Penalty phase to be held again for Kevin Daigle, convicted of killing trooper

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - The penalty phase of the man convicted of killing a state trooper in 2015 must be held again, the Calcasieu Parish District Attorney’s Office confirms.

Kevin Daigle was found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Louisiana State Trooper Steven Vincent near Bell City.

The jury voted to sentence Daigle to death, but a formal sentencing by Judge Clayton Davis never happened, as the defense filed numerous appeal motions.

Ultimately, the state and defense worked out an agreement: the guilty verdict will stand, but the penalty phase will be redone due to allegations raised by the defense about whether a juror was appropriately qualified to serve.

Trooper Vincent stopped to help Daigle on the side of the road on Aug. 24, 2015, when Daigle shot and killed him.

The jury deliberated for less than an hour before deciding on the death penalty.

At the time of Daigle’s conviction and the jury’s vote to sentence him to death, then-district attorney John DeRosier said he hoped it would send a message.

“All law enforcement, whether it’s state police, deputies, city police, our first responders, our firefighters, they need to know when they walk out that door they are not by themselves. That they have somebody who has their back.” Though they all knew it might take years before it was over. “I think that the appellate process is entirely too long, too many bites at the same apple by the defendant,” DeRosier said in 2019. “We need to speed up that process.”

Neither the state nor the defense would agree to an interview about the penalty phase re-do.

A trial date may be set at a status conference January 29.