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INVESTIGATIVE UNIT: Donaldsonville man comes face-to-face with felon who tried to kill him
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DONALDSONVILLE - LeRoy Batiste was enjoying a night out last month when he came face-to-face with the man who tried to kill him two years ago.
Michael LeBlanc Jr. was on the streets — an attempted second-degree murder charge had disappeared, and the five-year prison term for aggravated assault with a firearm was reduced to time already served.
"For them to just get off with a little slap on the hand when you are trying to kill someone, something ain't right with the court system," Batiste told the WBRZ Investigative Unit on Thursday.
Surveillance cameras captured LeBlanc firing multiple shots at Batiste on Nov. 1, 2020. Years earlier, Batiste had reported to police that LeBlanc was responsible for a burglary in his Donaldsonville neighborhood. It began a series of problems.
"I had put him on a restraining order, because he had been harassing me," Batiste told WBRZ.
Batiste said with no input from him, Ascension Parish prosecutors let LeBlanc plead guilty to a reduced charge. Off the docket were accusations of illegal use of weapons, aggravated criminal damage to property and being a felon in possession of a firearm, the latter stemming from a 2013 conviction.
The plea agreement called for a five-year prison term, with all suspended except for the time already served.
Batiste discovered that last month when he ran into LeBlanc at a bar.
Batiste: "He told me, 'I'm going to get you.'"
Nakamoto: "You perceived that as a threat?"
Batiste: "Yes, because he tried before. Why would he not try again?"
LeBlanc was also placed on probation for three years, and faces a revocation hearing next week. Prosecutors say LeBlanc was arrested in early May and accused of criminal trespass, violating terms of a protective order and drug possession, among other accusations.
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