Louisiana Voice

The political fallout over the beating death of Ronald Greene at the hands of Louisiana State Police (LSP) continues with the reassignment of the state’s top law enforcement agency’s legal counsel, as reported last week by Baton Rouge TV station WBRZ’s investigative reporter Chris Nakamoto.

The removal of FAYE MORRISON from her appointive unclassified position to that of a classified civil servant follows a shakeup in Troop F in Monroe where Greene was tased, dragged and beaten in May 2019 was the latest attempt by the LSP high command at mitigating legal liability in his death. To date, three troopers have been FIRED and two resignations at the command level have taken place pursuant to Greene’s death with one of the three fired troopers DYING of an apparent suicide in the days following his termination. The problem with that termination last September was that it did not take place until last September – 16 months after Greene was killed.

Kevin Reeves, who was LSP superintendent at the time of Greene’s death, RETIRED  on Oct. 1 just as the long-delayed investigation of Greene’s death was heating up and his second in command, Chief of Staff Col. MIKE NOEL, also chose retirement rather than subject himself to expected intense questioning in his confirmation hearing as Gov. John Bel Edwards’ appointee as chairman of the Louisiana Gaming Control Board.

But Morrison’s demotion is of particular interest. Like the attempt by Bobby Jindal to make former director of the Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control MURPHY PAINTER a scapegoat years earlier, these types of events rarely occur in a vacuum. There’s always a back story.

Morrison may have given legal advice but ultimately, she took her orders from the LSP brass and those top two administrators (Reeves and Noel) are already gone, leaving only one outside of Troop F – or perhaps more appropriately, F-Troop – who may have known the details of the attempted cover-up in Greene’s death.

Rather than termination, Morrison was given something of a soft landing – if a 36.5 percent pay cut can be considered soft. An Attorney 3 classified employee from August 2010 until July 2017, when she was promoted to the unclassified appointive position of Assistant Secretary, she went from making $93,500 a year to $150,000 before getting a salary bump to $156,000 last July. With her reassignment back to Attorney 3, her pay was slashed to $99,000.

If her performance as the LSP legal counsel was so abysmal, why not fire her like the three troopers involved or force her into retirement a-la Reeves and Noel?

Without appearing too conspiratorial, it could just be that she knows too much about the machinations of the attempted spin control over Greene’s death and the beating and tasing of ANTONIO HARRIS, another African American man by some of the same F-Troopers a year after Greene’s death.

Of course, certain information would be protected under attorney-client privilege but there could well be other information outside that protective realm that Morrison is aware of that LSP would be embarrassed over or perhaps even find itself exposed to further legal liability should it be revealed.

As Lyndon Johnson once said in explaining why he wouldn’t fire FBI director J. Edgar Hoover: “It’s probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.”

“My wife says that roads and bridges are a woman’s problem if you will. Because oftentimes it is the woman – aside from commuting to work – who’s also taking children to schools or doing the shopping. And the more time that she spends on that road, the less time she spends doing things of higher value.”

—Louisiana’s own Repugnantcan US Sen. Bill Cassidy, on Meet the Press Sunday. A throwback to barefoot and in the kitchen? You can file this under “WHAT THE HELL WAS HE THINKING?”

“My attitude was: it was put-up or shut-up time. If there was evidence of fraud, I had no motive to suppress it. But my suspicion all the way along was that there was nothing there. It was all bulls**t.”

—Former Attorney General William Barr, in interview with The Atlantic on his finding there was no election fraud as the former guy insisted.

“Campaign accounts are not personal slush funds. They must be used for campaign-related activities. Attempting to overthrow and election you just lost is not a proper campaign activity.”

—Jordan Libowitz, communications director for campaign finance watchdog organization Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW), on failed congressional candidate Derrick Van Orden’s use of leftover campaign funds to finance his participation in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol.

A rogue judge in Missouri had teenaged siblings ARRESTED, cuffed and STRIP-SEARCHED  by sheriff’s deputies in Farmerville in Union Parish last November even though he didn’t have jurisdiction to order their arrest, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled has since ruled.

Kadan, 15, and sister Brooklyn Rockett, 13, had refused to go with their mother who lives in California. The teens, aspiring stage magicians who have appeared in films and commercials and have performed in more than 40 countries. They finished in the Top 14 of America’s Got Talent in 2016. They claim their mother desires to sabotage their budding careers as entertainers, court records indicate.

Their parents divorced in 2009.

That didn’t seem to matter to Associate Circuit Judge ERIC EIGHMY, who held them against their will in October 2019 when they were 14 and 12 after he first confronted the children outside the Taney County courtroom after they declined to visit with their mother. The incident occurred after hours and without any attorneys or parents in attendance, which is against the law.

Eighmy was not wearing his robe, legal proceedings had concluded and the children had broken no laws, their attorney claimed in the lawsuit filed against the judge, who berated Kadan and Brooklyn and threatened to send them to a juvenile facility and foster car if they did not go with their mother.

Eighmy had represented the children’s mother as an attorney before he was elected to a judgeship. Because of that, he should have recused himself from the custody battle altogether.

Instead, he had them arrested a second time last November while they and their father were visiting relatives in Farmerville.

Judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officers enjoy qualified immunity, which is a shield against legal liability when they act in accordance with their respective job descriptions. There have been sporadic efforts to eliminate qualified immunity because of the protections it affords officials who get carried away with their jobs.

A classic example was the case of John Thompson of New Orleans who spent 17 years on death row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola for first degree murder he did not commit. The Orleans Parish District Attorney’s office had withheld exculpatory evidence that would have exonerated Thomas and his court-appointed attorney never saw the evidence.

It was only after the Innocence Project discovered the hidden evidence that Thompson was freed. He sued DA Harry Connick and was awarded $17 million – a million dollars for each year he spent on death row. Connick appealed all the way to the US Supreme Court where Clarence Thomas was the swing vote that overturned the award, citing qualified immunity. Bottom line: John Thompson lost 17 years of his life on death row and got nothing for Connick’s deliberate actions.

The case with the teenagers is a little different in that Judge Eighmy is being sued individually and not as a judge. His removal from the case by the Missouri Supreme Court should lend strength to the Rockett children’s case.

Regardless hos this legal battle plays out, it should serve to illustrate how judges – and prosecutors – have a tendency to be power hungry, a hunger fed by huge egos. It should serve as an impetus to pass legislation to rein the growing number of abuses in places where people are supposed to be able to go to obtain justice.

“We do not believe it is appropriate to judge members of Congress solely based on their votes on the electoral certification.”

—Spokesperson for Toyota, identified as the top corporate donor to Republicans who voted against certifying Joe Biden’s electoral victory over the former guy.

“She really doesn’t do anything but travel the country and attack people, come up with crazy conspiracy theories, and try to be famous. And she’s done a good job of being famous. We all know her, so congratulations.”

—US Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Illinois), commenting on Marjorie Taylor Greene on CNN.

“Congressman Banks, you voted against that package, against that $350 billion, just like every other Republican in the House and Senate. So can’t you make the argument that it’s you and the Republicans who are defunding the police?”

—Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, reminding US Rep. Jim Banks (R-Indiana) that it was the Republicans who voted against President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief American Rescue Plan, which included $350 billion for local law enforcement agencies.

Those who believed political controversy in Iberia Parish would dissipate with the retirement of longtime sheriff Louis Ackal and the jailing of a few of his deputies may wish to reboot that somewhat premature assessment.

Any observers who harbored hopes of tranquility along the Teche probably forgot to factor the 16^th Judicial District Attorney’s office into the equation.

The 16^th JDC is comprised of the parishes of Iberia, St. Mary and St. Martin and District Attorney Bo Duhé, like the sheriff, exercises considerable power as evidenced by what would seem to be REPRISALS taken against INNOCENT PEOPLE by his office.

Of course, with the local DA orchestrating investigations, grand jury proceedings and trials, innocents and even those with questionable or minimal guilt can find themselves in the crosshairs of so-called justice. To that end, Duhé will issue appropriate PRESS RELEASE when he scores a courtroom victory – never mind that occasionally those victories can be somewhat TAINTED.

Sometimes, it can even appear there might be a conflict of interests in a case, but such circumstances have done little to deter Duhé or First Assistant DA Robert Vines from plunging ahead full-bore with QUESTIONABLE PROSECUTIONS.

That last one has now resulted in a 29-page COMPLAINT filed with the Office of Disciplinary Counsel in Baton Rouge against Vines for the manner in which he prosecuted Chitimacha Tribal Chairman O’Neil Darden, Jr. in 2016 while simultaneously serving as a contract attorney for the tribe.

(To read the full complaint, go HERE.)

When the U.S. Attorney’s office declined to intervene in a State Gaming Commission investigation into alleged manipulation of the Cypress Bayou Casino’s employee and payroll databases, Vines undertook the prosecution of the case even though he was at the time in negotiations over renewal of his contract with the tribe.

This is the same Robert Vines who in 2019 made national headlines when he rashly FILED TO RECUSE retired Judge Lori Landry from all criminal cases in the 16^th JDC, accusing the judge of being biased and prejudiced against the DA’s office because the judge had criticized the office for acting with racial bias including “improper motivations and ‘trickery’ in inconsistent plea offerings and selective use of the state’s habitual offender law.”

In October 2016, Darden’s attorney was given notice by Vines that Darden was a target of a grand jury hearing scheduled for Oct. 5 and 6 even though 16^th DC Judge Anthony Thibodeaux had already ruled that he found “no crime of computer fraud or theft” and that he found Darden “not guilty on unauthorized use of a movable and not guilty of misdemeanor theft.”

At the time, Vines offered Darden a plea deal that called for his resignation as chairman in exchange for dropping all charges. Darden rejected the offer and Vines proceeded to arbitrarily formally charge Darden by filing a bill of information on Oct. 7 rather than follow through with the grand jury proceedings.

That’s another power a prosecutor has which can be easily abused. If he thinks he can’t get a grand jury indictment, he simply bypasses the grand jury and charges a defendant with a bill of information. The whole process underscores the validity of the expression that a district attorney can indict a ham sandwich if he wants to.

Vines eventually reduced the charges to a misdemeanor but even then, could not get a conviction as Darden was subsequently found not guilty.

But the most serious charge against Vines was Darden’s contention that Vines withheld exculpatory evidence from him and his first formal complaint was that Vines was in violation of Rules 3.4 and 3.8 when he “intentionally, knowingly and deliberately concealed exculpatory Brady materials and documents with evidentiary value.”

Brady is the rule that says defendants are entitled to all evidence in the possession of prosecutors, including exculpatory – evidence that might benefit the defendant.

“Rule 3.8(d) is not ambiguous,” Darden says in his complaint. “It clearly provides a prosecutor “shall … make timely disclosure to the defense of all evidence or information known to the prosecutor that the prosecutor knows, or reasonably should know, either tends to negate the guilt of the accused or mitigates the offense. Application of Rule 3.8 is not limited to intentional violations,” he says.

In this investigation and prosecution, Mr. Vines intentionally, knowingly and deliberately withheld. several items of Brady material. Mr. Vines had first-hand knowledge of the existence of significant written statements that were “material” under the standard established in Brady, and he had actual possession of this evidence. But Mr. Vines never disclosed this information and instead chose to hide the evidence” that included written statements and affidavits and written notes from interviews Vines conducted.

Darden also lodged a specific complaint of conflict of interests on the part of Vines, who was simultaneously working as a contract attorney for the Chitimacha Tribe (even consulting with Chairman Melissa Darden – no relation to O’Neil Darden – during the latter’s trial) even as he led O’Neil Darden’s prosecution from te DA’s office and as he simultaneously was renegotiating his contract with the tribe.

This is the same DA’s office that relentlessly went after perceived political opponents, including Clerk of Court Michael Thibodeaux for infractions that would go unnoticed anywhere else, Judge Lori Landry, DONALD BROUSSARD (an innocent citizen who had the temerity to launch a recall effort against DA ally Sheriff Ackal over the death of prisoner

The only one in the parish who was untouchable, it seems was Ackal. Duhé & Co. just couldn’t seem to find reason to prosecute the sheriff or his deputies over abuses of prisoners or the death of 20-year-old VICTOR WHITE, III, who deputies said obtain a gun and shot himself in the chest – while his hands were cuffed behind his back. Even the coroner’s office got in on the act, ruling White’s death a suicide.

Of course, State Police, prone as they seem to be to enforce their special brand of justice on African-Americans, also went along with the charade – just as they and Duhé did when deputies turned VICIOUS DOGS on defenseless prisoners, seemingly just for the sport of it.

Nor was Duhé or Ackal particularly aggressive in pursuing the investigation into the 2010 murder of a New Iberia orthodontist, allowing a motion detector camera that may have contained valuable clues into the death of Dr. Robert Chastant to lie in the bed of his pickup truck for a year at the sheriff’s office until it was finally discovered by Chastant’s estate’s attorney – submerged in water – and useless – in the bed of the truck. You can read my book about that case by clicking HERE to order a copy from Cavalier House Books.