2 troopers accused in Ronald Greene beating death have charges dismissed
17th July 2023 · 0 Comments
By Wesley Muller
Contributing Writer
(lailluminator.com) — A Union Parish judge dismissed all criminal charges last Monday (July 10), against two of the five white law enforcement officers indicted in the 2019 beating death of Black motorist Ronald Greene. The judge further threatened to toss out the charges against the other officers if prosecutors fail to fix certain legal issues in the indictments.
Judge Thomas Rogers of the state’s Third Judicial District Court quashed the obstruction of justice indictments against former Louisiana State Police troopers Dakota DeMoss and John Peters. Those were the only charges against them.
District Attorney John Belton had charged DeMoss with obstructing justice for turning off the audio on his body camera. The indictment alleged DeMoss tampered with evidence by trying to prevent the recording of any statements made during or after the incident.
Louisiana’s obstruction of justice statute is narrowly defined as either tampering with evidence, threatening a witness or attempting to induce someone to hinder a criminal proceeding.
Rogers ruled that DeMoss’ action did not fit the statutory definition of tampering with evidence, according to the ruling.
“The legislature used the words alteration, movement, removal or addition to describe very specific actions as tampering with evidence,” Rogers wrote. “…The actions of Mr. DeMoss in turning off his body cam audio does not match any of those descriptions.”
Peters, who was the Louisiana State Police commander of the Monroe area troop at the time, allegedly ordered his troopers to “bury it in the report” and not “send the videos unless [the district attorney] asks for it.”
The judge saw nothing criminal about those comments.
Greene died May 10, 2019, following a vehicle pursuit outside of Monroe. Body-camera footage of the incident, which State Police withheld for two years, shows the officers beating, choking, stunning and dragging Greene before leaving him shackled in a prone position for at least nine minutes and failing to render aid. He was dead when paramedics arrived on the scene, according to testimony given to a Louisiana House of Representatives committee that investigated an alleged cover-up.
The judge further ordered prosecutors to tidy up their case against the other defendants, ruling that the bill of indictments prosecutors drafted lacked enough specific information.
Master Trooper Kory York, who faces the most serious charges – including one count of negligent homicide and 10 counts of malfeasance in office – could have nine of the malfeasance counts tossed out. DeMoss’ body camera captured York dragging a shackled Greene face-down across the pavement.
Prosecutors have three days to identify the specific video timestamps of when York allegedly committed each of the malfeasance charges. So far the negligent homicide charge still stands.
The judge made similar rulings in the indictments against Lt. John Clary and Union Parish sheriff’s deputy Chris Harpin.
Clary faces one count of malfeasance in office and one count of obstruction of justice. According to the indictment, Clary allowed Greene to remain restrained in a dangerous prone position. Prosecutors admitted they mistakenly drew up the charge of malfeasance for that allegation.
The obstruction of justice count against Clary remains. An internal investigation revealed he mislabeled his body-camera footage. Once it was eventually found, it showed graphic parts of Greene’s beating not captured by any other cameras at the scene.
Harpin, who faces three counts of malfeasance, will likely have one tossed out for the exact same reason given in Clary’s case. Prosecutors acknowledged they mistakenly drew up the malfeasance charge, which doesn’t apply to negligently allowing Greene to remain restrained in a dangerous prone position, according to the recent ruling.
One of the counts alleges Harpin used pepper spray on Greene while Greene was already subdued. The judge allowed that charge to stand.
Another count of malfeasance accuses Harpin of beating Greene while he was already subdued. Rogers gave prosecutors three days to identify the specific video timestamps of when Harpin allegedly committed that crime.
“My client did nothing wrong,” Harpin’s attorney Eugene Cicardo said in a phone call Tuesday. “Him being charged at all in this case is a tragedy in and of itself.”
Belton, the district attorney prosecuting the case, could not be reached for comment at presstime.
This article originally published in the July 17, 2023 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
