State appeals court overturns Baton Rouge man’s murder conviction

BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal judges overturned a Baton Rouge man’s murder conviction Thursday.

The court reversed Curtis Lee Stewart Jr.’s second-degree murder conviction and life sentence due to insufficient evidence. The case stemmed from an April 2021 shooting near a store on Prescott Road that left Devonta Ennis dead.

Judges wrote that the trial court’s conclusion that shots were fired by Stewart was speculative, given the lack of physical evidence tying him to the case.

“Very simply put, if two vehicles were involved, and we have no evidence putting the defendant in either vehicle at the time of the shooting, and we cannot say that the defendant was the shooter, the State failed to negate a reasonable probability of misidentification,” the panel of three judges stated.

The judge in Stewart’s 2023 bench trial was Judge Eboni Johnson Rose, who was suspended by the Louisiana Supreme Court in 2025 after findings of judicial misconduct. Johnson Rose returns to the 19th Judicial District Court, but will be assigned to a civil docket starting Aug. 11.

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