Month: August 2022

Dwayne Fatherree, former Daily Iberian reporter whom farmer Billy Broussard alleges posted a libelous feature on him with that publication on August 4, 2021, just 76 days prior to Fatherree accepting a position as Investigative Journalist for The Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization which touts its identifying of “hate groups” and monitoring of their activities.

Sound Off Louisiana subscribers and casual site visitors will surely recall our recent feature entailing farmer Billy Broussard suing The Daily Iberian and a former reporter, Dwayne Fatherree, for alleged libel.  The preceding feature speaks for itself, so we’ll not rehash any of it now.

Broussard had little difficulty getting Wilk Communications, the corporate owner of The Daily Iberian, served on July 28, 2022 through Louisiana’s Long-Arm Statute.  Broussard has indicated that he will file the affidavit with the St. Martin Parish Clerk of Court evidencing service having been effectuated upon Wilk in coming days.

Meanwhile, Broussard got a real shock on Friday, August 5, 2022 when he was notified in the mail by the St. Martin Parish Clerk of Court that Fatherree could not be served.  The stated reason for service being unable to be successfully accomplished was, “Moved.  Address unknown.”

What Broussard did not know at the time of his filing of his lawsuit on July 22, 2022 was that Fatherree left The Daily Iberian on October 19, 2021 and, six days later, on October 25, 2021, assumed a new position as an Investigative Reporter for The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which is a non-profit organization based in Montgomery, Alabama which focuses on “fighting hate.”

The organization states that it monitors 733 “hate groups” as outlined on this map.  Here are the specific groups that the organization lists in Louisiana and where they are based, and why they have been identified for inclusion on the organization’s list:

IN 2021, 15 HATE GROUPS WERE TRACKED IN LOUISIANA

GROUPS IN LOUISIANA

There are 4 statewide hate groups in Louisiana not displayed on the map

• ACT FOR AMERICA

  2 chapters

  ANTI-MUSLIM METAIRIE, BATON ROUGE

• FAITH BAPTIST CHURCH

  2 chapters

  ANTI-LGBTQ BATON ROUGE, VIOLET

• GREAT MILLSTONE

  GENERAL HATE STATEWIDE

• ISRAEL UNITED IN CHRIST

  2 chapters

  GENERAL HATE LAFAYETTE, NEW ORLEANS

• ISRAELITE SCHOOL OF UNIVERSAL PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE

  GENERAL HATE STATEWIDE

• LEAGUE OF THE SOUTH

  NEO-CONFEDERATE STATEWIDE

• NATION OF ISLAM

  3 chapters

  ANTISEMITISM SHREVEPORT, NEW ORLEANS, MONROE

• NEW BLACK PANTHER PARTY

  GENERAL HATE BATON ROUGE

• PATRIOT FRONT

  WHITE NATIONALIST STATEWIDE

• RUTH INSTITUTE

  ANTI-LGBTQ LAKE CHARLES

Don’t let the word “poverty” deceive anyone into a belief that the group itself isn’t flush with an abundance of resources.  The organization is also very transparent about its operations and its finances.  In its latest audited financial statements for the year ended October 31, 2021, it held a staggering $804 million in assets.  Of that amount, $731 million is comprised of investments in an endowment fund.  The organization receives no governmental support, but its contributions from the public totaled a whopping $99.8 million ($274,000 a day for every calendar day of the year) for its latest fiscal year.  The firm also touts 260 lawsuits filed fighting hate-related issues.

Broussard has indicated that he will serve Fatherree via Louisiana’s Long-Arm Statute just as he did Wilk Communications notwithstanding the fact that he now has a new employer in Alabama.

Fatherree has been busy since arriving at his new job. By our count, he has published at least 13 features since his arrival at SPLC. Let’s provide links for those features, since many of them entail his “old stomping grounds” of Louisiana (they’re listed in chronological order):

‘We Are Not Going to Be Bullied’: Black Louisiana veterans fight to keep building that has honored their sacrifices for more than six decades;

Sending a Strong Message: Louisiana activists help voters cast ballots after drastic polling place reductions in Black neighborhoods;

Unpacking Political Power: SPLC, LDF and NAACP urge Louisiana city to reconsider redistricting plan that dilutes Black representation;

From Candidate to Activist: Adia Winfrey hopes to ‘Transform Alabama’ by using hip-hop music to encourage voters;

The SPLC in 2021: A year of accomplishment amid unprecedented challenges;

‘The Common Denominator’: D.C. prosecutor points to Trump as ‘ringleader’ of Jan. 6 attack;

Criminal Injustice: States unfairly prosecute children as adults;

Fighting the ‘Lost Cause’: Whose Heritage? report documents progress in battle to remove Confederate iconography;

Fighting to Grow: Black farmers continue to battle systemic discrimination;

Pushing Back Against Hate: The Year in Hate & Extremism 2021 examines how communities work for justice;

Homegrown Controversy: Alabama county’s zoning efforts allegedly disenfranchise Black property owners;

Mapping Out Justice: SPLC, ACLU file suit to force fair Mississippi Supreme Court districts;

A Constant Reminder: Stadium still honors man who expelled Black people from Louisiana city;

As clearly indicated by anyone who chooses to click on the first feature above, Fartherree clearly didn’t leave New Iberia with very favorable words to convey about his former neighbors when he published that feature with the SPLC.  The only point we’ll make in that regard is that it seems a bit ironic to us that, while Fatherree has a career in which he has bounced around quite a bit, he seemed to tend to gravitate back to The Daily Iberian.  From the previously-linked profile on his LinkedIn page:

Experience

• Investigative Reporter

  Southern Poverty Law Center

  Oct 2021 – Present 11 months

  Montgomery, Alabama, United States

• Wick Communications

  3 years

  • Community Editor

    Nov 2019 – Oct 20212 years

    New Iberia, La.

    Digging up stories and bringing them to light in the Teche Area.

  • Reporter

    Nov 2018 – Nov 2019 1 year 1 month

    Lafayette, Louisiana

• Bayou City Broadcasting, LLC

  1 year 5 months

  • News Director

    Jan 2018 – Oct 2018 10 months

    Lafayette, Louisiana

    Helping guide coverage of the Acadiana area for a multimedia newsroom focused on family and the community we love.

  • Assistant News Director

    Jun 2017 – Jan 2018 8 months

    Lafayette, Louisiana

    Helping guide a broadcast newsroom in the midst of Acadiana.

• Reporter

  The Daily Iberian

  Jan 2016 – Jun 2017 1 year 6 months

  New Iberia, La.

  I write stuff. I take pictures of stuff.

• Correspondent

  Houma Daily Courier

  Sep 2015 – Dec 2016 1 year 4 months

  Acadiana

  I write stuff and take pictures.

• Substitute Teacher

  Lafayette Middle School

  Dec 2015 – Feb 2016 3 months

  Lafayette, La.

  I teach stuff, mainly math, to middle school students.

• Unlicensed engineer

  Guice Offshore LLC

  Jun 2015 – Sep 2015 4 months

• Deckhand/Unlicensed Engineer

  Seatran Marine

  Mar 2014 – May 2015 1 year 3 months

  Amelia, La.

  Added rating as Able-Bodied Seaman (AB/OSV) in January, 2015.
  Added rating as Lifeboatman (PSC) in August, 2014.

• Staff Reporter

  The Daily Iberian

  Jan 2014 – Mar 2014 3 months

  New Iberia, La.

• Investigative producer

  KATC TV

  Feb 2013 – Jan 2014 1 year

  Lafayette, La.

• The Daily Advertiser

  2 years 3 months

  • Sunday/enterprise editor

    Feb 2012 – Dec 2012 11 months

    Lafayette, La.

    I handle primarily news, with an emphasis on enterprise, watchdog and governmental stories, for one of the coolest little cities in the south. I also love photography, but too much to want to do it professionally.

  • Metro Editor

    Oct 2010 – Apr 2012 1 year 7 months

• Director of Web Operations

  NewOrleans.Com Media LLC

  Feb 2009 – Aug 2010 1 year 7 months

  Oversaw content side of a growing city site, to include coordinating staff efforts, contract negotiations and sales/marketing efforts. I also wrote news, editorial and entertainment copy as well as created multimedia presentations from video, photography and other pieces of content.

• Managing editor, NOLA.com

  Advance Internet

  May 2007 – Feb 2009 1 year 10 months

  Managed daily operations for an award-winning news and entertainment website in New Orleans, La.

• Online director

  The Tuscaloosa News (The New York Times)

  Sep 2001 – May 2007 5 years 9 months

  Built and managed online efforts for a regional newspaper, growing audience from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands of unique visitors per month.

• Online manager

  Sarasota Herald-Tribune

  Nov 1996 – Sep 2001 4 years 11 months

  Built the Herald-Tribune’s first website. Grew a business card page into an award-winning, multimedia portal for the Southwest Florida region showcasing the journalism of reporters, photographers and editors from the Herald-Tribune staff as well as submissions from the community at large.

• Reporter

  Opelousas Daily World

  May 1995 – Nov 1996 1 year 7 months

  Covered beats for a small town newspaper in St. Landry Parish.

• Staff officer

  Louisiana National Guard

  1984 – 1995 11 years

   

So, our observation is that, while Fatherree is so willing to illustrate alleged bullying of black veterans and depict how poorly that reflects upon New Iberia’s white population, we find it interesting that he’s choosing to do that now rather than when he was employed at The Daily Iberian when so many he points fingers of blame at apparently served just fine to place food on his table, pay electric bills, etc. through those folks advertising with and taking out subscriptions to The Daily Iberian.

We can state one thing for sure, however.  A significant portion of Fatherree’s wages from The Daily Iberian went to a gentleman by the name of Nelson Jack Rowe.  In fact, by our estimates, a total of approximately $61,826 of his wages went to Rowe in the form of interest over the last six (6) years.  Who is Rowe?  Well, he would be the gentleman who was gracious enough to refinance Fatherree’s home in 2016 at a rate of 12% annual interest.  In fact, let’s construct a quick table outlining Fatherree’s home purchase in Lafayette and just what all transpired:

Maybe Fatherree will give us a little credit and not claim any monopoly on being able to “dig things up.”

If the final row in the table is accurate, and it should be awfully close, Fatherree may have been able to pay cash for his new home at 1938 McKinley Avenue, Montgomery, AL  Of course, as evidenced by his Facebook post of July 17, 2022, that home may be sort of a fixer-upper.  Here’s what he had to say in his post along with a photo to further explain:

I haven’t been real active on Facebook lately because we are hip-deep in renovation and restoration on the house right now. Here’s some of the ugliness we discovered when we pulled the old floors. Once this is done, we’ll frame up the expansion for the bathroom and master closet, bring in the new kitchen cabinets, and have the flooring and tile contractors through. It’ll look WAY prettier in a few weeks!

Well, we wish him luck on all the hard work he’s apparently investing in this latest home purchase.

Now, this is a video blog, so we want to wrap things up with a video Fatherree re-posted on Facebook of a May 29, 2022 entry by Alec Fatherree.  We figure that Alec wanted as much exposure as possible, so we’re certainly willing to assist in that regard.  To that end, here’s the video:

5/29/22 Video posted by Alec Fatherree in which other countries are characterized with flattering nouns to describe them, but America is repeatedly characterized as a “gun.”  The post was made by Alec in the aftermath of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

At any rate, Broussard has indicated that he will deploy Louisiana’s Long-Arm Statute to effectuate service upon Fatherree, and he said he is extremely frustrated at the picture and caption Fatherree placed in the online version of the Daily Iberian feature as the second picture and caption.  Broussard only noticed that picture and caption last week, and here it is:

Broussard takes particular umbrage to Fatherree’s commentary of St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars’ rebuttal being “blistering.” Broussard openly asked rhetorically to us, “What was so impressive about it?”  Our response (jokingly obviously):  “Who knows?  Maybe Cedars’ rattling off the terms of your own purchase and Fatherree maybe secretly knowing you got 3% when he was having to pay 12% just got under his skin!”

Getting back on a more serious note, Broussard alleged in his lawsuit that, “the obvious bias of Defendant Fatherree’s article, which, upon information and belief, was nothing short of a hit piece done to appease, and upon information and belief, was drafted in coordination with, St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars……”

Broussard also took exception to Fatherree’s first caption beneath Broussard’s own feature.  In it, Fatherree indicated that Broussard said that, if the ordinance passed, it would make it, “impossible for him to do business at his current location.”  Broussard has contended all along that no “business” is being conducted on Duchamp Road, and he contends that, with Fatherree making that statement, readers likely came to the conclusion that he was “no longer in business” since the article indicated that he’d be out of business at his current location (which is his own home in Breaux Bridge) if the ordinance passed, and it certainly did pass.

All we can say is, if Cedars did coordinate with Fatherree as Broussard alleged in his lawsuit, then we can only surmise that Cedars is quite likely very much out-of-step with the political ideology of a very significant segment of the populations of the St. Martin Parish and the New Iberia areas if his political philosophies are anything remotely close to Fatherree’s as reflected by his SPLC features which he has published since his arrival at his new position.

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Pastor Errol Victor, Sr., who, on July 20, 2022 was convicted for a second time of murdering his 8-year-old stepson in 2008 (the first time was by a 10-2 verdict, and the U. S. Supreme Court vacated his conviction). [Photo courtesy of NOLA.com].

Long-time Sound Off Louisiana suscribers will recall our feature entailing just how much a 12-year-old ice cream bar has cost Louisiana taxpayers.  From that feature:

We’ve had a few subscribers asking to be fully apprised of the Victor matter.  Since we’ve now published several features in which LUI has openly advocated for his immediate release, it probably would be a good idea to provide a table with bullet-like statements of what all has transpired.  Pre-2015 table entries are derived from this feature.

Date or General Timeline	Event or Occurrence
Sometime prior to April 1, 2008	Errol Victor Sr. marries a lady named Tonya. They essentially form a Brady Bunch on steroids family as he has seven (7) boys, Tonya has four (4) boys, and they subsequently have two (2) boys together, for a total of 13 children (all boys).
April 1, 2008	M.L. Lloyd III, 8, is pronounced dead at River Parishes Hospital; Errol and Tonya Victor, his mother and stepfather and stepbrother, Errol Victor, Jr., are arrested later that day.
April 15, 2008	Errol Victor Sr., 42, is indicted by a St. John the Baptist Parish grand jury on a charge of first-degree murder in death of M.L. Lloyd III. The boy’s mother, Tonya Victor, 33, and stepbrother, Errol Victor Jr., 24, were charged with accessory after the fact to first-degree murder.
September, 2009	Errol and Tonya Victor indicted on second-degree murder charges. No charges filed against Errol Victor, Jr.
October, 2009	St. John district attorney’s office recuses itself from the case because an assistant district attorney had represented Errol Victor in business ventures.
February, 2010	Judge Madeline Jasmine voids the September 2009 indictment against the Victors because a St. John sheriff’s deputy on the grand jury wore a shirt that advertised his employment.
April, 2010	Errol and Tonya Victor are re-indicted on second-degree murder charges in the case.
August, 2010	Errol and Tonya Victor refused to enter a plea during an arraignment on second-degree murder charges. Errol Victor, shouting that he wanted to represent himself, was removed from the courtroom.
August, 2010	Errol and Tonya Victor lose their bid to relocate their murder case from St. John Parish district court to federal court. The lawsuit alleged that the state is pursuing the “indictment solely because (the) defendants are African-Americans in St. John Parish” and that African-Americans are more likely to be treated unfairly, prosecuted and incarcerated in St. John than white defendants. U.S. District Judge Lance Africk said he found “no legitimate statutory basis” to remove the case from district court, stating precedent has shown that federal courts should not interfere with ongoing state court proceedings.
October, 2010	Judge Mary Hotard Becnel agrees to allow Errol and Tonya Victor to use their right to self-representation. Over the couple’s objections, Becnel also appointed attorneys from the public defenders office to act as advisers. The Victors said they didn’t want the help because the attorneys didn’t agree with their strategy.
August, 2011	Judge Mary Hotard Becnel issues a bench warrant for the arrest of Errol and Tonya Victor after the couple fails to show up for their second-degree murder trial.
April, 2012	Errol and Tonya Victor are captured and arrested in Georgia after being featured on television show, “America’s Most Wanted.”
July, 2012	Errol and Tonya Victor are extradited to Louisiana, booked in St. John Parish with jumping bail.
August, 2014	Errol Victor found guilty of second-degree murder; Tonya Victor found guilty of manslaughter in the death of 8-year-old M.L. Lloyd III.
September 14, 2014	Tonya (sentenced to 21 years – eligible for parole after serving 11), and Victor (sentenced to life in prison), go on a tirade at sentencing.
November 6, 2018	Louisiana voters overwhelming approve requiring a unanimous jury for a felony conviction. Victor was sentenced to life in prison based on a 10-2 verdict.
April 27, 2020	U. S. Supreme Court vacates Victor’s sentence based on the fact he was sentenced by a 10-2 jury verdict rather than 12-0.
November 24, 2020	Victor makes a pro-se filing seeking to have his $1.5 million bond reduced, to be released based on not having been re-charged for the crime (alleged violation of right to a “quick and speedy” trial). Note: On page 17 of the linked 34-page document, the judge notates the fact that the $1.5 million bond had been vacated by the judge’s own motion and that, upon a subsequent hearing on the matter, bond was denied.
December 23, 2020	LUI holds this “emergency press conference” fearing Victor may succumb to the Corona virus while being housed in the St. Charles Parish jail.
December 29, 2020	Victor is taken on the junket outlined in this feature. LUI founder Belinda Parker-Brown sends this correspondence to the prison warden.

Well, since that January 3, 2021 feature, the cost of the ice cream bar has risen dramatically.

How?  Well, as noted above, the U. S. Supreme Court, on April 27, 2020, vacated Victor’s conviction.  Attorney General Jeff Landry’s office then moved forward with retrying the case.  That retrial commenced on July 11, 2022, and Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns attended the afternoon session of Wednesday, July 13, 2022 and Friday, July 15, 2022.

To Burns’ shock on Wednesday, a jury still had not been seated when he showed up (jury selection was expected to have been completed the previous day).  Ten of the 12 jurors had been seated; however, the court literally ran out of jurors in the pool the prior day.

So what happened?  As the court explained, there is a little-known Louisiana statute that states that, when the court runs out of prospective jurors, the local Sheriff can go out and randomly serve subpoenas upon unsuspecting citizens ordering them to report to court the next day to be considered for potential jury duty!

In fact, once the jury was finally seated, Assistant Attorney General John Russel told the jurors that, “Well, you are either the luckiest or unluckiest jurors I’ve ever argued before.  In fact, I think this may be a history-making event, and it will be something you can tell your grandkids.”  Russel then admitted that even he had no knowledge of the little-known statute that permitted two of the active jurors and all of the alternates to have literally been plucked from off the streets the day before.

It was interesting to watch the final stage of jury selection and the uniqueness of the situation.  Prospective jurors were explaining how they were served (walking out of Wal Mart, was just out in the front yard, etc.), and one prospective juror provided what we believe is the likely explanation for why the Court had to resort to the little-known statute.

As part of that juror’s questioning, he was asked about the Principle of the Presumption of Innocence.  He was told about the prior 10-2 non-unanimous jury verdict and the U. S. Supreme Court vacating Victor’s conviction and informed that, “What that means is that, as Mr. Victor sits before this Court, he is presumed to be innocent.”  The young gentleman, a black man appearing to be in his mid 20s or so, was then asked, “Do you have any issue with that presumption of innocence?”  His response:  “Yeah, I have a problem with that!”  He was then asked to elaborate, and he stated:  “Well, I mean, he did it!”  Obviously he was excused and thanked for his time with emphasis of appreciation from  Judge Dennis Waldron for coming in, “on such short notice.”

The jury was finally seated by the end of the day Wednesday.  Burns skipped Thursday, July 14, 2022 in order to attend the Louisiana State Police Commission meeting.  He returned on Friday, at which time a pediatrician spent about 40 minutes on the witness stand refuting the notion that Victor’s stepson could have died from a snake bite.  After his testimony, one of Victor’s stepson’s took the witness stand and testified in excruciating detail just what all he observed the night of his brother’s death and the next morning.  Being blunt, Burns simply could not remain in the courtroom to hear any other witnesses testify because that testimony alone was very difficult to hear.  Accordingly, Burns left on Friday afternoon, July 15, 2022, and opted to just await the mainstream media reporting on the final verdict (though we should note that almost no mainstream media was present during any of the time Burns was in attendance).

The 12-0 guilty verdict was reached on Wednesday, July 20, 2022.  From the previous feature:

The decision presented the question of retroactivity for previous non-unanimous convictions in Louisiana, including Victor’s 2014 conviction.

The Attorney General’s Office argued that M.L. had been severely beaten by Victor before he was pronounced deceased at River Parishes Hospital on April 1, 2008.

“He’s guilty of second-degree murder no matter how you look at the statute,” Attorney John Russel said Wednesday, adding, “At some point after you whip a kid for hours, you are intentionally inflicting bodily harm.”

“(Victor) is not an incapable man, but he committed a terrible, terrible deed, whether intentionally or accidentally…he whipped M.L. until that little boy died,” Russel said.

Several of the boys, now young men, testified over the course of the trial. Victor’s stepsons said Victor disciplined several of the children on March 31, 2008 after an ice cream was discovered to be missing from the freezer.

According to the prosecution, M.L. was beaten for several hours between March 31 and April 1, 2008, when he succumbed to his injuries. According to testimony, M.L. was lethargic and had white drool coming from his mouth. He was given ice and Pedialyte before being rushed to the hospital, where doctors observed parallel marks on his body and a large, confluent bruise that encompassed most of his back.

The defense argued that there could be several explanations for the marks on M.L.’s body and his lethargic state, including but not limited to a reaction from a snake bite.

Attorney General Jeff Landry issued the following statement Wednesday evening:

“This afternoon, justice was served to Errol Victor by a jury of his peers in St. John. I pray his conviction provides some healing and closure to the victim’s family.

“This jury’s verdict is the culmination of an exceptional prosecution by my Assistant Attorneys General John Russel, Daniel Smart, Ben Wallace, and Grant Willis. I thank them and Lillie Blackmon, Kristen Martin, Andrew Bergeron, and Chris Ribera from my office for their great work to get justice.

“Today further intensifies my commitment to do all we can to make Louisiana a safer place to live, work, worship and raise families.”

Let us also take a look at WWL-TV’s David Hammer providing video coverage of the verdict.  Here it is:

WWL-TV’s David Hammer provides video coverage of the verdict

Louisiana United International (LUI) was very actively involved in defending Victor.  In fact, the organization even provided a webpage on its website devoted to accepting contributions to pay for Victor’s defense.  The organization hired Mandeville-based attorney Claiborne Brown to defend Victor.  It was a tad perplexing, then, to see a WWL-TV newscast wherein Dr. Zena D. Crenshaw-Logal, an Atlanta-based attorney who is an active LUI member, state before the trial that she felt Victor could get a fair trial only if he had, “competent zealous representation, and he does not have that.”  Let’s take a look:

WWL-TV newscast wherein Crenshaw-Logal openly states Victor does not have “competent and zealous representation.”

Interestingly enough, Claiborne Brown declared himself to be “incompetent” as he shirked his duties to defend a rapist a decade ago.  We have inquired about Brown’s actions in that rape trial of 10 years ago, and the reviews are mixed.  Several of the folk we talked to said he was “highly principled” in forcing the judge to abandon the case.  Others sided with Judge William Burris, who had this to say of Brown’s actions:

Judge William Burris, with “righteous indignation,” as he described his feelings on the matter, told the bailiffs to take Brown to the parish jail until he became willing to “perform his duties.”

It would set a “horrible precedent” to call off the trial with no obvious signs that the lawyer was incompetent; Brown had given a fine opening statement and adequately questioned witnesses, Burris noted.

We’re not going to play these games,” Burris said incredulously. “That’s all I see this as — game playing.”

Brown apologized but held his ground. “Is there any reason I shouldn’t hold you in contempt?” Burris asked.

“No, your honor,” Brown replied. He then was led out of the courtroom by the bailiffs.

Our own thought is that, once one signs on as counsel for a case, just like flying an airplane as co-pilot, one has to be fully prepared to try that case (fly the airplane) no matter what the situation may be with co-counsel (co-pilot).  That’s just our opinion, however.  We firmly side with Judge Burris on the matter!

Irrespective of whether Brown may have been competent at either trial, and we’ll point out that Brown seemed extremely competent to us but we make the “irrespective” commentary only because of Crenshaw-Logal’s quote on the video, LUI certainly wasn’t done upon the rendering of Victor’s guilty verdict in 40th JDC.

Mere hours after the verdict, Victor and two LUI officials (Belinda Parker-Brown and Dr. Crenshaw-Logal) fax filed this Temporary Restraining Order in 19th JDC seeking to block imposition of Victor’s sentencing, which was scheduled to transpired on Tuesday, July 26, 2022.  We contacted Division B of 40th JDC and were informed that the sentencing has been rescheduled for Friday, September 9, 2022.

The previous court filing is rather lengthy, but we think we can summarize the arguments in one sentence:  The U. S. Supreme Court’s decision of April 27, 2020 constitutes an acquittal and therefore Victor’s recent trail represented double jeopardy.

At any rate, 19th JDC Judge Don Johnson (who most definitely does NOT hold a warm place in our hearts) is the Judge to whom the matter was assigned.  On Friday, July 29, 2022, Judge Johnson signed the Temporary Restraining Order and set the matter for hearing for conversion to a Preliminary Injunction.  That hearing is set for Thursday, August 11, 2022 at 10 a.m.

We will certainly attend that hearing because the outcome of this latest legal filing may have a profound effect upon other inmates similarly-situated to Victor.  There is one thing we’re thankful for, however, and that is that the arguments should all be legal in nature.  We hope we never have to sit in another courtroom and hear any further testimony of just what all transpired on the evening/morning of eight-year-old M. L. Lloyd III’s death.  It was gut wrenching enough just to listen to it for about 90 minutes on July 15, 2022.

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