Louisiana Voice

Kory York is the latest of five state troopers who beat, kicked and tased a helpless Ronald Greene in 2019 until he died, handcuffed and lying on the ground, to walk out of court a free man after plea bargaining his penalty down to a $1,000 fine. Third Judicial District Judge Thomas Rogers a year ago DISMISSED CHARGES against two other former state troopers, Dakota DeMoss and John Peters.

BERNARD NOBLE, an African-American, was stopped by New Orleans police as he was riding a bicycle. On the ground was a small bag of marijuana, an amount rough equivalent to two joints. He was subsequently sentenced to 13 and one-half years in prison, actually serving seven.

JOHN PAUL FUNES was found guilty in 2019 of embezzling nearly $800,000 from a children’s hospital foundation. He was sentenced to 33 months. That’s two years and nine months for stealing from sick children. He served only 14 months before his release.

An anomaly, you say? Well then, how about DEREK HARRIS of Abbeville? An unemployed Gulf War veteran, he was busted for selling $30 worth of weed to an undercover agent. He sat in jail for three years as his trial was continued (postponed) time after time before he finally opted for a judge trial instead of a jury trial.

The judge sentenced him to 15 years in prison on June 16, 2012 but that wasn’t enough for the district attorney who filed a habitual offender bill of information (a bill of information is executed by the DA without benefit of a grand jury’s hearing the evidence) based on Harris’s prior arrests and five months later, on Nov. 26, he was sentenced to life without parole.

Paul R. Allen, CEO of Taylor Bean & Whitaker, one of the nation’s largest privately-held mortgage lenders, was sentenced to 40 months in prison for his role in a $3 billion (billion with a “B”) CORPORATE FRAUD SCHEME that had the ripple effect of costing about 2,000 people their jobs

ROY BROWN, a homeless African-American man, robbed a Shreveport bank but took only $100 from the stack of bills handed him. He explained that that was all he needed because he was homeless and hungry. Later that same day, overcome by remorse, he turned himself in and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

But for one-upmanship, it difficult to top RICK SCOTT. Scott at one time was the CEO of Columbia/HCA, at the time the nation’s largest for-profit hospital chain. That was before Scott was ousted and Columbia/HCA in 2003 settled the largest health care fraud fine – a whopping $1.7 billion – at the time. Scott’s punishment? First, he was elected governor of Florida and later to the U.S. Senate where he continues to serve and is even being touted by some as a future Republican candidate for President.

So what’s the difference between people like Bernard Noble, Derek Harris and Roy Brown and people like John Paul Funes, Paul Allen and Rick Scott?

Money and influence. And the color of their skin.

The first three are black men, at the bottom of the highly-prejudicial economic caste system where all men certainly are NOT born equal. The other three are white men in cushy positions of influence and fortunate enough to have the money for top-notch legal representation – and perhaps, just perhaps, a little (conscious or unconscious) bigotry on the part of presiding judges.

They are not unlike WAYNE BRYANT, who was, like Harris, Brown and Noble, a low-income black man, popped with a life sentence under the state’s absurd “three strikes” laws for attempting to steal a pair of hedge clippers.

So, to what do we owe the unbelievable string of NON-PROSECUTIONS in the killing of Ronald Greene, the latest being the sentencing of former State Trooper KORY YORK to a six-month suspended sentence, a $1,000 fine and 160 hours of community service – for his part in the taking of another human being’s life?

Well, if I had to guess, I’d say it might have been the combined influence of the Louisiana State Police (LSP), the Louisiana Sheriffs’ Association and a few key legislators.

If you’ve been following the 2019 killing of Greene, you’ve seen more than ample evidence of a COVERUP by LSP and you can bet the sheriffs’ association was pulling its own furtive maneuvers, especially since one of their own was among the gang that put Ronald Greene to death. And if you follow LouisianaVoice at all, you know that we have PREDICTED all along that LSP would CIRLE THE WAGONS on this and that the legislative committee empaneled to “investigate” Green’s death would do nothing of the sort.

And you can remember how the troopers initially tried to tell Greene’s family that he died when his vehicle hit a tree? That was an OUTRIGHT LIE as body cam footage “discovered” months later ultimately revealed.

Of course, attempts at elaborate coverups was not new to LSP, as LEAKED DOCUMENTS relating to academy cheating revealed about the same time as the Greene death probe was getting underway.

As ASHTON O’DWYER can attest, the manner in which the entire Ronald Greene matter was handled was indicative of LSP’s M.O. insofar as transparency with the public is concerned.

So, it seems to boil down to one simple truism: We have the best system of justice that money can buy.