Sean Alfortish(left) and Vanessa Motta
NEW ORLEANS — Federal prosecutors have rested their case against disbarred attorney and former Kenner city judge, ending nearly three weeks of testimony that sought to link him to a staged accident insurance scheme and the 2020 killing of a federal informant.
Sean Alfortish, the former attorney and judge who has pleaded not guilty, is being tried with Leon “Chunky” Parker in U.S. District Court. Prosecutors contend Alfortish orchestrated fraudulent crashes involving 18-wheelers, then arranged to have Cornelius Garrison III killed after the longtime participant in the scheme began cooperating with the FBI. Parker is accused of serving as the gunman. He has admitted involvement in one staged crash but denies a role in Garrison’s killing.
The case is the second major federal staged wreck trial this year. In March, a jury convicted personal injury attorneys Vanessa Motta, who also was Alfortish’s fiancée, and Jason Giles of charges including conspiracy, mail fraud, obstruction of justice and witness tampering.
In the current trial, the government’s final week of evidence centered on jailhouse testimony, financial records and FBI evidence intended to corroborate the allegation Alfortish helped arrange Garrison’s killing to stop his cooperation with investigators.
Prosecutors presented evidence that Alfortish directed a network of “slammers” who intentionally collided with tractor-trailers to generate bogus injury claims. They also showed evidence that Alfortish, Parker and cooperating witness Ryan “Red” Harris conspired to kill Garrison in September 2020. The government used crash reports, settlement and payment records, phone data, location data, firearms evidence and witness testimony to make its case.
The prosecution’s final witnesses included FBI agents Michael Heimbach and Brandon Brown, who described the bureau’s yearslong investigation into both the staged wreck allegations and Garrison’s death. Brown said call logs and payments supported Garrison’s account that he regularly communicated with Alfortish and received payments after staged wrecks.
“He wasn’t doing accidents just to be doing them,” Brown testified. “He was doing them to make money off of them.”
Prosecutors also called jailhouse witnesses who described alleged conversations involving both defendants.
Mark Fridge testified that Alfortish offered to pay another inmate, Cesar Lobo-Ramos, $3,500 to claim he had overheard Harris say he intended to blame a “white guy” for the staged wreck crimes, according to WWL Louisiana. Fridge said Lobo-Ramos later told him he had not actually heard Harris make such a statement. Prosecutors also introduced an email from Lobo-Ramos saying, “Tell the boy to send the bread, I got a letter ready to send the court just in case.”
Another inmate, Derrick Franklin, testified that Parker described Garrison’s killing in detail and characterized it as “like a professional hit,” WWL reported. Franklin also said Parker blamed Harris and Harris’ girlfriend for the investigation, saying they could have “gotten away with the murder of the century” had they stayed quiet. The judge instructed jurors that they could accept all, part or none of the jailhouse witnesses’ testimony.
Some testimony focused heavily on the financial records prosecutors say traced money through the alleged fraud operation and tied the defendants to Garrison’s death.
FBI forensic accountant Lisa Ferrara testified that Alfortish maintained 14 personal and business accounts at eight banks, with accounts opening as others closed. She identified payments from an Alfortish-linked Affiliated Management account made soon after crashes discussed at trial. Garrison received 83 payments from Alfortish in 2017 and 2018 totaling nearly $200,000, Ferrara testified.
Ferrara also testified that Parker received tens of thousands of dollars from staged wreck settlements and withdrew $39,000 from his Regions Bank account the day before Garrison was killed. Defense attorneys countered that some cash withdrawals attributed to Alfortish originated at casinos in Louisiana, Mississippi and Nevada, as well as Churchill Downs in Kentucky.
Jurors also heard from Las Vegas attorney Toby Mathis, who established a Nevada asset protection trust for Alfortish in 2015. Prosecutors contend the trust, identified as the J-A Trust, and affiliated companies were used to conceal Alfortish’s identity and move illicit funds to crash participants. Mathis testified that signatures and notary materials on later trust amendments appeared to have been forged. Notary Beverly Cormier similarly testified that she did not notarize the documents or witness Alfortish sign them.
Heimbach testified that a burner phone bought the day before Garrison’s death sent text messages to Garrison, helping investigators trace the case first to Harris and then to Parker. Harris, who pleaded guilty and is cooperating with prosecutors, previously testified that Alfortish paid to have Garrison silenced and that Parker was the shooter.
But defense lawyers used cross-examination to emphasize what they characterized as serious gaps in the investigation. They noted that investigators had not recovered the murder weapon and that there was no video, DNA, fingerprints, footprints or blood evidence directly connecting Alfortish or Parker to the shooting. Parker attorney Richard Schroeder also questioned why investigators did not perform ballistics testing on a 9mm handgun recovered from Harris’ vehicle and why FBI interviews of Harris were not recorded.
The defense also highlighted evidence suggesting Harris had access to weapons and challenged the FBI’s decisions in the investigation, including why Garrison was not placed in protective custody despite his cooperation. Heimbach testified that investigators could not determine from available records that Harris had purchased a firearm, and that two guns recovered from a canal were not connected to Garrison’s death.
With the government’s case complete, attention shifts to the defense. Both defendants have sought to cast Harris as the person responsible for the killing. It remains unclear whether Alfortish or Parker will testify, or whether the defense will call Jovanna Gardner, Harris’ girlfriend and the mother of his child, who texted Garrison to draw him outside before he was shot.
