Insanity plea rejected in officer’s death

NEW ORLEANS — A man accused of killing a New Orleans police officer in 2015 was convicted Saturday, as jurors rejected his insanity defense.

After a six-day trial, the jury deliberated 66 minutes before finding Travis Boys, 35, guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Daryle Holloway, 46. Boys had pleaded innocent.

Holloway was shot in a police SUV in June 2015 as he was transporting Boys to jail after an arrest. Boys escaped the vehicle and was caught the next day after an intense manhunt.

The verdict found that Boys was not suffering from a mental disease or defect and understood the difference between right and wrong when he fatally shot Holloway, Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro said in a statement.

“I am grateful this jury saw through the facade of this murderer’s concocted insanity defense and arrived at the only appropriate verdict,” Cannizzaro said. “Travis Boys not only had a clear understanding of his intentions to shoot this officer with a smuggled gun and escape from custody, but he also knew it was wrong. He will now spend the rest of his life in prison contemplating his heinous and unforgivable acts.”

Boys will receive a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole when state District Judge Karen Herman sentences him May 3.

In October 2015, a former police officer pleaded guilty to malfeasance and obstruction-of-justice charges related to Holloway’s death. Police said Wardell Johnson failed to adequately pat down Boys after his arrest and tried to cover up his shoddy police work.