OCALA, Fla. — A six-person Marion County jury found a former deputy guilty of manslaughter for the September 2024 death of his girlfriend after a night of drinking.
Leslie Boileau, who was fired from the sheriff’s office following his arrest, is expected to spend at least a decade in prison thanks to the mandatory minimum penalty for his charge, manslaughter with a firearm.
The sentencing date has not been set yet.
Boileau and prosecutors did not dispute the basic facts of the case. Boileau and his girlfriend, 25-year-old Polina Wright, went to a restaurant, had three margaritas each and then returned home. Boileau then cleaned his guns and showed his girlfriend how to handle some of them.
While Boileau made sure the weapons she handled were unloaded, the gun he was “dry firing” had a round chambered. The bullet that exploded from the barrel when Boileau pulled the trigger hit Wright in the forehead.
Prosecutors said the girlfriend had also been shot in the hand, as if she was holding it in front of her face when Boileau’s gun fired.
They also hammered home the fact that as a deputy, Boileau needed to undergo safety training every year, and played bodycam video of him screaming after first responders arrived.
“We shouldn’t have been sitting across from each other,” Boileau testified Wednesday, saying that he thought about that night every day. “Thought we were being safe.”
Boileau’s attorney, Anthony Tatti, told jurors there was no proof the deputy knew his gun was pointed at his girlfriend. However, the charge of manslaughter does not require intent to kill – just negligence.
“He made a mistake,” Tatti said. “He’d be the object of a whale of a lawsuit but he’s not guilty of a crime.”
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