CLINTON - A jury took less than an hour to find an alleged serial killer in East Feliciana guilty of first-degree murder of one of his victims following a week-long trial.

The 12-person jury unanimously found alleged serial killer Ryan Sharpe guilty of the first-degree murder of 48-year-old Brad Defranceschi.

"That carries a mandatory life in prison, and we're very excited about that because we don't think he ever needs to get out and have an opportunity to do this to anybody ever again," said East Feliciana Sheriff Jeff Travis. "I don't think there's any amount of justice that could ever make up for what he had done."

DeFranceschi and two others were killed in 2017. Throughout the investigation, Sharpe said the government had issued him hunting "tags" that he needed to account for by killing people. His retrial was delayed while his lawyer questioned Sharpe's mental competency.

Sharpe was previously convicted of killing Defranceschi in 2019, but the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the conviction due to a state law change requiring unanimous verdicts in criminal convictions and Sharpe was convicted 11-1 during that trial.

At his initial trial, prosecutors said Sharpe told investigators that the killings were part of a federal operation. After mental examinations, Sharpe was found competent to go to court and aid in his defense. Prosecutors say the hunting tag story was a ruse to build an insanity defense.

Sheriff Travis praised district attorney Sam D'Aquilla for his work on this case.

"The district attorney's office did an amazing job prosecuting this case, they had a really good case, they worked hard," Travis said.

"Everybody all came together for this case and they assembled a great case for us," D’Aquilla said.

Sheriff Travis was the sheriff at the time of his arrest.

"It's been 7 years since these incidents have happened, and I am extremely happy with the verdict," Travis said.

Sharpe is also accused of killing Thomas Bass in East Baton Rouge Parish and Carroll Breeden in East Baton Rouge Parish. A fourth victim, Buck Hornsby, survived a shooting in East Feliciana Parish. Those trial dates have not yet been set. 

Defranceschi was working in his front yard when he was shot in October 2017, a month after Breeden was killed doing yard work. Bass was killed in his carport in July 2017. Hornsby was exercising outside when he was shot.