The sentencing date for a Natchitoches woman who killed her girlfriend’s son by setting him on fire will be rescheduled.
Felecia Marie-Nicole Smith, 28, was set to be sentenced Wednesday in Natchitoches District Court. However, the district judge recently signed a motion continuing the sentencing date until after the trial of her ex-girlfriend, Hanna Barker, 25, the mother of Levi Cole Ellerbe, the 6-month-old infant the two are accused of killing in 2018.
Smith pleaded guilty in July to several charges in a plea agreement with the state to avoid a capital murder trial where the death penalty could have been an option if she was convicted. Instead, she received an 80-year sentence for manslaughter, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and cruelty to a juvenile.
A condition of the plea is for Smith to testify truthfully against Barker, who is charged with first-degree murder. Barker had been scheduled to go to trial last month, but the date was pushed to March. The jury pool for Barker’s trial will come from St. Landry Parish, with the actual trial to be held in Natchitoches Parish.
Should Smith not testify truthfully then the Natchitoches Parish District Attorney's office reserves the right to withdraw the plea and prosecute Smith on the original first-degree murder charge.
The state contends it was Barker who planned her son’s death and enlisted Smith to carry it out. Barker called 911 on the night of July 17, 2018, saying an unknown person came to her door, pepper-sprayed her then kidnapped Levi. He was found hours later near death in a wooded area between a neighborhood and railroad tracks.
The child had been doused with gasoline and set on fire. He died the next morning at a hospital.
More details emerged about the crime during a court hearing two months later. Prosecutors said Smith confessed to her role in taking Levi, but said it was Barker’s idea. She has denied any part in her son’s death.
A motive was not disclosed. But through sources, court testimony and court records emerged the possibility jealousy playing a role.
Smith and Barker were often seen in Natchitoches with baby Levi in tow. He required a lot of attention, so a solution was devised to get rid of him, prosecutors said.
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