Shreveport Man Receives Life Sentence in 2021 Murder

A Shreveport man who killed his brother following an argument was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday, February 14, 2023, in Caddo District Court.

As members of his victim's family watched, District Judge Chris Victory formally sentenced Carlin Tremell Cotton, 53, to the mandatory life in prison without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence for the August 18, 2021 second-degree murder of his brother, 45-year-old Cedric Cemoyne Fuller.

On the date of the slaying, Cotton went to the Baxter Street home of Fuller's mother and got into an altercation with Mr. Fuller. Witnesses reported hearing two bursts of gunfire and upon exiting the residence found Mr. Fuller bleeding, face-down in a puddle. Pathology reports showed Mr. Fuller had been shot five times from the rear, with two of the shots fatal. Mr. Fuller was transported to Ochsner LSU Health hospital where he succumbed to his wounds.

Cotton later called 911 and admitted shooting Mr. Fuller. Cotton fled but almost two months later was apprehended in Bossier.  At trial, he claimed he acted in self-defense, an argument that was rejected by the jury, which unanimously found him guilty as charged January 26, 2023.

Cotton was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Sam Crichton and Victoria Washington. He was defended by Dhu Thompson.