A serial rapist sentenced to two life terms for attacks involving five victims ranging in age from 17 to 60 will receive a new trial because two of his eight convictions were not based on unanimous jury verdicts.

Eric Dwayne Lafleur was found guilty Oct. 24, 2019, on two counts of first-degree rape, one count of third-degree rape, one count of sexual battery, two counts of carjacking, one count of simple robbery and one count of simple burglary.

Lafleur’s charges stemmed from what prosecutors called a “crime spree” that spanned multiple days in 2016 and occurred in several locations.

Prosecutors said Lafleur sexually assaulted a Moss Bluff woman on Aug. 27, 2016, who had fallen asleep after putting her daughter to bed. The victim told law enforcement Lafleur assaulted her, choked her until she was unconscious then drug her outside and into the woods where he assaulted her again. She said she begged him to take her home, to which he replied, “Shut up. I don’t want a murder charge.” She said she was eventually able to escape to a neighbor’s residence and call police.

On Sept. 3, 2016, Lafleur assaulted a teenager who was living with her mother. She testified Lafleur knocked on her door, told her he had marijuana for her mother and asked the girl to ride with him to his hotel to retrieve the drugs. When she hesitated, Lafleur grabbed her and brought her to the hotel. He then took an erectile pill, put both of his hands around her neck and assaulted her multiple times. When he left the hotel, she said she ran to the front desk and called 911.

Four days later, a woman shopping at a local Dollar General was approached by Lafleur and agreed to give him a ride to his aunt’s apartment. She said on the ride she realized something was wrong and the two began struggling for control of the steering wheel. She managed to escape the car, but Lafleur stole her purse and drove off in her vehicle. The woman was able to run to a nearby gas station and alert police.

On Sept. 9, 2016, a woman awoke to find Lafleur in her mobile home. She said she agreed to give him a ride so he would leave her home, where her daughter was sleeping. When they arrived at the residence Lafleur claimed was his mother’s, a struggle ensued and the two fell outside of the car. She said when Lafleur put his hands inside her clothes, one of her dogs jumped out of the car and she called for it to bite Lafleur. She said she was able to get back in the car, drive away and call 911 from a local store.

Five days after that attack, a woman met with Lafleur to buy methamphetamine. She said she picked him up at a Wendy’s and took Xanax pills he offered. After multiple stops, Lafleur guided her to a field on the pretense of stopping by his mother’s house and assaulted her.

A grand jury indicted Lafleur on Sept. 26, 2019, on three counts of first-degree rape, one count of simple robbery, two count of carjacking, one count of sexual battery and one count of simple burglary. He was ultimately convicted on Oct. 21, 2019, of two counts of first-degree rape, one count of third-degree rape, one count simple robbery, two counts carjacking, one count of sexual battery and one count of simple burglary.

He was sentenced in state district court to two life sentences on both counts of first-degree rape, with count one and count two to run consecutive to each other and both at hard labor without the possibility of parole. On his other convictions, he was sentenced to three seven-year terms at hard labor without the benefit of parole; four 15-year terms at hard labor without the benefit of parole; 5-10 years at hard labor; 6-10 years at hard labor without the possibility of parole; two years at hard labor; and 8-20 years at hard labor without benefit of parole.

Lafleur filed an appeal, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence for one of his first-degree rape convictions. He claimed the evidence presented did not support his convictions for first-degree rape because the evidence didn’t prove “he used force or made threats, as required by the applicable statute.”

The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals said Lafleur used force when raping the Moss Bluff woman and “at one point mentioned that he did not want to get charged with murder. Thus, the evidence supports the conviction for first-degree rape.”

The court said it was clear the jury’s decision to convict Lafleur of the first-degree rape was not irrational because Lafleur “combined threats with manual strangulation of the victim. Strangulation is obviously a potent form of attack, as many homicide cases have recognized.”

In his appeal, Lafleur also claimed the other first-degree rape conviction and the third-degree rape conviction should be vacated in light of the Ramos v. Louisiana case because it was not a unanimous verdict. Ramos v. Louisiana was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case in which the court ruled 6-3 that the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution requires guilty verdicts for criminal trials be unanimous.

The 3rd Circuit agreed with that part of Lafleur’s appeal and said the convictions and sentences should be vacated. The court ordered a new trial solely on one of the first-degree rape counts and on the third-degree rape charge. The remaining convictions and sentences were affirmed by the court.