Man pleads guilty in killing of police officer, fiancée’s father; sentenced to life in prison

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - A man accused of killing a Baton Rouge Police lieutenant and his fiancée’s father has been sentenced to life in prison after he pleaded guilty in court on Wednesday, Nov. 16.

Ronnie Kato pled guilty to manslaughter, first-degree murder, and attempted first-degree murder.

“This family showed the mercy that he didn’t show officer Hutto as he was multiply, shot and begged not to be shot again,” said Hillar Moore, district attorney for the 19th Judicial District Court.

Ronnie Kato shot and killed his fiancé's father Curtis Richardson and Baton Rouge Police Lt. Glen Hutto Jr., as well as injured Hutto’s partner, Cpl. Derrick Maglone, on April 26, 2020, officials said.

“This is a death penalty case, and this defendant deserved the death penalty. But as you could hear, the grace of God and the grace of this family allowed him this plea to life imprisonment, plus 50 + 40 years,” Moore said.

The district attorney’s office was originally seeking the death penalty. Instead, Kato will spend the rest of his life in prison. Lt. Hutto’s family said they feel justice was served.

“Relieved that you know that this part is taken care of, but it doesn’t bring him back. That’s always you’re always going to have that heartache, but I’m glad to see that he got a life sentence. He pretty much got kind of like 2 sentences he’s never getting out,” said Jamie Collins, Hutto’s sister.

“I’m a Christian and my brother was a Christian, I believe justice was served. I’m not God. God will take care of God’s business when he passes out of this life. That’s why I wrote some statements, we were telling him how to get saved, how to give his life to the Lord even in prison so that he can be free,” Collins added.

Moore said this case highlights the trouble with domestic violence.

“This guy has had a history of domestic violence with this person, which is the danger officers face when they go to domestic violence calls. It often ends in officer-involved shootings, and in this case, unfortunately, death,” Moore said.

Family members feel relief this part is over, but still have more healing in their future.

“You know it’s a little bit of relief. This joy is not in any of these conversations what the hope is. This has killed this family. This is just torn apart. Had they had to go through a trial who wouldn’t further kill them? You could hear and see that there today. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a long road of closure, and healing. This family must go through a lot of healing. This was a tight-knit family that was just destroyed,” said Moore.

According to officials, Hato was sentenced to life in prison for the first-degree murder, 40 years for the manslaughter charge, and 50 years for the attempted second-degree murder charge. He has no chance of parole, officials added.

Moore release a statement Wednesday saying the death penalty would have been an appropriate verdict for the defendant but would have traumatized the families involved in the case.

Read the entire statement from the DA below:

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