Louisiana Judge Gives Man 75 Years in Prison for $75 Holdup

NEW ORLEANS – The judge gave a man convicted of holding up a cab driver one year in prison for each dollar taken -- 75 dollars, 75 years.

And 27-year-old Jarvis Turner faces a murder trial before the same judge, for allegedly shooting another cab driver the day after the $75 holdup.

Judge Ben Willard sentenced Turner on Thursday for the armed robbery in August 2004. It was Turner's first felony conviction in New Orleans. The crime can bring 10 to 99 years in prison.

Jurors took only 35 minutes to convict Turner on Aug. 6 of holding up Dwayne Garrison, who had just picked him up in the 9th Ward.

Turner did not testify. Garrison did.

Turner is scheduled for trial in October on a charge of first-degree murder, which has only two possible sentences: life in prison or death by injection.

He is and Zakendrick Williams, 20, are accused of shooting Roberto Gonzales, 56, in the head with a .45-caliber pistol 15 minutes after he headed out to pick up his final fare of the night.

Codefendant Gerard Stewart, 21, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of armed robbery and agreed to testify against Turner and Williams, who will be tried separately before Willard.