Woman accused in Super Bowl reporter's death gets 25 years in unrelated case
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A woman facing a second-degree murder charge for the death of a Super Bowl television reporter has been sentenced to 25 years in an unrelated case on Thursday.
Danette Colbert, 48, had previously been given a suspended sentence by an Orleans Parish judge last year after being convicted of theft and fraud charges.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill's office successfully argued in court that Colbert, who has multiple prior felony convictions involving fraud, was a habitual offender and deserved a harsher sentence.
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Colbert had been on probation when police arrested her for allegedly stealing the cellphone and bank cards of a reporter found dead in his hotel room on Feb. 5. He was in town to cover Super Bowl LIX weekend in New Orleans.
Adan Manzano, a 27-year-old reporter and television anchor based in Kansas City, Missouri, suffocated while lying face down on a pillow. Alcohol and the depressant Xanax were later found in his system. Colbert was captured on security footage leaving Manzano's hotel room in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner, police said.
Colbert and another person still face second-degree murder charges in Jefferson Parish, bordering New Orleans.
'The evidence was overwhelming that this woman was a serial fraudster and took advantage of multiple tourists and innocent people over many years in the French Quarter,' Murrill said in an emailed statement.
Colbert's attorney Jerome Matthews did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Stavros Panagoulopoulos, the lawyer representing Colbert in the second-degree murder case, declined to comment.
___
Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Toronto Star
2 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Explosion at a US air base in southern Japan injures 4 Japanese soldiers
TOKYO (AP) — An explosion at a storage site for unexploded wartime ordnances at a U.S. military base on Japan's southern island of Okinawa injured four Japanese soldiers, though the injuries are not life threatening, officials said Monday. The four soldiers had injuries to their fingers while working at a facility that belongs to Okinawa prefecture to store unexploded ordnance found on the island, where one of the harshest battles of World War II was fought, local officials said.
Toronto Star
2 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Explosion at a US air base in southern Japan injures at least 1 Japanese soldier
TOKYO (AP) — An explosion at or near a U.S. military base on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa injured at least one Japanese soldier but the injury is not life threatening, Japanese defense officials said Monday. The Self Defense Force's joint staff said they are looking into reports of an explosion at Kadena Air Base that occurred while a team of Japanese soldiers that specializes in handling unexploded ordnance was working near or at the base.
Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Explosion at a US air base in southern Japan injures at least 1 Japanese soldier
TOKYO (AP) — An explosion at or near a U.S. military base on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa injured at least one Japanese soldier but the injury is not life threatening, Japanese defense officials said Monday. The Self Defense Force's joint staff said they are looking into reports of an explosion at Kadena Air Base that occurred while a team of Japanese soldiers that specializes in handling unexploded ordnance was working near or at the base. The SDF said they are trying to confirm the cause of the accident and where it occurred.
