Woman sentenced to 20 years for murdering young girl during argument about husband

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – A woman was sentenced to 20 years in prison in connection with the shooting death of 12-year-old Cedrica Lee.

RELATED: 12-year-old girl shot dead; couple arrested

Ester Williams, who was 26 years old at the time, entered a guilty plea to manslaughter. She was originally charged with one count of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted first-degree murder. A grand jury later indicted her on second-degree murder charges, which carried an automatic life sentence.

She pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter, which carried a prison sentence of up to 40 years.

The shooting happened in May 2023 on Forest Grove Avenue near Wax Road in the Central area. It started as a feud over a man between Williams and a second adult woman, identified as Gentra Rene Haley.

According to arrest documents, witnesses told authorities Williams left the home on Forest Grove Avenue, pointed a gun at a Mazda CX9 and fired one round.

Lee and another youth were reportedly sent by Haley to knock on Williams’ door and returned to the Mazda during the shooting. The bullet fired by Williams struck Lee.

Witnesses said Williams dropped the gun after the shooting, and Patrick Johnson, who is identified as the man at the center of the feud, picked it up, according to arrest documents.

Johnson, who was 36 years old at the time, was charged with one count of accessory after the fact of first-degree murder and three counts of accessory after the fact of attempted first-degree murder.

Documents say the couple returned to the home, left a short time later and then left the scene. A traffic stop was conducted and both suspects were arrested.

Williams admitted that she and Mazda’s driver both had a relationship with Johnson, according to arrest records. Williams also told authorities that she and the driver of the Mazda vehicle had previous disagreements about Johnson, the documents state.

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