30 June 2025 :
June 20, 2025 - Louisiana. Federal judge vacates death penalty for Todd Wessinger
Todd Wessinger, now 57, Black, is currently housed at Angola after he was sentenced to the death for his actions in 1995. Federal Judge John deGravelles has vacated the death penalty, sending the case back to East Baton Rouge to determine a new sentence. DA Moore says it’s not that simple to present the case to a new jury 28 years later.
Wessinger worked at Calendar’s Restaurant. It was Nov. 19, 1995, just 9 days before Wessinger’s 27th birthday, when he tried to rob the restaurant.
Wessinger shot 3 people, 2 of whom died. The store’s manager, Stephanie Guzzardo, 27, and a restaurant employee David Breakwell, died inside the restaurant.
The case went before a jury in 1997 in East Baton Rouge Parish, where Wessinger was found guilty of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder. He was sentenced to the death penalty. Per court records, the Supreme Court confirmed Wessinger’s death penalty order on March 2, 2012.
In 2022, Judge deGravelles overturned Wessinger’s death penalty order saying he did not have proper representation during his sentencing. The judge’s decision was appealed to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal. The appeal court upheld deGravelles’ decision to vacate the death penalty. That decision was then taken to the U.S. Supreme Court for review. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case. That automatically meant Judge deGravelles’ ruling stands.
On June 20, 2025, the federal judge ordered the case be sent back to the East Baton Rouge Parish district court to determine a new sentence for Wessinger: life behind bars or the death penalty. On Wessinger’s case see also HoC July 27, 2015 and July 20, 2017.
