SHREVEPORT, La. – The 2 nd Circuit Court of Appeal has affirmed the 35-year sentence of a Claiborne Parish man who pleaded guilty in 2022 to killing a man.

Isaiah Montez Burns, 23, of Homer argued his sentence was excessive. He said the court failed to consider his young age, the likelihood of his rehabilitation and that an altercation involving the victim happened immediately before the fatal shooting as factors that should have been considered.

But the appellate court said the trial judge’s imposition of the sentence was “not shocking to the sense of justice nor a needless infliction of pain and suffering, and it was not an abuse of its discretion. Accordingly, Burns’ sentence of 35 years at hard labor is not constitutionally excessive.”

Burns shot and killed Delario Jackson on July

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