Slidell career criminal gets 90-year sentence

A 34-year-old Slidell man was sentenced to 90 years hard labor this month as a career criminal, the result of at least five prior felony convictions.

Douglas Smith, last convicted of armed robbery in December 2007 for a spree of gas station robberies in Slidell, was convicted as a habitual offender Sept. 18, District Attorney Walter Reed spokesman Rick Wood said Thursday.

Smith, whose has four DWI convictions and a 2001 drug possession charge, qualified for the increase sentence under Louisiana law for repeat offenders. Anybody with three or more felony convictions is eligible to be tried as a career criminal.

Smith, convicted by a jury in less than an hour in December on three counts of armed robbery and attempted first-degree armed robbery, told authorities he launched the spree to feed a crack cocaine habit. At the time he was sentenced to 30 years by state Judge Peter Garcia.

But Garcia this month increased the sentence and added hard labor without the benefit of parole, probation or suspension of sentence.

Smith, armed with a pellet gun wrapped in a towel, told victims he was armed with a shotgun during the robbery spree of three convenience stores and one at a cash checking station.

The robbery blitz wound its way through Slidell beginning 11:47 p.m. Nov. 26 at a Shell gas station at 853 Gause Blvd. Smith, armed with the pellet gun wrapped in a coat, demanded money from the cashier and fled.

Two days later at 8:39 a.m., Smith entered a Quick Check store at 1414 Fremaux Ave., again concealing the weapon in a coat. The cashier fled, and Smith ran out of the store with no money, according to then Slidell Police Capt. Rob Callahan.

Less than 24 hours later the scene was repeated at 6:51 p.m. at the Dollar Tree at 119 Northshore Blvd. where Smith robbed two cashiers. Five hours later, Smith robbed an employee at a Shell service station, 3296 Pontchartrain Drive. This time police said Smith had a scarf wrapped around his head in disguise.

It didn’t work. A victim identified Smith as a former Slidell High School classmate. He later identified Smith to police in a yearbook, Wood said.

Smith and the two other men, Daniel Joseph Bouchoux, 36 of St. Bernard Parish and Marcel H. Courtiade, 34, of Slidell, were arrested Nov. 29, 2006, after fleeing that scene in a Dodge Ram pickup truck headed eastbound toward Interstate 10 on Old Spanish Trail.

Slidell Police soon spotted the vehicle and rammed it from behind, forcing the truck to hit a drainage culvert and flip several times.

Smith sustained major injuries and was transported to the Northshore Regional Medical Center and later transferred to the Louisiana Heart Hospital in Lacombe. Courtiade and Bouchoux were treated at the scene for minor injuries.

Bouchoux, who pleaded guilty Aug. 21 to driving the getaway vehicle, was sentenced in March to 10 years.

Courtiade pleaded guilty for armed robbery in March. His sentence was unclear as of deadline Thursday.