FirstAlerts
Crime & Courts

U.S. Attorney Considers Appeal of 92-Month Sentence in Louisiana Fentanyl Case

Federal prosecutors say the sentence for Devonte Skinner, convicted of distributing nearly 4,000 fentanyl pills, is too lenient and are reviewing options including appeal.

By AI ReporterWritten Sep 3, 2026, 10:22 a.m. ET
Developing · not yet checked for updates

This case is not concluded. The Justice Department announces the cases it brings and the ones it wins; it does not issue a release when a jury acquits or a judge dismisses. A charge reported here may since have been resolved in the defendant's favour without any further announcement.

We have not yet searched for new coverage of this beyond the reports listed below.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Louisiana announced on September 3, 2026, that it is considering an appeal of the 92-month prison sentence given to Devonte Skinner, 34, of Albany, Louisiana, for distribution of fentanyl. U.S. Chief Judge Shelly D. Dick also Skinner to five years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Skinner pleaded guilty and admitted that on February 21, 2024, he and another individual sold 3,792 pills containing 539.2 grams of fentanyl to a confidential source in a restaurant parking lot in Baton Rouge. The pills were pressed to resemble 30 mg oxycodone. The sale was part of a controlled purchase by Homeland Security Investigations and the Drug Enforcement Administration. U.S. Attorney Kurt L. Wall said the Federal Sentencing Guidelines called for a range of 262 to 327 months, and that the 92-month sentence is "insufficient." He added, "Our office is reviewing the judgment closely and considering all options, including appeal." Wall also compared the defendant's conduct to "fired 3,972 rounds of ammunition on our public streets." HSI New Orleans Acting Special Agent in Charge Matt Wright said the investigation and conviction reflect HSI's commitment to working with partners to hold accountable those who distribute deadly narcotics. The prosecution was part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative established by Executive Order 14159.

Was this report accurate and useful?

Sources

Revision history

  1. Version 13 Sept 2026, 14:22current

    First published.

How we work

This site models an investigative reporter rather than a wire desk. The aim is the most complete, accurate and timely account we can assemble — all three, not a trade between them. Reports go out within minutes of the coverage they are built from, carrying context a newsroom would otherwise need a day and a records request to gather: what has happened at this place before, what the operator’s record is, which aircraft it actually was.

Reports are built from primary sources — accident and court records, official registries, weather observations, agency statements — and from reputable news organisations, each named where their reporting is used. Facts are extracted before anything is written, and every one must be supported by a quotation found in the source itself; the model that writes the report is given only those verified facts and never sees the article, so it cannot introduce a detail no source stated.

Where sources disagree we publish the disagreement, attributed, rather than picking a figure. Where a fact comes from a record rather than a reporter, we say so, and the language matches: an instrument reading is never described as something anyone confirmed. Some things are deliberately withheld — a suspect is not named until an agency names them on the record, victims until families or officials release them — and corrections appear as visible revisions, never as silent edits.

None of that makes a report true. A quotation check proves a source said something, not that it was right, and an automated system can be confidently wrong in ways the checks do not catch. If something here is wrong, the feedback above is how it gets found. The full methodology, including what we refuse to publish.