MAKAR

Memory Lawn Cemetery

Natchitoches, Natchitoches Parish, LA

Memory Lawn Cemetery is located on Highway 6 , west of Natchitoches, on the east side of the road. It is a large and modern cemetery, with all markers being of the flat metal type, most with an attached flower holder. In recent years, a mausoleum has been erected in the extreme eastern section of the cemetery. While plantings are not encouraged, large pine trees provide abundant shade. It appears that burials were begun in the middle 1940's in this cemetery.

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Submitted by Nelda G. Liles

May 1999

MAKAR, Charles Stroud ( 20 Apr 1954 / 05 June 1996 )

MAKAR, Ruth H. ( 27 Dec 1919 / 24 Sep 1983 )

Adjacent to: Charles Stroud Makar

death penalty news--LOUISIANA, MISSISSIPPI, PENNSYLVANIA/TRINIDAD

8-15-98--

LOUISIANA:

In New Orleans, aA unanimous Louisiana Supreme Court refused Friday
to block Friday's scheduled execution of condemned killer Kevin
Scales of Baton Rouge.

Scales was convicted of 1st-degree murder and sentenced to die by
lethal injection for the 1991 slaying of a Church's Fried Chicken cook
during an armed robbery at the restaurant in Baton Rouge.

In his latest appeal to the state Supreme Court, Scales' new attorneys
argued that he had ineffective assistance of counsel during his 1992
trial. District Judge Ralph Tyson rejected that contention last
month.

Scales' trial attorney, Charles Makar, committed suicide a few years
ago while under the influence of cocaine, Scales' attorneys said.
Makar was abusing drugs and alcohol during Scales trial, his they
alleged, and the substance abuse diverted Makars attention from the
trial.

A few months before the trial started, Scales' other attorney, Robert
Monahan, pleaded guilty to a drug-related count in federal court.

A lawyer in Makar's office took Monahan's place.

"The central contention is that trial counsel rendered ineffective
assistance at both the guilt and penalty phases of the trial," the
high court wrote Friday. "The defense has failed to overcome the
strong presumption that counsel was acting professionally and that his
decisions were strategic in nature. This court does not sit to 2nd-
guess strategic and tactical choices made by trial counsel."

Chief Justice Pascal Calogero Jr. and Justices Walter Marcus Jr.,
Harry Lemmon, Catherine "Kitty" Kimball, Jeffrey Victory, Jeannette
Theriot Knoll and Chet Traylor voted to deny Scales' appeal. They
also refused to halt his scheduled execution. Justice Bernette
Johnson did not take part in the decision.

Paula Montonye, 1 of Scales' attorneys at the Loyola Death Penalty
Resource Center in New Orleans, declined comment on the high courts
ruling. Scales' attorneys are expected to take their case to federal
District Court in Baton Rouge.

In mid-1995, the state Supreme Court affirmed Scales' 1st-degree
murder conviction and death sentence. In early 1996, the U.S. Supreme
Court refused to take up his case.

Scales claimed he killed 20-year-old Kenny Ray Cooper in self-defense
when both men engaged in a gun battle inside the Church's on July 30,
1991. Scales was 19 at the time. Cooper was shot 5 times; Scales was
wounded 3 times.

Scales' co-defendants, Henry Guillory III and Kevin Lewis, both of
Baton Rouge, pleaded guilty to armed robbery in the case.

Guillory, who was 17 when the robbery occurred, was sentenced to 18
years in prison. Lewis, 23 at the time, is serving a 25-year prison
term.

Scales' attorneys argued to the state Supreme Court in 1995 that
Scales had no intention of killing Cooper when he, Guillory and Lewis
entered the restaurant after a night of smoking marijuana and drinking.

While Guillory and Lewis robbed an employee behind the counter, the
attorneys said, Scales and Cooper got into a gun battle in the rear of
the store.

Cooper fired 1st, the attorneys suggested, and Scales was defending
himself.

Scales' attorneys also complained in his earlier appeal about a
prosecutor's remarks during the sentencing phase when the jury was
told that the state and Cooper's family wanted to see Scales receive
the death penalty.

(source: Baton Rouge Advocate

The Town Talk

Today''s Funerals
Posted on August 20, 2001

Belsha, Clara, of Leesville, 2 p.m., First United Pentecostal Church, Leesville.

Carter, Herman, of Deville, 2 p.m., Hixson Brothers, Pineville.

Grantham, Susie, of Natchi-toches, 10 a.m., Trinity Baptist Church, Natchitoches.

Johnson, Roy, of Winnfield, 10 a.m., Southern Funeral Home, Winnfield.

Makar, John, of Natchito-ches, 2 p.m., the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Natchi-toches.

Published on 4/19/01

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Convicted killer granted hearing to appeal case

By BRETT BARROUQUERE
Advocate staff writer

A death-row inmate from Baton Rouge will get a chance to argue for his life.

A federal judge granted Kevin J. Scales, awaiting lethal injection for a 1991 robbery-murder, a hearing on his claims that his attorney was ineffective and that prosecutors withheld exculpatory information.

A jury convicted Scales of killing Kenny Ray Cooper, 20, a cook at Church's Fried Chicken at 7941 Airline Highway, during a robbery in July 1991.

Cooper died during a struggle with Scales inside the restaurant. Cooper was shot five times; Scales was wounded three times.

Scales has claimed he shot Cooper in self-defense in a dispute over a drug debt.

Two co-defendants, Henry Guillory III and Kevin Lewis, both of Baton Rouge, pleaded guilty to armed robbery in the case. Guillory was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Lewis received a 25-year sentence.

Federal Public Defender Rebecca Hudsmith, who is handling Scales' appeal, said the hearing is good news for her client.

"I'm not even sure this should be a death-penalty case," Hudsmith said. "Maybe we can get him some relief."

Hudsmith pointed to problems with Scales' trial attorneys and the facts of the case as reasons for reconsidering the death sentence.

One of Scales' attorneys, Robert Monohan, pleaded guilty to a drug-related offense in federal court several months before the trial.

Charles Makar, the attorney who replaced Monohan, abused drugs and alcohol and later committed suicide, Hudsmith said.

Throughout the appeal process, Assistant District Attorney John Sinquefield has argued against giving Scales another sentencing.

"The reason Kevin Scales got the death penalty is because of Kevin Scales," Sinquefield said in 1998.

Federal Magistrate Mildred Methvin will conduct the hearing, scheduled 9 a.m. May 23 in Lafayette.

Methvin said allegations about Makar's drug use will be heard only as it relates to specific allegations that Makar was deficient at trial.

Methvin will also hear arguments that the state failed to give Scales exculpatory material in reports about a previous robbery.

Scales avoided execution in August 1998 after U.S. District Judge John V. Parker stopped the proceedings three days before the execution date.

Convicted killer wins life prison term

Convicted killer wins life prison term Published on 8/11/01

By MICHELLE MILLHOLLON
Advocate staff writer

Convicted killer Kevin Scales spent 10 years in court fighting the death sentence he received for killing a restaurant worker during a holdup in 1991.

His efforts earned him a life sentence Friday after the prosecution and the victim’s family agreed to have the court set aside his first-degree murder conviction. In exchange, Scales, 30, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of second-degree murder in Kenny Ray Cooper’s death.

The punishment for second-degree murder is life in prison.

The victim’s mother, Gearldine Cooper of Greensburg, said her family needed to put the matter behind them.

"It’s just hard hurting to have it come up all the time," she said.

First Assistant District Attorney John Sinquefield said the case has been in constant litigation for nearly 10 years.

"It would probably be three to five years before we had any hope of an execution," he said.

Cooper said her son was working to put himself through Southern University. He was 20 when he was killed.

"He was a loving son," she said. "He had never had a fight with anyone."

Scales’ attorney didn’t return a phone call seeking comment.

However, the case was problematic.

One of Scales' attorneys, Robert Monahan, pleaded guilty to a drug-related offense in federal court several months before the trial.

Charles Makar, another of Scales’ attorneys, abused drugs and alcohol and later committed suicide, Scales’ current attorneys have said in their arguments in court.

Scales’ attorneys also have argued that Scales had no intention of killing Kenny Ray Cooper when he entered Church's restaurant at 7941 Airline Highway on July 30, 1991.

In a taped statement to police, Scales claimed he only wanted to rob the restaurant. He was armed with a .38-caliber pistol.

Cooper also had a weapon — a .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol.

Scales told police he shot Cooper after Cooper shot him.

Scales sustained three superficial gunshot wounds. Cooper was shot five times, including one shot that perforated his heart.

At his trial, Scales told a different story.

He claimed the confrontation occurred over a drug transaction and said Cooper had sold him some cocaine, for which Scales owed him money.

Sinquefield, who prosecuted the case, argued during the trial that Scales couldn’t claim self-defense because he was the aggressor.

He also theorized that Cooper was carrying a weapon because the restaurant had been robbed two weeks before the killing.

Sinquefield dismissed Scales’ story about the drug transaction as a slanderous lie.

As part of the plea deal signed Friday, Scales had to agree that he’s guilty of the murder. His conviction of first-degree murder and the death sentence will be reinstated if Scales tries to appeal his guilty plea.

Makar, Pam & Mike

261 S Fairfax Dr
BATON ROUGE, LA 70806

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