A jury in state district court took about an hour Thursday to come to the conclusion that a man is guilty of an October 2011 home invasion and shooting on Sixth Street.

The jury was unanimous in its decision that Dionte Eugene Daugherty, 24, is guilty as charged of attempted second-degree murder and home invasion.

Prosecutors Lori Nunn and James Sudduth III used DNA to tie Daugherty to a black ski mask and pair of work gloves found in a dumpster on Hodges Street, around the corner from the Sixth Street apartment. DNA from the items was entered into the Combined DNA Index System and a match with Daugherty was made, Nunn said.

Defense attorney Robert Shelton told the jury that Daugherty must have come into contact with the items at some point, “but did he wear them this night or did someone else have them on?”

Daugherty wasn’t arrested until October 2012, during which time he was accused of other violent crimes, Nunn said.

The prosecutors said they will ask for 25 years when Daugherty is sentenced by Judge Kent Savoie on Oct. 24.

“The defendant has shown a proclivity that when he is out, the time that he was out, from when he got arrested until now, he committed three other violent crimes,” Sudduth said. “So when he’s out walking, he’s committing crimes.”

Two men — one short and light-skinned, the other tall and dark-skinned — wearing masks and gloves entered through the back door of the apartment in October 2011, Nunn said. They were trying to rob Bradford Jacob of $4,600 he had received from a tax refund and an Entergy settlement, she said.

When Jacob fought back, shoving the short man into the shower, he was shot in the back, she said. He was in a wheelchair for more than a year, Nunn said.

Prosecutors said Daugherty was the short man (and the trigger man) and that Marlon Frank Thomas, 37, was the tall man. Thomas is scheduled to go to trial Nov. 17.

Daugherty’s DNA matched DNA found on the mask and the right glove, Monica Quaals, with the Southwest Louisiana Crime Lab, testified Thursday morning.

Thomas’ DNA was not on the mask or gloves found in the dumpster, but his DNA could not be excluded from a glove found near the back door of the house.

Jacob was in the apartment with another man, Joshua Plumber, and a woman, Kristin Trahan, who had stopped by to bring alcohol and cigarettes. Plumber abruptly got up and walked out and five seconds later the robbers walked in, Jacob said.

Trahan ran from the home and hid, she testified Wednesday. She heard the sound of the dumpster cover shutting, then saw the men drive off in a white Chevy Lumina, she said.

Plumber was sentenced in August to 20 years in prison for a 2012 home invasion and hostage situation. Nunn said prosecutors believe Plumber was involved.

“Plumber was the only person who knew that the victim had a large amount of money, because he was using it to buy the rims for his truck,” Nunn said.(MGNonline)