Tyrese Harris pleads guilty to killing 12-year-old boy and receives 40 years in prison

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Tyrese Harris, who killed 12-year-old Derrick Cash in New Orleans East on January 3, 2022, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and conspiracy to commit second-degree murder.

He was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Harris killed Derrick Cash at the 14000 block of Michoud Boulevard and left him for dead. Cash’s grandmother says she cannot get that picture out of her mind.

Derrick Cash’s grandmother Lisa Cash fought back tears after the sentence was handed down.

“Right now, what’s going through my mind is my grandbaby because now I’m thinking about him. I am really thinking about him,” Cash said.

“That wasn’t one of the ways for them to do him,” she said. “A 12-year-old kid you take him off somewhere and shoot him up like that and kill him.”

Harris’ attorney Michael Kennedy said he thinks the judgment was fair.

“I think this is one of those cases where nobody gets a happy ending,” Kennedy said. “My client accepted responsibility for his crimes which to this point is all he can do, and he will serve his time.”

Harris was recently sentenced to 45 years in federal prison for carjacking a realtor as she pumped gas at Costco. He now faces state and federal charges.

Fox 8 Legal Analyst Joe Raspanti said he thinks Harris will split his time between federal and state prison.

“I believe that he will do that amount of time in federal prison because they run concurrently with state court,” Raspanti said. “He will be transferred to state prison and do the remainder of the time at the state prison.”

Cash said a prison sentence won’t bring her grandson back.

“My grandson is not here, we cannot put our hands on him. I appreciate that the system did so something, but my grandson is not here,” she said.

According to court records Tyree Conerly, a second suspect in the 12-year-old’s killing is set to go on trial in November.

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