David Michael Bull convicted in shooting death of Jerry Dean Ramsey
Leader News Service
Thursday, July 11, 2019
Edit: Farmerville dateline added to story
FARMERVILLE — A Marion man was sentenced to life in prison on July 3 for the shotgun slaying of a neighbor in February 2018.
David Michael Bull, 24, was sentenced to life in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence by Third Judicial District Court Judge Bruce Hampton.
He was accused of shooting 53-year-old Jerry Dean Ramsey of the Tiger Bend community in Union Parish.
Bull had been convicted on a charge of second-degree murder by a 12-member jury in April.
Union Parish sheriff’s detectives investigated the shooting. According to their reports, Bull told Ramsey the night of the shooting that he thought there were trespassers on Ramsey’s property. The two of them, Ramsey armed with a .22 caliber rifle and Bull armed with Ramsey’s 12-gauge shotgun, went to investigate.
The two walked into the woods behind Ramsey’s house, where the shooting occurred. Reportedly, Bull took the rifle back to Ramsey’s house and left it there. He took the shotgun apart and threw it in a pond near the Ramsey residence. The shotgun was later recovered by sheriff ’s investigators.
Bull, according to records, later went back to the scene, turned Ramsey over on his back and emptied his pockets, turning them inside out.
Testimony revealed that Bull called a friend and wanted to be driven to Bernice. Bull reportedly told the friend about the shooting and the friend dropped him off at the Shiloh community. The friend then contacted several friends and described what Bull had told him.
The group went to Ramsey property and walked up on Ramsey’s body in the wooded area that Bull had described. They then contacted the sheriff ’s office.
Immediately after the sentencing, Bull was transported to Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.
Defense attorney James Buckley said Bull’s life sentence will be appealed through the Louisiana Appellate Project.
Bull also was sentenced on four charges of second-degree battery and one count of attempted simple escape from the Union Parish Detention Center. He managed to leave his cell and get into an area for the guards where he found a mace-type sprayer and when four guards attempted to search him, Bull sprayed them.
Hampton sentenced Bull to three years on each count of seconddegree battery and 2 1/2 years on the attempted simple escape count. All sentences are to run concurrently with the life sentence.
Assistant District Attorney Cliff Strider III prosecuted the cases against Bull.
