By Michelle Hunter
The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate
GRETNA, La. — Leon Ruffin, the inmate who faked a medical emergency and used a pilfered pepper spray canister to attack and escape from a Jefferson Parish Sheriff Office deputy was found guilty Tuesday following a two-day trial, according to the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office.
Judge Stephen Enright Jr. of the 24th Judicial District Court immediately sentenced Ruffin to 32 years and ordered him returned to the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola where he was already serving a life sentence for the murder conviction authorities say he was trying to avoid when he escaped jail two years ago.
“He can go back to Angola just as soon as they can get him there,” Enright said, adding that he would personally call Angola’s warden to request that they “send the van immediately.”
Brazen escape
Ruffin, 53, was being held at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna while awaiting trial for the murder of his longtime friend, 53-year-old Gannon Johnson.
On the afternoon of Feb. 25, 2024, Ruffin appeared to suffer a seizure at the jail, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. A deputy was assigned to escort Ruffin to Ochsner Medical Center West Bank in unincorporated Gretna for treatment.
Ruffin was not properly secured with handcuffs or shackles because he had a medical boot on his right foot and a bandage on his left hand. He was also using a wheelchair.
Sheriff’s Office investigators say Ruffin was faking it all as part of his getaway plan.
“I think that’s a ruse,” Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto said of Ruffin’s afflictions shortly after the escape. “Unfortunately, he gamed the system in order to be able to take advantage of the situation.”
At about 6:30 p.m., Ruffin was medically cleared and placed on the back seat of the deputy’s marked patrol vehicle to return to the jail. As she was driving through the parking lot, Ruffin began screaming that he was in pain, authorities said.
When the deputy pulled over to check on him, Ruffin emptied a can of pepper spray in her face and charged at her, according to the authorities. The deputy fired her service weapon at Ruffin, but he was not injured. Ruffin then drove off in her vehicle.
Two-day search
Authorities recovered the deputy’s vehicle at about 9:12 p.m., abandoned in the parking lot of a business in the 3600 block of General De Gaulle Drive in Algiers. They found an inmate uniform nearby.
Ruffin apparently returned to his last known address on Holiday Drive in Algiers where he started calling family members, according to authorities.
Law enforcement spent two days searching for Ruffin before he was finally rearrested Feb. 27, 2024, at the Trident Inn Hotel in New Orleans East, authorities said.
In addition to the escape charges, he was also booked with having contraband in the correctional center after officers discovered a pack of cigarettes and a lighter smuggled between his buttocks, authorities said.
Investigators later determined Ruffin stole the pepper spray from a corrections officer who’d left it unattended the night before the escape, according to authorities. The officer was disciplined after an investigation, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Ruffin was sentenced to life plus 40 years in prison after he was convicted Sept. 18, 2024, of Johnson’s murder.
As during his murder trial, Ruffin was banished from the courtroom during the escape trial for repeated outbursts, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Richard Robinson, 34, of Harvey, pleaded guilty Monday to being an accessory after the fact to simple escape and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He was sentenced to five years in prison for driving Ruffin to the Trident Inn and providing him with food and supplies during the escape, according to authorities.
Ruffin’s wife, Shelita Ruffin, 54, was sentenced to two years in prison after she pleaded guilty in March 2025 to conspiracy to introduce contraband at the correctional center. In recorded jail calls, the couple plotted to smuggle cigarettes into the facility, according to authorities.
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