PAINCOURTVILLE — An Assumption Parish jury found a Paincourtville man guilty of manslaughter in connection with a 2024 stabbing death, the district attorney's office announced Friday. 

Charles Fair, 41, was convicted on Thursday after a jury determined he was responsible for the death of Donald Ray Tunson Jr., 35, also of Paincourtville. Assistant District Attorney Thomas Daigle prosecuted the case, which was presided over by Judge Steven Tureau.

According to authorities, Assumption Parish Sheriff's deputies responded to the area of Grant Road in Paincourtville on the evening of Jan. 1, 2024, for a domestic abuse-related call. When deputies arrived, they found a woman who had been physically assaulted by Fair.

A short distance away, deputies found Tunson's body.

During the subsequent investigation, detectives learned that the woman had arrived at Fair's residence with Tunson to drop off her and Fair's child. Fair attempted to get into the vehicle and began striking the woman.

Tunson was trying to help her when Fair stabbed him in the upper torso. Tunson tried to run away but collapsed in front of a neighboring residence, where he died.

Detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Fair, who turned himself in and was booked into the Assumption Parish Detention Center. Before this trial, Fair had pleaded guilty to one count of domestic abuse battery with child endangerment related to the assault of the woman, with sentencing deferred pending a pre-sentence investigation.

After the jury returned the manslaughter verdict, sentencing on that charge was also deferred pending a pre-sentence investigation. Fair faces decades in state prison and remains in the custody of the Assumption Parish Sheriff's Office awaiting sentencing.