GONZALES — A man arrested in the October 2021 killing of a state trooper and a female relative during a three-parish rampage entered a plea to avoid the death sentence, 23rd District Attorney Ricky Babin said Thursday. 

Matthew Mire, 35, was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences, as well as nearly 350 years in prison, during a hearing in Ascension Parish on Thursday. He will not have the possibility for parole, probation or suspension of sentence; Mire also waived his rights to ever seek an appeal, post-conviction relief or federal habeas corpus review of any of his convictions at a state or federal level.

Prosecutors were previously seeking the death penalty for Mire after the deaths of Master Trooper Adam Gaubert and Pamela Adair, as well as the attempted murder of four others, including another State Trooper in Livingston Parish.

"I guess it's...relief for the family that it's over," Babin said. "Because we have first-degree murder cases that are 20, 25 years old that are still being litigated, still in federal court. I don't like that, but it is what it is."

Babin said the families of Master Trooper Adam Gaubert and Pamela Adair wanted closure for their loved ones deaths and didn't want to see the trial extend for decades. 

"It's a real bittersweet day. I feel like this is a conclusion," Babin said. "But some very good people got murdered. A state trooper that was sitting in his seat, filling out a report from a call he made earlier, and a mother and wonderful lady who was asleep. Both of their lives were taken, so there's really no winners or losers."

Mire's 348½ year prison sentence also includes pleas for aggravated flight from an officer, armed robbery and home invasion, among other charges.

Babin said that Mire will spend the rest of his natural life behind bars. 

"It's called a contract for life," Babin said. "So, it's over."

When the case went to trial, the three jurisdictions where the crimes were committed agreed to take the case to trial in Ascension Parish, where the most serious charges — Gaubert and Adair's murders — took place. 

Prosecutors said Mire shot at his neighbors in Livingston Parish and then drove to Ascension Parish through East Baton Rouge Parish, where he came upon Gaubert, a 19-year veteran of State Police, before going to the home where Adair, Mire's relative by marriage, lived. After the shootings, he was the subject of a daylong manhunt in East Baton Rouge Parish that ended along Hoo Shoo Too Road.

Gaubert, who mostly patrolled Ascension Parish with State Policed Troop A, was found dead 15 hours after he was shot. State Police said that this was because troopers were maintaining radio silence during the manhunt for Mire. 

"It created the perfect storm for this to happen," officials said at the time, noting that Gaubert would have signed off around 6 a.m. when his overnight shift ended, telling his colleagues "10-7" over the radio. But those calls are suspended during major emergencies like a manhunt, meaning the lack of communication from Gaubert raised no red flags.

Mire initially pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder in Ascension.

Mire was being held in Angola State Penitentiary ahead of the trial. 

In June, Mire lost decisions in the Louisiana Supreme Court over the proceedings of the case, raising concerns over the death penalty, particularly how death penalty jurors are certified for trials. 

He and his legal team objected to potential jurors who were against the death penalty, arguing that it essentially stacked the deck against defendants.

Mire was also previously ordered to undergo a psychological evaluation before standing trial.