JEANERETTE MAN SENTENCED FOR SEVEN COUNTS OF ATTEMPTED FIRST DEGREE MURDER

     Sammy Cheatham, 19, of Jeanerette pled guilty on February 18, 2025 to seven counts of attempted first degree murder. The charges arose from a drive-by shooting that occurred in the 800 block of School Street. The defendant’s shots went through the window and the wall and struck a three-year old child in the head. That child and six other family members were present in the house when the shooting occurred.

     The child was taken by Air-Med to a hospital where she underwent brain surgery. Investigators with the New Iberia Police Department were able to link Cheatham to the shooting by witness statements, surveillance video and evidence taken from his phone.

     Cheatham pled guilty to seven counts of attempted second degree murder. Attempted second degree murder carries a potential penalty of not less than ten nor more than fifty years at hard labor, without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence. However, because Cheatham was 17 years old at the time of the shooting, he will automatically be eligible for parole consideration after serving twenty-five years of his sentence.

     A sentencing hearing was held today, May 20th 2025, before the Honorable Keith Comeaux. Cheatham was sentenced to thirty years at hard labor without benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence on each count of attempted first degree murder, all to run concurrently with each other.

     This case was prosecuted by Michael Haik and Ashley Hammons and investigated by the New Iberia Police Department, led by Sergeant Alexander Breaux, with assistance from the Acadiana Criminalistics Laboratory.