Louisiana Voice

No one in Baton Rouge would ever question any claim that LSU could more easily do a Cajun two-step around the law without fear of punishment than the ordinary individual or business enterprise. That’s just the way it is where football rules supreme over all other considerations, a mentality that spills over into virtually all facets of university life.

So, when LSU was recently SANCTIONED by U.S. District Judge Scott Johnson over the wiping of university cellphone text messages in connection with a SEXUAL MISCONDUCT lawsuit, it raised more than a few eyebrows around town.

Gee, the thinking must’ve been, if they can sanction a sacred cow like LSU, they can go after a former president. No one’s immune.

Well, almost no one.

We’re still waiting for official action to be taken against Louisiana State Police for the WIPING of several cellphones that possibly contained evidence relevant to the agency’s attempted coverup of the beating death of Ronald Greene at the hands of rogue state troopers in May 2019.

Just a reminder: the destruction of evidence in a criminal investigation is a felony.

Oh, they went through the motions, all right. In April 2022, it was announced by several officials jostling to get in front of the parade that the (ahem) State INSPECTOR GENERAL’s Office  (gasp) would take over the investigation into the erased state police cellphones.

That oughta do it. The Louisiana Inspector General’s Office. That’s like asking Barney Fife to investigate the Taliban or to find D.B. Cooper.

It’s like the Denham Springs police officer who, while investigating a 4 a.m. burglary attempt of my wife’s car a few years ago, declared while observing the vehicle from about eight feet away, “I don’t see any fingerprints,” even though I’m pretty sure my and my wife’s fingerprints were all over the damn door handle and the steering wheel.

It’s been 18 months since we learned of the wiped LSP cellphones and still we have no report by the IG. It’s been nearly 4 ½ years since Greene was killed and all we have is the wholesale DISMISSAL of charges against troopers by a north Louisiana judge. Oh, excuse me. We do have the RETIREMENT of the LSP’s second in command Doug Cain and his boss, KEVIN REEVES, also stepped down – with full pensions.

But no IG report on the wiped LSP phones.

A special legislative committee was thrown together in a dramatic show of lawmakers’ concern for the rights of a black man. With all due indignant pomp appropriate for the occasion, the committee was charged with investigating Greene’s death.

The committee held a few highly publicized hearings, took no formal action, issued no report and predictably, DIED A QUIET DEATH.

So, there you have it. LSP, a dysfunctional agency, is allowed to slink off into the sunset without ever giving an explanation of why potential evidence was allowed to be destroyed even as the courts furtively quash charges against troopers run amok.

Only in Louisiana, folks. Only in Louisiana.