D.A.: Case against troopers in Ronald Greene death will go to grand jury this year

By Wesley Muller
Contributing Writer

(lailluminator.com) — More than three years have passed without any criminal charges filed against the Louisiana State Police troopers involved in Ronald Greene’s death, though the prosecutor handling the case said he still plans to present it to a grand jury.

District Attorney John Belton, who represents Union and Lincoln parishes, said in a phone interview last Wednesday he will present the case to a grand jury before the end of the year.

Belton said he is currently conducting a second review of the case files he received from the FBI and federal prosecutors earlier this year. He and his staff reviewed the file once previously and are now “crossing all our Ts and dotting all our Is,” he said. The next step will be to call witnesses, according to the DA.

Belton first announced his intent to pursue charges at an investigative hearing of a Louisiana committee in May. He said he felt “state and federal crimes had been committed” after watching video footage of the incident.

Greene, a 49-year-old Black man, died May 10, 2019, following a vehicle pursuit outside of Monroe. Body-camera footage of the incident shows Greene getting out of his vehicle and surrendering to troopers after he crashed his car. The footage then shows troopers beating, choking, stunning and dragging Greene before leaving him in a prone position for at least nine minutes. He was dead when paramedics arrived on the scene, according to testimony given to the House committee investigating the alleged cover-up.

State Police initially claimed Greene died from injuries sustained in the car wreck that ended the chase. The FBI conducted a subsequent review of the autopsy and ruled out the crash and an “agitated delirium” diagnosis from a medical examiner as factors causing his death.

Troopers failed to investigate the incident until Greene’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit on May 6, 2020, that eventually spurred news reports. Leadership with Louisiana State Police has been accused of attempting to conceal the body-camera footage.

One trooper involved, Chris Hollingsworth, was later heard on an audio recording telling a colleague that he “beat the ever-living f—out of” Greene, according to an Associated Press report. Hollingsworth later died in a single-vehicle crash in September 2020, hours after learning he would be fired for his role in the incident. Other troopers involved in the case are John Clary, Kory York and Dakota DeMoss.

The special House committee probing the alleged cover-up and paused its investigation as the 2022 legislative session ended. Rep. Edmond Jordan, D-Baton Rouge, who sits on the committee, said last Wednesday that members plan to reconvene but nothing has been scheduled.

“The plan is to meet again,” Jordan said. “As to the schedule, I’m not sure but think that it should be before the end of the year.”

When they last met in June, lawmakers were trying to find out what Gov. John Bel Edwards knew about the incident and when. They were also working to find out who at State Police may have misled medical examiners to conclude Greene died from the car accident and agitated delirium.

In April, Belton told lawmakers that federal prosecutors initially requested he wait for the conclusion of their investigation before pursuing state charges. After a federal indictment never came, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Louisiana’s Western District turned over its files to Belton and offered to assist him with resources, he said.

This article originally published in the October 10, 2022 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.