An Orleans Parish jury on Thursday night found Cache Shelton not guilty of second-degree murder in the December 2022 shooting death of her boyfriend, Nicolas Harrison, in a downtown New Orleans hotel room.
The verdict was handed down about 9:30 p.m. Thursday, following four days of emotional and grueling testimony, including two-and-a-half hours from the defendant, Shelton, and six-and-a-half hours of jury deliberations. The jury unanimously decided the state failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Shelton shot Harrison from a distance after Shelton testified that she and Harrison had tussled over his gun on the bed in Room 303 of the Courtyard by Marriott the morning of Dec. 27, 2022, and it went off accidentally.
A mix of joy, relief and anger was palpable for Shelton’s family as about 20 of them and their supporters left the courthouse. They blamed District Attorney Jason Williams for reopening a case his office had closed in June 2023 and also pointed fingers at WWL Louisiana for raising questions about the evidence that prompted Williams to bring it to a grand jury in January 2025…