A Lafayette teenager who admitted to fatally shooting Comeaux High School senior Matthew Carter in 2020 is asking a judge to release him from custody early, nearly a year before his 21st birthday.
Rendavian Warren, now 20, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the Jan. 18, 2020, killing of Carter, 17. Prosecutors said Warren shot Carter in the head and left him to die.
Warren, who was 13 at the time of the shooting, was sentenced to juvenile life and is currently scheduled to remain in custody until April 6, 2027, when he turns 21. But his attorneys argue he should now receive credit for the time he spent in juvenile detention before sentencing.
For Carter’s family, the request reopens wounds from the loss of a teenager they described as caring, ambitious and deeply loved. Carter never graduated with his Comeaux High classmates, completed a National Merit internship at Johns Hopkins University or pursued his dream of becoming a radiologist.
“We have been given a life sentence,” Carter’s mother, Chelline Carter, said at Warren’s sentencing hearing in 2021, court records show. “We don’t get our son back in six years.”
Carter’s sister, Nichole Carter, said on social media last week that she struggles with the feeling that “our judicial system treats my brother’s life as though it was only worth a few years of punishment and supposed ‘rehabilitation.’”
While she will never have her brother back, she said her family watches as those responsible receive privileges such as access to the internet, outings and furloughs to visit their families.
A hearing is scheduled for Thursday in the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge, where Warren filed a civil lawsuit seeking release. If he wins, he could be released immediately.
The case has become a test of the balance between juvenile rehabilitation and accountability for violent crimes.
What happened on Jan. 17-18, 2020
Until recently, the identities of the two teens accused in Carter’s killing — along with details of the case — were sealed because both were juveniles at the time of the shooting.
Court documents filed in Warren’s civil lawsuit now reveal previously undisclosed investigative records and police interviews, including those with Tyler Jackson, who was released from detention after serving about three years for his role in Carter’s murder.
According to those records, Jackson invited Carter to his family’s apartment on North Meyers Drive on Jan. 17, 2020, where he and Warren allegedly discussed stealing Carter’s Camaro — a car Carter worked two jobs to afford while balancing school and athletics.
Neither boy, Jackson later admitted, knew how to drive the standard transmission car.
Investigators said the teens drank alcohol and smoked marijuana before ending up in Carter’s car outside the apartment complex.
Warren later told investigators Jackson handed him a handgun and told him to “kill or be killed” before he shot Carter in the head. Detectives later determined Warren had stolen the gun about a week earlier from a friend’s home.
Police said a black plastic garbage bag was placed over Carter’s head before the teens walked away, leaving him wounded inside the Camaro. Another teenager later told investigators Jackson called him on Snapchat, said Warren had shot Carter while trying to steal the car and urged him to come see the body.
When the teen arrived, he found Carter pale but still breathing, with his fingers twitching, according to records. He removed the plastic bag from Carter’s head and later contacted authorities after discussing the situation with a friend and the friend’s father.
When Lafayette Police officer Henry Joseph arrived at the scene, he found Carter’s Camaro parked in front of the Jacksons’ apartment. Carter was leaning against the door, unconscious, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the right side of his head.
Carter was taken by ambulance to Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center. He was pronounced dead on Jan. 22, 2020.
Evidence and outcome
The gun was recovered behind an abandoned house near the apartment complex where Jackson said it was hidden.
Detectives found bullets in a dresser in Warren’s bedroom matching those in the murder weapon and spent cartridges in Carter’s car. Warren’s DNA was found on the gun.
Inside Jackson’s apartment, police found a black book bag containing two red hoodies. Jackson’s mother said it was her son’s book bag. Video surveillance from a Circle K near the Jackson home showed Jackson and Warren wearing red hoodies.
One of the hoodies contained blood and blond hair matching the victim.
Warren was charged with first-degree murder. He admitted on Aug. 14, 2020, that he shot Carter.
At sentencing, Carter’s family argued that release at age 21 was not justice for the killing. Warren’s mother, meanwhile, said she believed a shorter sentence would be sufficient.
Fifteenth Judicial District Judge Michelle Breaux sentenced Warren to juvenile life in a secure juvenile facility due to his potential for future violence. Warren’s attorneys argue Breaux originally intended for him to receive credit for time served before sentencing.
History of behavioral problems, arrests
Warren was not a model inmate. Between February and July 2020, while he was being held in the Lafayette juvenile detention center for Carter’s murder, Warren was charged with four counts of simple battery.
Records show Warren had a history of behavioral problems before the murder. He was arrested in September 2019 and charged with:
Disturbing the peace by fighting while a student at LaRosen Prep School
Two counts of simple assault in November 2019 for pointing a gun at people in a vehicle near his home
Disturbing the peace by fighting in November 2019 for a physical altercation with another LaRosen student
Warren and his mother, according to court records, said he was sexually abused at age 9. Twice they said he tried to kill himself by wrapping a cord around his neck. He underwent counseling and was diagnosed with ADHD. He has been receiving counseling and psychiatric treatment in detention.
Warren’s attorneys argue he has matured while in custody, completed high school, participated in counseling and should receive credit for time served before sentencing.
Jeremiah Jefferson, his case manager in detention, said at a hearing that Warren was “doing a phenomenal job” while incarcerated. He graduated high school, demonstrated leadership in his dormitory and had no conduct code violations, although he tested positive at least once for marijuana.
“He’s become a great young man and I just want to see him be a successful law-abiding citizen upon his return to the community,” Jefferson said.
But for Carter’s family, the possibility of Warren’s early release underscores what they see as the limits of Louisiana’s juvenile justice system in cases involving extreme violence. They argue Carter’s life — and the circumstances of his death — warrant the full sentence imposed by the court.
A hearing scheduled Thursday in Baton Rouge could determine whether Warren remains in custody until his 21st birthday in April 2027 or is released earlier.