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Anthony Templet Got a Second Chance. What Was He Supposed to Do With It?
Years after killing his father, the young man whose story drew national sympathy was back in jail
An illegally tinted car window is dangerous because it can give a law officer an excuse for an ordinary traffic stop. Certainly it’s better to be safe than sorry, but maybe Anthony Templet didn’t think about that when he got behind the wheel of a car in July 2025 with that red flag.
An officer in Louisiana pulled Templet over at random for his windows. But then he reported finding marijuana and an open bottle of vodka in Templet’s vehicle. A 15-year-old was with him.
That might have been a brief local crime story if the driver had been anyone else.
But it wasn’t. The vehicle operator happened to be Anthony Templet. He wasn’t just some guy with illegally tinted windows or drugs, alcohol, and a minor in his vehicle. Instead, he was the boy who killed his father, Burt.
He was also the young man whose tragic childhood story completely changed how many people thought about that killing. A prosecutor gave him a path out of prison. A lawyer stayed in his life. Strangers donated money so he could begin again.
