SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – A Caddo District judge has issued a ruling for a Shreveport man convicted of fatally beating a fellow prisoner in the city jail.

Initially arrested for simple battery, a misdemeanor, Andrew Drew Adaway, 37, will now serve the rest of his natural life in prison.

Andrew Drew Adaway, 37, was convicted of fatally beating 72-year-old Bobbie Young on June 3, 2022.

Young had been arrested for drug offenses shortly before Adaway was booked.

The District Attorney’s office states that Adaway was compliant during the booking process but protested when jailers attempted to place him in a group cell after he was booked.

Once in the cell, Adaway brutally attacked Young, striking him in the head with a closed fist more than a dozen times. 

Young was immediately transported to Ochsner LSU Health where he succumbed to his injuries weeks later.

On July 22, 2025, a five-man, seven-woman jury took less than one hour to find Adaway guilty after the District Attorney’s office called nine witnesses to prove that Adaway killed Young.

August 7, 2025, District Judge Donald Hathaway Jr. imposed a mandatory life sentence.

The sentence must be served at hard labor without the possibility of probation, parole or suspension of sentence.