Jury finds Dulac man not guilty of 2019 stabbing at Red Carpet Inn in Houma
A woman lay in a pool of her own blood as police officers and medics rushed around her hotel room.
"Don't let me die," Cindy Boudreaux gasped, half conscious. The medics then began to lift her onto a stretcher. Blood ran from her head and abdomen. As the medics lifted her to the stretcher, Boudreaux groaned in pain, "Ah, help me God, help me God."
That was the scene from bodycam footage shown to jurors Nov. 10, on the fourth day of an attempted murder trial. After nearly two hours of deliberation, the 12 jurors found the accused, Kaegan Jude Solet, not guilty of attempted second-degree murder.
Boudreaux accused Solet of entering her room, 210, at the Red Carpet Inn, striking her in the head with a wine bottle and stabbing her numerous times. The incident occurred Dec. 23, 2019.
When Houma Police Department arrived on scene, through labored, half conscious, utterances, she told officers "Naquin beat me."
She was asked numerous times by the officers for Naquin's first name, but never said it. Later the name changed to Solet, and other eyewitnesses saw him there that night.
According to Solet's testimony, he had earned money by shrimping and spent it to stay at the Red Carpet Inn for a few nights. He and Boudreaux spent a night together a few days prior, and according to Solet, they decided to spend another night together watching the football game.
That night, Solet said, she showed him a text message on her phone that said her ex boyfriend, Willard Naquin, was coming and he was angry. Solet said he left and spent the night sleeping in a yard. He has been homeless for a number of years, he explained, so he was used to it.
Solet was told the next day that police were looking for him, and he checked into a hospital, where police found him.
Defense attorney Bob Pastor, who represented Solet, invoked Bob Dylan, saying a simple twist of fate led his client to standing trial. If Boudreaux had died that night, his client would never have been named.
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"People don't want to die with a lie on their lips," Pastor said. He then argued that Boudreaux changed the name to protect herself after she survived, "You don't name the guy who just did this to you cuz he's going to come back and finish the job."
Terrebonne Parish Assistant District Attorney Gary Williams was prosecuting the case. He showed video footage of interviews, DNA evidence that placed Solet on the scene and more.
During his closing arguments he showed the images of Boudreaux's beaten face and stab wounds. Two jurors averted their eyes, and one's eyes began to tear up.
"You don't think Cindy Boudreaux knows who did this to her? Knows who almost killed her?," he asked jurors as he leaned on the railing and tapped his leg with the photos. "Cindy Boudreaux is a mother of three. More importantly, she is a survivor."
Pastor responded during his closing arguments by questioning the evidence and asking why more wasn't done to look into Naquin. Pastor alleged that if a stabbing was such an intimate crime, why hadn't the clothing Boudreaux was wearing been tested for DNA evidence?
He asked jurors to consider if it was their loved one facing trial, would they accept the evidence they were shown?
"Cindy was attacked viciously, the question of this trial is by who?," Pastor said. He then pointed at Williams, "There is a lack of evidence, and it's their fault."
This article originally appeared on The Courier: Jury finds Dulac man not guilty of 2019 Red Carpet Inn stabbing
