Convicted killer sentenced to life in slaying of Baton Rouge woman whose body was burned

A Baton Rouge man convicted of killing a woman whose body was left to burn in a small brushfire was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Kim Powell, 56, did not say anything during a hearing at the 19th Judicial District Courthouse, where District Judge Fred Crifasi sentenced him for the shooting death of 25-year-old Courtney Lee, of Baton Rouge.

Following a six-day trial that ended Aug. 15, a Baton Rouge jury found Powell guilty of second-degree murder, an offense that carries a mandatory life sentence.

“This was a case of circumstantial evidence, but I think the state went through painstaking efforts to demonstrate that no other person could have committed this crime,” said Crifasi, who presided over Powell’s trial and his pre-trial proceedings. “This case was horrifying and I can’t imagine what this (Lee’s) family has to go through daily.”

During Wednesday’s hearing, Crifasi denied a motion for acquittal and a petition for a new trial filed by Powell’s attorney Mark Plaisance. 

Sylvia and Desmond Deggs appeared in court to tell Crifasi how the loss of their daughter affected their family. Desmond Deggs read from a prepared statement and called Lee a “caring, loving and beautiful” mother of two young children who “loved to smile and take pictures.” He affectionately referred to his daughter as “Coco” and said her death has left a hole in his family’s hearts.

“This is a pain that will never go away and our lives will never be the same,” Desmond Deggs said. “To lose a child at such an early age, it’s heartbreaking especially in the way she was murdered.”

Powell, in 1983, was convicted of aggravated rape and sentenced to life in prison at the age of 16, a background report in the court records indicates. He spent nearly 33 years in state prison before being released on parole in October 2015.

He was still on parole the afternoon of June 12, 2020, when Baton Rouge firefighters responding to a brush fire in the 1000 block of Spanish Town Road discovered Lee’s severely burned body.