In the quiet community of Houma, Louisiana, the life of 38-year-old Ernest 'Pops' Bernard Sims was tragically cut short on a November night in 2015. A native of Terrebonne Parish, Sims was at his home on Mozart Drive in the Ashland North subdivision when the fatal encounter unfolded. As he parked his truck and stepped out of the vehicle, he was suddenly approached by two men brandishing handguns.
A sense of dread must have washed over him as he turned and ran for his life.
The armed assailants gave chase, pursuing him across his own property and into his neighbor's yard. It was there, in the yard of his neighbor, that the chase ended in a hail of gunfire. Ernest Sims was shot and killed, his life extinguished just steps from his own front door.
The investigation into the senseless act of violence led authorities to a man named Terrance Damon Moore. The details of how the investigation unfolded are not publicly available, but what is known is that Moore was arrested and charged in connection with the death of Ernest Sims. He stood trial for second-degree murder, and after hearing the evidence presented, a jury found him guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.
For his role in the death of Ernest Sims, the court handed down a lengthy sentence. Adjudicated as a second-felony habitual offender, Terrance Damon Moore was sentenced to eighty years of imprisonment at hard labor. The court initially stipulated that the sentence was to be served without the benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence, a decision that was later amended to remove the restriction on parole.
