Norman Lee, 24
A grand jury indicted a convicted felon on second-degree murder and other charges Thursday in the fatal shooting three months ago near the end of second-line parade in Central City, District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro’s office announced.
Norman Lee was charged with the murder of 34-year-old Clarence Mitchell in a three-count indictment handed up by an Orleans Parish grand jury. Lee faces a mandatory lifetime prison sentence if found guilty of the murder.
Lee, 24, additionally was charged with obstruction of justice in a homicide investigation and with being a felon in possession of a firearm as part of the events that saw Mitchell slain in the 2500 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard around 1:30 p.m. on Feb. 17. Lee has three previous convictions, including one felony, on gun and drug charges.
New Orleans police investigators arrested Lee after he sought treatment at University Medical Center for a gunshot wound to his right foot less than two hours after Mitchell’s death. Detectives noticed Lee still was wearing apparently identical shoes as a gunman who was captured on video surveillance images shooting in the direction of Mitchell before fleeing with an apparent foot injury.
Police at the scene of Mitchell’s death followed a blood trail that led to shrubbery behind a nearby residence, under which a firearm was hidden. Shoe imprints left in the blood trail were found to match the shoe Lee wore to the hospital. The recovered handgun was linked by ballistics testing to 13 bullet casings found at the scene of Mitchell’s shooting.
Criminal District Judge Karen Herman left unchanged Lee’s $400,000 bond on the murder allegation. Bond amounts for the two additional charges will be set by the judge to whom the case is allotted.
Assistant District Attorney Inga Petrovich presented the case to the grand jury.
