In the late summer of 2015 in New Orleans, Louisiana, the life of 28-year-old Cornelius Bentley III, an African American man, was tragically cut short. On September 5th, he was discovered inside a hotel room on Chef Menteur Highway, having sustained multiple gunshot wounds. Emergency services were called to the scene, but Bentley was pronounced dead.
The initial shock of the discovery soon gave way to a thorough homicide investigation by the New Orleans Police Department.
Detectives quickly focused on identifying those responsible for Bentley's death. Their investigation led them to identify Calvin Morris as a primary suspect in the shooting. Surveillance footage from the motel's parking lot played a crucial role in the case, capturing Morris and another individual, later identified as Marco Parker, exiting the motel room where Bentley's body was found. The footage also showed one of the men disposing of an object in a nearby trash can, which was later recovered and identified as a Glock handgun. Shortly after the incident, an arrest warrant was issued for Morris. He was later located and apprehended in Harris County, Texas, on an unrelated charge and was subsequently extradited back to New Orleans to face charges in connection with Bentley's death.
Initially, Calvin Morris was charged with second-degree murder. As the legal process unfolded, another man, Marco Parker, was charged with obstruction of justice in the homicide investigation. In a significant development, Calvin Morris pleaded guilty to an amended charge of conspiracy to commit second-degree murder. Following his guilty plea, he was sentenced to ten years in the Department of Corrections. The resolution of the case brought a measure of closure to the family and friends of Cornelius Bentley III, who remembered him as a loving father to his son, a devoted fiancé, and a hardworking electrician.
