Grand jury to decide if inmate will face manslaughter charge
Published 3:01 pm Friday, December 15, 2023
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VIDALIA, La. — No plea was made Wednesday in Seventh Judicial District Court in the case of Keyshawn Marquez Wiley, 28, who has been charged by Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office with manslaughter.
![](https://www.natchezdemocrat.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2023/10/101523_Keyshawn-Wiley.jpeg)
Keyshawn Wiley
Seventh District Attorney Brad Burget said whether to proceed with the charge will be up to the grand jury to decide.
“It is continued until Jan. 10 to put before the grand jury,” Burget said. “They’ll decide (whether) to charge him with anything.”
Wiley’s charges stem from an Oct. 6 incident when officials said he assaulted a fellow inmate in the Concordia Parish Jail. According to reports, Wiley hit and seriously injured the 48-year-old inmate, who later died on Oct. 16.
The two inmates involved were initially arrested by the Natchez Police Department and were being held at the Concordia Parish Correctional Facility. Adams County this year started a contract with Concordia Parish to house inmates at its facilities because of security issues in the county jail.
Wiley is familiar to Natchez law enforcement, having previously served for simple assault and trespassing charges before he was arrested again in September, said Commander Jerry Ford of Natchez Police Department.
Wiley had reportedly forced entry into his parents’ home and got into an altercation with his father on Nov. 28, 2022.
During the struggle, Wiley reportedly grabbed his father’s .40 caliber gun and the pair began fighting over the weapon when it went off between them and struck Wiley’s dad in the leg.
“We’ve responded to that house so many times for disturbances and the like,” Natchez Police Chief Cal Green told the Democrat when the incident happened.
NPD charged Wiley with the burglary of his parents’ house. However, Judge Lisa Dale reduced Wiley’s charge from burglary to trespassing.
He was released from those charges when a neighbor called the police on June 27 and said Wiley had attacked an electrician who was doing work at her house.
Wiley was arrested for simple assault, trespassing, disorderly conduct and failure to comply with officer requests, Ford said.
“She wound up spraying him with pepper spray to keep him back,” Ford said. “She went inside and he was pulling on the door,” trying to come after her.
By the time officers got there, Wiley had already left the neighbor’s house. He was “yelling and screaming at the officers” who showed up at this house, Ford said.
Dale sentenced Wiley to 60 days in jail with 40 days suspended, gave him credit for 20 days and banned him from his neighbor’s yard.
He was arrested again on Sept. 11 for obstruction of a public highway and Dale released him after he served seven days in jail. However, Wiley was brought back again on Sept. 21 for the same charge of obstructing a public highway.
Dale ordered that he remain in jail until his next court date, which had been initially set for Oct. 11. But before that court date, Wiley was charged in Concordia Parish after the altercation with another inmate. He’d initially been charged with aggravated second-degree battery, but those charges were upgraded by CPSO to manslaughter when the inmate died at a Rapides Parish hospital.