Woman convicted in kidnap, robbery

Police link case to couple's grisly deaths

An Orleans Parish jury Thursday night convicted a New Orleans woman of robbery and kidnapping for setting up a family friend in a 2008 carjacking.

Kashie Fernandez was convicted of simple robbery and second-degree kidnapping in a case that set the stage for a grisly act of witness intimidation, police said.

The victim of the carjacking was Wendell Cousin, the 28-year-old grandson of Alphathada and Olander Cassimere Sr., who were shot to death in their Pontchartrain Park home on Mother's Day.

Cousin and his girlfriend, Natalie Ross, were the state's key witnesses in the carjacking. They testified that Fernandez hounded Ross for a ride and that when Cousin showed up, he was attacked by four armed men.

The jury's verdicts were 11-1 for simple robbery and unanimous on the second-degree kidnapping conviction. The jury deliberated for almost two hours.

Fernandez faces up to seven years in prison for the robbery conviction and five to 40 years for the kidnapping charge. Judge Karen Herman will set a sentencing hearing at court today.

Prosecutors said they will seek an extended sentence for Fernandez as a repeat offender, given her earlier conviction for theft.

The jury of seven women and five men began deliberating Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Fernandez was originally charged with second-degree kidnapping and armed robbery, which carries 10 to 99 years upon conviction.

Fernandez, 29, had been free awaiting trial until police picked her up for violating the terms of her curfew. She was taken into custody May 10 about noon, just hours after the elderly Cassimeres were gunned down.

The couple's autistic adult daughter was found unharmed in their home.

The night before the killings, May 9, Fernandez was two hours past her 6 p.m. curfew in returning home. Her compliance is monitored through an electronic ankle bracelet.

Prosecutors never mentioned the Cassimeres in open court during Fernandez's trial. Instead, they depicted the 2008 carjacking case as indisputable because Fernandez and the victim had known each other since childhood.

"This case is not a whodunit," said Assistant District Attorney Myles Ranier in his opening statement in Criminal District Court. "They all came up together, knowing each other their whole lives. A thousand school bus rides, dances. They were friends and neighbors."

Immediately after the double homicide, the Cassimere family called it "an execution" linked to the 2008 arrest of Fernandez. The killers were apparently looking for Cousin, police said.

Just before the carjacking on May 12, 2008, Fernandez called Cousin's girlfriend asking for a ride from the 7800 block of Sand Street in eastern New Orleans, only to deliver Cousin up to her boyfriend and three other men, prosecutors said.

Cousin was ordered at gunpoint to give up his Nissan sedan and $600, police said. The three gunmen hog-tied him and stuffed him into the car's trunk as they took off, the jury heard.

Cousin broke free from the restraints and hit the trunk release lever, jumped out and ran to a stranger's house, prosecutors said. That night, he went to the 7th District police station to report the carjacking, with some of the twine used to bind him still around his wrist, a detective testified Thursday.

Cousin named Fernandez as the culprit and testified against her at a pretrial hearing.

Under Louisiana law, Fernandez is just as guilty for the carjacking as the gunmen, Ranier said.

"She violated years of trust and friendship to get the victim to get out there and pick her up," Ranier said.

Defense attorney Maurice Tyler called the entire case "absolute nonsense" based on the word of a "dope-dealing, domestic abusing criminal" named Wendell Cousin.

Cousin has been convicted for dealing marijuana and has a misdemeanor conviction of domestic battery for an incident in St. Tammany Parish.

"It's undisputed that she didn't touch anybody, she didn't put anybody in the car," Tyler told the jury. "A story is only as good as its storyteller. If his character is flawed, you've got to view that with caution."

Tyler said his client is innocent. She lived in Baton Rouge in 2008 and worked at a hospital, he said. The lead detective testified that there is no evidence she ever touched Cousin during the alleged carjacking, Tyler noted.

"She didn't rob anybody or kidnap anybody," Tyler said. "She had her own life, a productive life with everything to look forward to. She is not going to throw it all away."

Cousin said he met Fernandez in junior high school and they both grew up in Gentilly Woods.

Cousin said when he arrived in the Little Woods area to pick up Fernandez, he was met by her boyfriend, who got into his car with a gun.

In all, four men robbed Cousin while Fernandez watched, Cousin told the jury.

"They told me to lay down, face down," Cousin said. "They tied my hands, my feet, and then they tied my feet to my hands behind me."

One of the robbers told Cousin that he would kill his girlfriend and their young daughter, Cousin testified. When Cousin spoke, the man hit him in the head.

Three men then carried Cousin to the trunk. "They dropped me," Cousin said. "There was a neighbor outside. After a couple seconds, they threw me in the trunk."

Cousin said the car moved. He could hear the radio playing, then felt the car slow down. Someone said, "Wipe the car down and take care of your business," Cousin testified. "I thought it meant I was going to die."

Cousin had broken free enough from the knots to hit the trunk release knob, he said. He ran to a stranger's home and called a friend.

Cousin said he didn't call the police right away. "I was enraged," he said. "I wanted to get back at" Fernandez.

She watched as the four men robbed him and tied him up, Cousin told the jury.

"It was as if it didn't matter," he said. "She was calm."

. . . . . . .

Gwen Filosa can be reached at gfilosa@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3304.