Antonio Tyson has been sentenced by Judge Ellen M. Creel of Franklinton in connection with the brutal November 2022 Covington murders of Ms. Ruth Prats and Father Otis Young. The sentencing followed a hearing during which the judge heard compelling victim impact testimony from nine of Ms. Prats and Father Young’s family members and a Roman Catholic priest who knew them both well. The statements of the various witnesses reflected both sorrow and remembrance. "Their deaths are permanent - no sentence will change that. Legacy is what remains. And while her life was taken from us, the impact she had on those around us remains," said one witness. "We did not lose these people...we still hold them close to us...but their presence from us was taken. A series of choices were made, and they were not given a choice, " said another.
This morning’s sentencing hearing followed the defendant’s entry of guilty pleas on May 5, 2026. In compliance with a plea agreement endorsed by the victims' families, Judge Creel sentenced Tyson to serve two life sentences for the two counts of First Degree Murder and a forty (40) year sentence at Hard Labor on the single count of Obstruction of Justice, with all three counts ordered to run consecutively to each other.
As part of the plea agreement, the defendant waived all present and future rights to pursue sentence reductions, administrative corrections, judicial reviews, or release mechanisms. Additionally, Tyson will be incarcerated within specialized state facilities under conditions identical to capital inmates awaiting execution. These conditions fulfill the explicit desire of the Prats and Young families that Tyson experience the maximal physical restrictions warranted by his heinous offenses, while simultaneously shielding the families from years of appellate delays and litigation associated with a capital trial.
Statement from District Attorney J. Collin Sims:
“Today’s sentencing brings a permanent closure to a deeply painful chapter in our community's history. Our office was fully prepared to seek the death penalty and possessed total confidence in the strength of our case, establishing the defendant’s guilt. However, recent disclosures regarding historical childhood IQ testing, a traumatic brain injury discovered in MRI scans, and adaptive deficits raised clear, significant roadblocks under the Supreme Court's mandate in Atkins v. Virginia that would have resulted in meaningful challenges to defending a death sentence through the appellate process.
Rather than exposing these grieving families to potentially decades of litigation and the meaningful possibility that an execution could never legally be carried out, this negotiated resolution guarantees that Tyson will remain removed from society for the rest of his natural life under maximum-security, death-row conditions. It honors the wishes of the families, preserves the legacy of two extraordinary community servants, and ensures immediate, un-appealable justice.”
District Attorney Sims again praised the exhaustive efforts of the Covington Police Department, including lead investigator Cyrus Kety, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office Crime Laboratory, and the St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s Office DNA Laboratory for assembling an airtight case that ultimately compelled the defendant to plead guilty.
