hand on him… All I can do is wait for him to turn up.”
“I hope he’s just f***ing taking a nap right now… or hiding out.”
For the next four days, Barthelemy stuck to his story as the search party for Tony grew and hope that he was alive and well dwindled with each passing day. Law enforcement secured Barthelemy’s cellular data through his provider, AT&T, enabling them to retrieve geographical pings of his whereabouts for the day Tony went missing. But there were some holes, as the pings only showed him traveling from Tony’s house into Natchitoches Parish and then heading north. (Burkett suggested to jurors that Barthelemy, being a cop knowledgeable of investigations techniques, turned his cell phone off as he was leaving Natchitoches Parish and back on as he arrived back in the parish).
Retired Robeline Police Chief Mike Morbit told jurors about stopping Barthelemy for speeding the same day Procell disappeared. Morbit said he usually meets subjects he stops at their car, but when he pulled Barthelemy over, Robert instead got out of his car and approached him.. Morbit said Barthelemy appeared nervous, and apologized for speeding. He said Robert was unfocused, and kept looking around the car. He suspected drugs and let Barthelemy go since he was a Natchitoches police officer.
Morbit said he did not see Procell in the car, but it was also later noted that he was standing at a vantage point where he might not have seen someone sitting in the back seat.
The pings of Barthelemy’s cellphone later showed he traveled back into Natchitoches Parish from the north side near Winn Parish and to Robeline, arriving back home early that afternoon. Authorities next conducted an exhaustive search of surveillance camera systems from stores and businesses along the roadway in all directions from Natchitoches. They tracked video footage of Barthelemy’s Envoy from Robeline just after the time he was stopped by Robeline Police, into Natchitoches Parish, then north along Hwy. 1 in Natchitoches and onto Hwy. 84, eventually into Winn Parish, then no further for about an hour until the white Envoy was again seen from a business camera in Winn Parish, but this time it was heading south back towards Natchitoches. Using this information, they eventually honed into a widespread area in Winn Parish.
On Sunday, Aug. 25, a member of Robert’s family, acting on intuition from personal knowledge that there was a spot on Saline Lake in Kisatchie Forest where Robert hunted ducks before, discovered the crime scene.
Investigators told the jury about the scene and blood evidence found. They told of Procell’s sunglasses dangling from a branch, a baseball bat with Procell’s blood on it found at the scene, a shovel, a flip flop shoe, and ultimately, of the badly deteriorated remains of Procell found in a shallow grave close to the water. Forensics experts testified that Tony was struck once in the back of his head with the bat, and then in the face with tremendous force once and maybe even twice, completely disfiguring him.
After the prosecution rested its case in the trial, Barthelemy’s defense attorneys called a parade of witnesses from the National Guard who had served with Robert. They all told of horrifying and unimaginable experiences in the war in Iraq, and having seen things that has forever changed each of their lives. Each day there was a struggle, and each day they all knew could be their last. Returning home was difficult for all of them, because they were changed men from the constant fear they lived in and all that they saw. The witnesses all spoke highly of Barthelemy as they knew him in service to our country, and as they knew him as a leader of his platoon and as a tank commander who took care of his men on the battlefield.
“He is a hell of a man,” one fellow soldier told jurors when asked if he was a good leader. Red faced and teary eyed, Luke Harris looked directly at Barthelemy and added, “You are a hell of a man… You have my respect. I know you made a mistake, but you have my respect… always.”
The defense also called a psychologist to testify that Robert’s service in Iraq caused him to have a so-called “out of body experience” when he killed Tony. This experience, according to the psychiatrist, was an episode of post traumatic stress syndrome triggered by Tony’s admission that he might have gotten Sandy pregnant and then by Robert noticing a baseball bat he kept in the back of his SUV. (Testimony indicated, however, that neither Tony nor Sandy thought Sandy was pregnant). Upon cross examination, DA Burkett had the psychologist stuttering and stammering and unable to answer a barrage of questions regarding PTSD with any clarity. The witness ultimately was unable to stick to his conclusion that Robert suffered a PTSD episode when he murdered Tony, since Barthelemy had made death threats to Tony days before the homicide.
In closing arguments, Burkett summarized the events leading up to the homicide. He described the events of the morning of Tuesday, Aug. 20 “chilling” as Trish Procell had made a criminal complaint against Barthelemy the very morning that her son was killed, and may have been on the road to the Natchitoches PD to levy an additional complaint at the very time her son is being kidnapped from his home and taken towards Natchitoches and on in to Winn Parish.
“The very moment she’s reaching out for help from law enforcement, the crime is being committed,” he said. “They may have even passed one another.”
Burkett plead with jurors to not buy into the temporary insanity defense or even the heat of the moment defense. Robert was a man who was intent on killing Tony, who stalked him and hunted him down, with cold calculation and knowing exactly what he was doing. Burkett pointed out that if Robert had seriously suffered a momentary episode due to post tramautic stress syndrome upon Tony saying something about his relations with Sandy, he would have surely been likely to suffer other episodes before in his day-t- day job of being a police officer for Natchitoches.
“He was a policeman walking around every day with a badge and gun,” Burkett said. He said policeman take plenty of abuse in the line of duty and yet Barthelemy was able to handle that fine, without any incidents that had been noted.
He adds that when Barthelemy learns he’s been caught, when he finds out about the video footage, he has enough wits about him to return to the scene and bury Tony’s body. Then upon being apprehended, he did the unthinkable by telling authorities he let an uninjured Tony out of his vehicle two parishes south of the actual crime scene, and then sticking to this awful lie. This added to the heartache of Tony’s family and friends as law enforcement agents from four parishes desperately searched for Tony, all day Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, until he was finally found on Sunday.