The 3rd Circuit of Appeal on Wednesday upheld the murder convictions of two Calcasieu Parish men in separate slayings and vacated and upheld parts of a third man’s case.

Mauricio Garcia Cumbrera fatally shot both his wife, Anna Cumbrera, and stepdaughter, Julia Landry, on the evening of Sept. 4, 2011.

In his appeal, Cumbrera contended that because the killings were done “in the heat of passion,” the correct verdict was manslaughter.

But appellate Judge John D. Saunders wrote in the court’s opinion that the killing involved “some time delay and thought process …, not an immediate flash of rage.”

Coby Quinton Ceaser fatally shot his stepfather, Patrick Myles, at his mother’s Dixy Drive home in July 2010.

Ceaser contended that the state failed to prove the shooting wasn’t self-defense.

But Judge Elizabeth A. Pickett wrote in her opinion that even if Ceaser believed Myles might harm him, “there is no evidence that the amount of force used, which resulted in the victim’s death, was necessary to prevent the harm.”

Carl Webb Jr. was found guilty April 11, 2012, of a Feb. 12, 2009, firearms burglary.

Webb had been convicted of two counts of simple burglary in May 2001 and one for aggravated crime against nature, although the latter charge was not used in a habitual offender bill.

Webb was sentenced as a four-time habitual offender, but he argued that the state had only provided evidence to support a second habitual offender sentencing.

The court vacated the 65-year habitual sentence against him, and it vacated one count of possession of a stolen firearm. But the court upheld another two counts of possession of stolen firearms and a count of possession of a weapon by a convicted felon.

While there was sufficient evidence to prove Webb possessed two stolen .38-caliber revolvers, there was insufficient evidence to show he possessed a Fabrique National firearm, Judge James T. Genovese said.

l

Online: www.la3circuit.org.(MGNonline)