Robert Froeba
A man accused of bludgeoning another man to death with a rock outside a Jackson Avenue church in February has been indicted for muder, District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office announced Thursday.
Robert Froeba was charged with obstruction of justice in a homicide investigation and with the second-degree murder of 30-year-old Jose Hernandez in the two-count indictment handed up by an Orleans Parish grand jury.
Froeba, 50, faces a mandatory lifetime prison sentence if convicted of the murder, and up to 40 years if found guilty of the obstruction count.
New Orleans police said Hernandez was found dead around 8:20 a.m. on Feb. 27. He was pronounced dead at the scene from head trauma, with a large rock left near his body outside the front porch of the St. Thomas Baptist Church in the 2900 block of Jackson Avenue, in the Hoffman Triangle neighborhood.
Assistant District Attorney Abigail MacDonald presented the case to the grand jury.
In September of 2022, Robert Froeba was released from jail. He went back to living in the streets in New Orleans, he was found dead from an overdose on October 14, 2022. He was guilty and should have never been released. No justice was served by releasing him.