BATON ROUGE — East Baton Rouge deputies continue to investigate the Corlett Drive shooting which injured one person set to be a witness in an upcoming murder trial. The family of a decades-old murder case victim points to the need for more protections for witnesses.

In the Corlett Drive shooting, the witness was expected to testify in the 2023 murder trial involving Christopher Davis.

Davis was arrested in 2023 for the death of Deandre Duncan. Two years later, Davis was accidentally released when he was dropped off at a Baton Rouge bus stop with other East Carroll prisoners. Davis was supposed to be transported to the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison. It is still unclear why he was released, and EBR deputies did take him back into custody.

Trudy Fourmy, mother of Jason Fourmy, a man beaten, set on fire and killed, said protecting victims is of the utmost importance because their testimony can make or break a case.

"They did more than intimidate. If you don't have a witness, they think, you don't have a trial, and they go free," she said.

Jason Fourmy died in Oct. 2007 on Gayosa Street in Baton Rouge. Despite three different men being arrested in connection with her son's death and charged with first-degree murder—Dearius Duheart, Denako Duheart and Andrea Williams—the case saw no convictions and the charges were eventually dropped.

Trudy Fourmy said it is because three witnesses were killed before they could testify.

"I think that if those witnesses hadn't died, [the men] would be in jail for life because what they did to my son was horrendous," Trudy Fourmy said.

She said the EBR District Attorney's Office does what it can, but she knows funding is limited.

"Hillar Moore is doing his best," she said. "Sometimes, his hands are tied."

Back in 2024, EBR District Attorney Hillar Moore spoke to the Investigative Unit about the dangers witnesses often find themselves in.

"It's hard for those people to live in that same neighborhood, come out and testify, not to have their house shot up, not to be threatened," he told the Investigative Unit's Bess Casserleigh.

Trudy Fourmy said witness intimidation is a real issue in the capital region.

"They have no respect for the person they harmed, their family, or the legal system," she said.

As previously reported, the amount of money the DA's office spends to protect witnesses grows.

"We try to find ways to put witnesses in protection, put them up, get them protection, get them cameras, do what you can, but there's no such fund," Moore told reporters on Wednesday.

East Baton Rouge Sheriff's officials said the Corlett Drive shooting is still an active investigation.