May 18—A defendant in a Lafayette murder case is set for trial in February.
Anthony Robert Franchitti, 38, is charged with first-degree murder after deliberation in the death of Nicholas Wilson, 34, at a home in Lafayette on June 2, 2022.
Franchitti pleaded not guilty and was set for a nine-day trial starting Feb. 20, with a motions hearing set for Nov. 30.
He remains in custody without bond. First-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole.
According to an affidavit, dispatchers received a call at 12:48 p.m. June 2, 2022, from a defense attorney stating that a body with a gunshot wound was inside a residence at 12161 Flagg Drive.
When police responded, they found Franchitti and a female resident of the house already there along with their respective defense attorneys.
Wilson was in a bedroom doorway on the ground and was pronounced dead at the scene.
An autopsy found three gunshot wounds, including one from a distance to Wilson’s back and two more in his leg and arm from closer range.
Both Franchitti and the woman declined to speak to investigators through their defense attorneys.
The relationship between the woman and Wilson was redacted in the affidavit, though the sheriff’s office in a release said he lived nearby.
The affidavit does state that a witnesses said Franchitti was “another boyfriend” of the woman’s, and that he had threatened to kill Wilson in the past.