Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: What's up, guys? Welcome to another episode of the Parish Circuit. I'm Stuart Ammon. With me, as always, is David Reilly. What's up, Dave?
[00:00:06] Speaker B: Not much, man.
[00:00:07] Speaker A: Happy Friday. It's Friday.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: Happy Friday.
[00:00:09] Speaker A: We are recording this on a Friday, and hopefully it will be published also on a Friday. All right. This is a special episode. This is new. This is not necessarily current events, although it is current and it needs to be talked about. So this is a story that we followed from the very beginning.
This fall, Opelousis is about to vote for their police chief.
[00:00:28] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:00:29] Speaker A: Nearly three years ago, there was a shooting involving the police chief because he had an affair. And it was shots fired from his mistress towards his wife. The chief was shot in the hand.
I can't remember if the.
[00:00:44] Speaker B: His wife was struck in the arm.
[00:00:46] Speaker A: Okay, got it. So gunfire.
We're not breaking any news here.
This is all old stuff. This was years ago. What we are doing today is making an appeal.
We're making an appeal.
This has got to get dealt with. The election is coming this October. I think it's October.
We're about to have another vote on the chief of police for the city of Opelousas. And this case is still pending, Right?
Specifically, malfeasance and obstruction of justice. The charges were dropped on the woman that he had the affair with. She was facing some charges. Those charges were dropped because they justified her actions by self defense.
Okay.
Which means, you know, that somebody was threatening her.
[00:01:32] Speaker B: Did they. Did they actually give an explanation for why her charges were dropped?
[00:01:36] Speaker A: What I've read has been maybe I'm remembering this incorrectly. My assumption was that it was self defense.
[00:01:41] Speaker B: I mean, that. That would be my assumption as well. Yeah, that. I mean, that makes sense. But it does place, in an event like this, a crime like this.
Well, I'll say an alleged crime, by excusing or dismissing the charges on one party, it puts more.
[00:02:05] Speaker A: It assumes. Yes. On the other than the other party. Yeah. It assumes that there's stuff to be dealt with. And we want to be perfectly clear. We've been talking about this case since it happened, since it started, since the original affair broke out.
[00:02:17] Speaker B: And this was December 22, 20. 20, 23.
[00:02:21] Speaker A: Yeah. Almost three years ago.
[00:02:22] Speaker B: Yeah, over two and a half years ago.
[00:02:24] Speaker A: This is not.
This is. This is.
This is wild. Now, I also recognize that court systems in the state of Louisiana are backed up. I get that. Okay. We have people in Saint Landry Parish jail that have been sitting for years waiting for trial because they haven't bailed themselves. Out. Like, I recognize that court systems are back up. There's issues to deal with that I get all of it. But this is different.
There is another election coming down the pipe right now, and this is still just hanging out there. We don't know. And if it's innocent, then. Innocent. If it's case dismissed, then dismiss it. If it's guilty, then let it ride. The point is that the citizens of Opelousis need to have this put to bed before the election happens in October. That's what we're going for.
I also want to be very clear that we're not accusing. So currently, this case is being handled by the Attorney General's office for the state of Louisiana.
[00:03:20] Speaker B: Okay. Right.
[00:03:21] Speaker A: We are not accusing anybody of corruption. We're not accusing the attorney General's office of anything we should say. We're just saying this needs your attention quickly.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: Right.
[00:03:37] Speaker A: And I don't. Everything that I've seen from our current attorney general makes me think that she cares about justice. And potentially maybe she just hasn't even seen this.
Like, she doesn't even. She's not even aware of this case. It's a whole state. There's 4 million people here. You know, I'm sure that she has a lot going on, but what we're trying to do is draw attention to it. That's the button that we're pushing right now. We want attention. We want to know when and we want to know what's going on. That's what we deserve as citizens in the city of Opelousis right now. There you go. And honestly, you know, we love the clause of the law that presumes innocence.
[00:04:15] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:04:16] Speaker A: We love that.
[00:04:17] Speaker B: Like, we're not. And so, yeah. On your. At your point or to your point, we're not trying to put this out there for the.
Just anybody to pass judgment.
[00:04:29] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:04:29] Speaker B: We want the proper carrying out of the court system and the legal system.
We want it to go forward properly.
We want evidence to be presented. We want this to go. Yeah. We're not putting this out there to try for it to be some sort of like a. Hey, let's get public opinion.
[00:04:47] Speaker A: Yeah. This is. We're not trying to organize a trial by public opinion here. We're trying to organize a trial.
A trial, period.
[00:04:54] Speaker B: And maybe that's a different episode. We could actually talk all about that. Maybe the problem in our current day of the public.
[00:04:59] Speaker A: Yes. Yeah, definitely. We. That deserves our attention. And we will talk about it, but that'll be another time. So here's. Here's what's going on. So just let's bring everybody up to speed. So December 22nd, what went down? They. The.
[00:05:14] Speaker B: The wife showed up at the mistress's
[00:05:18] Speaker A: house and Greg was there.
[00:05:22] Speaker B: Greg was there.
[00:05:23] Speaker A: Okay. Obviously at the mistress's house.
[00:05:26] Speaker B: Right.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: Got it. Context. Thank you.
[00:05:29] Speaker B: The mistress had a firearm and ended up firing at the wife, which now
[00:05:35] Speaker A: the courts have dismissed the charges of. So the assumption there is. There's some type of self defense, some type of castle statute, potentially.
[00:05:42] Speaker B: Sure. And then in the process of that, Greg got hit through or got hit in the hand. The bullet went through his hand, hit his wife in the arm.
[00:05:51] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:05:51] Speaker B: So he was trying to get the weapon or something like that.
[00:05:55] Speaker A: So that's what it seems like.
Then the charges of obstruction of justice and malfeasance originate from.
[00:06:03] Speaker B: And tampering with evidence, I believe.
[00:06:05] Speaker A: Oh, wow.
[00:06:06] Speaker B: Well, there are three charges, and I think those were the three.
[00:06:08] Speaker A: Okay, you can.
[00:06:09] Speaker B: You guys can go look at the, you know, the news articles that came out around that time to confirm that. But for sure, malfeasance relates to the inappropriate relationship.
Subordinate. Okay. The obstruction of just justice has to do with the recording of the video
[00:06:25] Speaker A: camera on the porch, which is on the Internet. Anybody can go watch it.
[00:06:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:06:29] Speaker A: And it's where. What's happening?
The.
[00:06:33] Speaker B: It appears. Again, we're. We're going to let the courts decide guilt. But it appears that the. Or we hear the police chief telling a fellow officer who arrives on the scene not to call anybody.
[00:06:46] Speaker A: So this is his subordinate.
He's had an affair with a subordinate, and there's a subordinate who comes on the scene. And according to this video, it looks like Greg is saying to the subordinate, don't call anybody.
[00:06:57] Speaker B: Yes. And those words either are directed at the subordinate or at one of the two ladies.
The timeline's a little fuzzy here, but.
[00:07:05] Speaker A: Got it.
[00:07:06] Speaker B: But the words are basically uttered, don't call anybody, call anybody.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:11] Speaker B: But at some point, this officer shows up, and then this is where the tampering with evidence comes in. Apparently there is some wiping up of blood that occurs and things like that. So that's where the tamper.
[00:07:24] Speaker A: I didn't know about that part.
[00:07:25] Speaker B: That's where the charge of the tampering with evidence comes in.
[00:07:29] Speaker A: Okay, I understand. So like I said, we've been following this case for a long time, since literally it happened. You can go back through and look at old episodes of the Parish Circuit where we go in and kind of have conversations about it. So we're bringing it up again because election is Coming.
And what we've been doing in the meantime is since around December of this past year, we've been filing records requests with the State Attorney General's office.
And they've responded, and we've had a back and forth with them for quite some time. And then there was a period of several months where we didn't hear from them.
But then eventually they finally got back to us. And their position is that the records are exempt because litigation and investigation are still pending. Okay, so what that means is that until the Attorney General's office closes the case, okay, it's still open, and there's no public records available.
So it's literally just hanging in limbo right now on somebody's desk in the Attorney General office, or maybe not even in a desk, maybe like on a filing cabinet somewhere.
And they're. They're saying the.
They're saying that actually there was a little bit of a back and forth with the thing it was saying. At one point, they said that there's not any records, and then they said we can't release the records. It was a confusing moment. So, but I think where we eventually landed is that there are records, obviously there are records, and they can't quite releasing them. So they can't quite release them until the case is actually closed. Now, that's fine, and that's probably good.
We wouldn't want necessarily documents like that to be released. But what that really means is that the case is still active right now. Nothing's been closed, nothing's been dismissed. It's active right now. It's pending right now. And we need to get to the bottom of this. Right? You need to understand this.
[00:09:29] Speaker B: And let me make one more correction quick. So the three charges are officially malfeasance in office, obstruction of justice, and failure to assist or aid another officer. But it does reference in an explanation on one of the articles that there's allegations of tampering.
[00:09:44] Speaker A: Okay, I understand. So tampering is not the charge.
[00:09:47] Speaker B: The failure to.
[00:09:48] Speaker A: Failure to assist is the charge. Okay, I gotcha. So here's what we want to do. Here's what we're trying to do in this episode. We are. We've sent emails directly to the Attorney General's office about this. That's happened. The ships have been burned. You know, it's. We're in this. We want to. We want to get to the bottom of this. There's three things that we're trying to do. First, we're trying to get resolution here. We've said that at the Beginning. We're saying it again. It's nearly three years that this has been going on. That's too long. That's almost a whole term.
He's been in office for a whole term. He's running again right now to be elected again.
And what we want is just resolution. Our court shouldn't take this long, especially for a case of this high profile.
This will lend itself to people being suspicious of corruption on a state and local level.
Right. If this is just sitting there, that's what people will be thinking. They'll be thinking that there is corruption in these systems. Now, I want to go back and qualify that again. We're not making that accusation.
[00:10:54] Speaker B: Right.
[00:10:54] Speaker A: But you can see how somebody would get there real easy.
[00:10:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:57] Speaker A: Right.
[00:10:57] Speaker B: The longer this drags out.
[00:10:59] Speaker A: Yes, yes. So we want this to be done, wrapped up and the AG to close the case.
You're going to say something, David. Yeah.
[00:11:08] Speaker B: I know the reactions to this back two and a half years ago. Plus, we're mixed. Right? We're mixed. And I know some, you know, some people that listen to this episode or read the article will probably be like, tracking right along and saying, like, yeah, this needs to get solved. Like, we need to figure out what's happening.
[00:11:29] Speaker A: And.
[00:11:29] Speaker B: But there were. There are many people who would question why we would do this. Maybe, like, why. Why bring this back up?
Right. And I think you've already explained kind of the. The basics, the clear, like, hey, the
[00:11:43] Speaker A: people of Opelousis deserve this answer.
[00:11:46] Speaker B: Absolutely.
Yeah. And. And I want to. I want to quote the. The chief police here soon after the events occurred. Do you think that'd be helpful?
[00:11:56] Speaker A: Yeah, I could do it. Say it.
[00:11:58] Speaker B: So he said, and I'm quoting here from a statement he released, I must acknowledge the role I played in this unfortunate situation.
I have failed in my commitment to uphold the standards expected of the chief of police, and more importantly, failed the trust you have placed in me.
Infidelity is a breach of not only the personal commitments I made, but also the professional standards we all expect from those in public service.
[00:12:26] Speaker A: Agreed.
[00:12:26] Speaker B: We would agree with him and we would.
[00:12:28] Speaker A: 100%. That's a great statement.
That's a great statement. Agreed. And one of the things that we have said from the very beginning for full disclosure is that we believe that someone who has had this type of moral failure in office should resign from that office.
[00:12:41] Speaker B: Right.
[00:12:42] Speaker A: Put all the cards on the table here. But that's not what we're pushing for in this episode. What we're pushing for in this episode is for this to end.
Wrap this bad boy up with a bow. So that's the first thing. Second thing, honestly, just if we could get a timeline, that would be amazing.
When are we anticipating that this is going to get resolved? We would love to hear that from the Attorney General's office.
Maybe you don't know. You don't know Exactly.
That's fine.
Then say that we don't know exactly when this is going to get done. We anticipate it'll happen sometime in the next 24 months.
At least that's a response.
Right? And then say why?
Why is it gonna take however long it's gonna take? Because it has already been two years. The Attorney General's office is busy. We're very backed up with other cases. I get it. But there's 16,000 people in the city of Opelousas who need this dealt with. It's not a small weight piece. We need to see this through.
And then whenever everything's over, we want the records.
When this bad boy gets wrapped up, I'll just file another records request.
We want to see the details of the case that the AG's office has had in hand. We want to know what's going on, what's the facts of the matter, because we recognize that trial by public opinion has its own problem.
Oh, absolutely.
[00:14:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:14:16] Speaker A: No, but we want to understand what's taken so long. Why has the case sat for so long? Of course we want to understand that. And we also understand. Want to understand the evidence that the AG's office has actually been dealing with as this has gone through. So any statement from the office that we get, we're going to publish.
We're going to publish it. I've got some correspondence, letters that we've received from them so far. We'll publish those with our article, too.
We'll talk about. We'll release every detail, the correspondence that we've had with the AG's office. We're ready to offer full daylight and disclosure here. We just want to see this thing done. So why does this matter?
Duh.
Because the election is right around the corner.
The. It's right there. And we as citizens in the city of Appaloosas, citizens in Saint Landry Parish.
Appaloosas is the parish seat. The parish as a whole should care about this. Appaloosas is the city that sits on the intersection of I49 and 190. That is a potent place to be located in St. Landry parish. There's tons of commerce that flows through here. It's not just the parish, but I would say the region of Acadiana should care about this. We should want to know what's going on and we should see that it's dealt with correctly. So if that's you, if you're a Citizen of Appaloosa, St. Landry Parish or the surrounding area and you want to see this dealt with, we're going to try to give you some tools to do that.
The you can request documents from the Attorney General's office.
You can request court proceedings from the 27th JDC.
Those are public records.
You can remember that the election is in October. We're going to even put some links on this article so that you can push the button and submit a request to the AG's office again for us, a records request so that they can feel, you know, hey, more than just Stuart and David care about this.
There's more people.
And if we can get a response, that would be wonderful, wouldn't it? Wouldn't it? Yeah.
[00:16:16] Speaker B: Yep, it would.
[00:16:17] Speaker A: Absolutely would.
[00:16:18] Speaker B: It's. Yeah, we're just. It's. Time flies, but it just seems crazy that it's been so long.
[00:16:23] Speaker A: Three years. Yeah, three years.
So we just want to see this resolved. We think it's time for it to happen and let's look forward to building a better Opelousis in the future. Right?
Absolutely right. Opelousis has waited three years for this to end.
It would not be great if we had to wait until after we voted again to hear how this thing goes on.
And I would invite the AG or anybody from her office.
We can stream you in over the Internet to come and talk with us on this episode in this platform about what's going on and why. We would love to understand it a little bit more. Microphone is on. It's yours whenever you want to take it.
Let's get this thing across the finish line for the people of Opelousis. Right, Dave?
[00:17:15] Speaker B: Yep. Agreed. Yeah.
[00:17:17] Speaker A: Anything you want to add?
[00:17:19] Speaker B: Should I read a Bible verse?
[00:17:21] Speaker A: Do it, please.
[00:17:23] Speaker B: 2nd Samuel 23. 3.
He who rules over men must be just ruling in the fear of God. It's a good reminder that we want God fearing rulers and we want justice to be carried out.
[00:17:38] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:17:39] Speaker B: In a proper way.
[00:17:40] Speaker A: Amen. Amen. Wonderful. Thank you all so much for listening. Attorney General, if you have heard this, we would invite you to come and visit with us. We would love to have this conversation. You can stream in if you want to. That's fine. You could do it from the comfort of your car if you would like, also acceptable. But we, as the citizens of.
[00:17:57] Speaker B: Not while driving.
[00:17:58] Speaker A: Not while driving. Not while driving.
[00:18:00] Speaker B: Park car.
[00:18:00] Speaker A: That's illegal. I'm sure she knows that.
Thank you guys so much for listening.
If you're looking for ways to participate, you can check out the article and engage there and we will see you guys next time.
