Man gets 10 years for attempting to kill wife

Published 9:35 am Wednesday, March 28, 2018

District Attorney Warren Montgomery said that Michael J. Hortman, 52, of Bogalusa, pleaded guilty Tuesday to attempted second-degree murder.

District Judge William J. Knight sentenced him to 10 years in prison without the benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence.

The crime occurred Sept. 29, 2017, when an agitated Hortman came home from work, threatened to kill his wife, struck her with a gun, and pulled the trigger multiple times, but it did not discharge initially. Hortman then reloaded, fired again several times in the house and at his wife, with at least one bullet flying past her head. When he put the gun on a shelf, she grabbed it and fled from the house.

The Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office investigated, and Hortman was later arrested on a warrant. Assistant District Attorney Jason Cuccia prosecuted the case.