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October 15. 2005 12:57AM

Teen gets life in prison for murder
By LIZ HACKENBURG
Staff Writer
THIBODAUX -- A Des Allemands teenager was sentenced to life in prison Friday for the shooting death of a Luling man along U.S. 90 last year.

A jury found Gary Hebert, 19, guilty of second-degree murder in July after a weeklong trial full of complicated and contradictory testimony.

State District Judge Walt Lanier of Thibodaux issued the sentence Friday.

Hebert’s mother, Amanda Hebert, who sat in the same front-row courtroom seat throughout her son’s trial, said she remains convinced of her son’s innocence and has vowed to continue working to clear his name.

"I will never, never as long, as I’m walking this earth, ... give up on my son because I know he’s innocent," she said via telephone Friday night. "There was a lot of questions that needed to be asked that wasn’t asked. It’s not right."

Amanda Hebert described her son as family oriented and patient with his seven siblings.

"I know my son; he is a wonderful person, and there’s a lot of people that love him. This is affecting a lot of people; his brothers and sisters are having a rough time dealing with this," Amanda Hebert said.

She and her husband plan to quickly begin the process to appeal their son’s conviction.

But witness statements and arguments by the prosecution, headed by Lafourche Parish prosecutor Stephen Caillouet, were enough to convince the Lafourche Parish jury that Hebert was responsible for the death of Leverne Charles Jr., who died of a single gunshot wound to the head the night of Jan. 21, 2004.

Charles, 20, was a passenger in an SUV driven by his mother, the Rev. Janice Charles, as the two were returning from dropping his sister off at Nicholls State University.