Trial set for man whose truck hit car, killed women and kids

An April trial has been scheduled for a Palmetto man accused of five counts of vehicular homicide in a March 2011 crash that killed a former Eunice woman, her three children and another woman.
David Leger was allegedly driving drunk when he engaged in a spat of road rage that ended with his pickup crossing Interstate 10’s median and hitting an on-coming car.
The other driver, Kelsye Hall, of Baton Rouge, received two years in prison after a bench trial conviction on five counts of negligent homicide.
Leger, 31, faces from five to 30 years in prison per count, if convicted.
His trial date was set last week as April 28.
Leger and Hall were traveling westbound on I-10 when their vehicles came in contact with each other, causing Leger’s pickup to spin out of control and cross the grassy median before colliding with a car driven by Effie Fontenot, 29, of Prairieville and formerly of Eunice, killing her and and Kimberly Stagg, 19, of Prairieville, and Fontenot’s three sons: Austin Fontenot, 3; Hunter Johnson, 7; and Keagan Fontenot, 11.
In the accident’s aftermath, State Police Lt. Doug Cain said that witnesses indicated Hall intentionally prevented Leger from passing her vehicle. At one point, he said, Hall was driving on the center line to keep Leger from passing on either side.
When Leger drove onto the right shoulder of the interstate in an attempt to pass Hall, the rear of his pickup clipped the front of her sport utility vehicle, Cain said.