Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill’s office has invoked the state's habitual offender statute against a woman charged with fraud and theft following the death of a Kansas City reporter in a Kenner hotel room.

Murrill’s office filed the statute against Danette Colbert on March 6 in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court, in a case unrelated to the fresh charges she faces in Jefferson Parish.

A New Orleans jury convicted Colbert of fraud and theft last November. It was Colbert’s fifth felony conviction in Louisiana, court records show.

Criminal District Court Judge Nandi Campbell sentenced Colbert to a suspended sentence of 10 years in prison, and five years of active probation. Colbert was serving that probation when she was arrested last month.

Kenner police allege Colbert used a credit card belonging to the reporter, Adam Manzano, just days after his death. Jefferson Parish prosecutors charged Colbert with fraud and theft in the incident. Soon after, New Orleans police named her as a suspect in another death on Dec. 15 in New Orleans.

In that case, John Jenkins, 55, was found dead in a hotel in the 300 block of Dauphine Street in New Orleans. The Orleans Parish Coroner's Office said he died of cocaine and ethanol toxicity, and classified his death as accidental.

Colbert has not been charged with either death.

Following her arrest in Kenner, Orleans Parish prosecutors moved to revoke Colbert’s probation. District Attorney Jason Williams has since asked Murrill’s office to take over the case.

The habitual offender statute allows prosecutors to add years — sometimes up to life — to the sentence of a defendant who has been convicted of eligible past felonies. The bill, filed by Murrill’s office on March 6, asks Campbell to resentence Colbert as a repeat offender. Colbert faces a potential 20 years-to-life prison sentence under the statute.

“My office is working together with District Attorney Jason Williams on the best way to move forward with this defendant, whose alleged conduct is very serious and involves multiple jurisdictions,” Murrill said in a written statement. “Our position is the original sentence was not eligible for probation.”

Murrill’s office intervened in the case after Williams asked for her help.

“Given the multi-jurisdictional span of this defendant’s actions, I have requested the attorney general’s participation in the Orleans Parish cases,” Williams said in a prepared statement. “I’ve further encouraged them to lead the work to hold this offender accountable statewide, and to be the main point of contact for other investigations and prosecutions in other states. I firmly believe this approach will ensure the most unified and focused prosecution of each of these serious cases.”

Williams, who campaigned in 2020 on a promise to never use the habitual offender statute, rolled out a limited-use policy for the law two years ago, after a surge in violent crime. Prosecutors in Williams office must petition to use the statute, according to the policy, and can only apply it to cases involving violence, sexual assault or domestic abuse.

A spokesperson for the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a question about whether it will also ask for Murrill’s help.