Sound Off Louisiana

18th Judicial District Attorney Tony Clayton (photo courtesy of The West Side Journal).

Long-time Sound Off Louisiana subscribers may recall our feature two years ago in which East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner Beau Clark was directly confronted regarding cremating bodies when the causes of death were suspicious and potentially entailed foul play.

We have recently been contacted by a loose-knit group of family members of murder victims in West Baton Rouge, Iberville, and Pointe Coupee Parishes.  Those tree parishes constitute the 18th Judicial District in Louisiana.

The District Attorney (DA) for that district is Tony Clayton.  Ricky Ward, for whom Clayton previously served as First Assistant DA and Chief of Felony Trials, retired last year after serving as DA for 30 years.  In the election to replace Ward, Clayton drew no opposition.

Clayton certainly didn’t fail to draw opposition as a result of any level of satisfaction of families of murder victims who were killed in the three-parish area Clayton serves.  In fact, those who have contacted us have described Clayton as “corrupt,” and at least one family member of one victim, Kathryn Simpson, has asserted that Clayton has been outright hostile toward her family in its efforts to uncover the killer of her mother, Kimberly Womack, in 2008.

According to Simpson, her mother was having an affair with a West Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Deputy.  That deputy remains unnamed, allegedly because Clayton has asserted to Simpson that revealing his name would result in the media publishing material that would, “ruin the deputy’s life.”

According to Simpson:

My mom’s nude, bloody body was found in her back bedroom by her landlords, and Tony Clayton arrived on scene.  The coroner declared it a homicide and called for CSI.  Then they discovered the cell phone belonging to the deputy with whom my mom was having an affair.  The call to CSI was canceled, and they did not process the scene in any way, not even fingerprint dusting.

After the autopsy, the Pointe Coupee Sheriff’s Office told my family that my mom fell and hit her head, causing a subdural hematoma that killed her. We believed them and had her cremated.

The coroner called me and told me that they lied and that her death was being classified as a homicide and she had injuries all over her body.

I called Tony Clayton looking for help, and he told me my mom died due to the way she lived and he called me crazy.

The death certificate says the cause of death is blunt force trauma by assault and the case is still open.

Simpson was actually featured on an award-winning KATC (Channel 3 in Lafayette) investigative report.  Let’s take a look at that feature at this time:

KATC (Channel 3 in Lafayette) investigative report featuring Kimberly Womack’s daughter, Kathryn Simpson, which aired on March 8, 2020.

We at Sound Off Louisiana plan to conduct interviews with these family members in an effort to fully air their grievances with Clayton and the 18th Judicial District’s investigations into their family members’ murders.  Simpson has agreed to sit down with us for an interview later this week.  She will update us on developments since the above KATC investigative feature 18 months ago.

We believe our subscribers and site visitors will find her update fascinating, as will also be the case for future episodes of this feature for those family members willing to visit with us and air their grievances and frustrations.

In the meantime, for those curious, we’d invite everyone to visit this Facebook page, which now has 265 members as of the date of this feature, which sort of serves as a central clearinghouse for developments in these murder victims’ families travails.

If you would like to be added to our Sound Off Louisiana email list to be notified of future posts, simply go to our home page and scroll to the bottom (mobile devices) or to the top of the right-hand column (desktops).  Supply your email address within the subscribe box.  You’ll then receive an automated email from Word Press, and all you have to do is click on the blue “confirm follow” bar contained within that email, and you’ll begin receiving great posts such as the preceding one above.

St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars

In today’s Sound Off Louisiana feature, founder Robert Burns provides his rationale and makes his arguments for his contention that St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars represents, “the epitome and personification of Louisiana’s perceived reputation for hostility toward small businesses and farmers.”:

Burns makes his case for his contentions regarding St. Martin Parish President Chester Cedars.

In the video above, Burns indicated the absurd questions Cedars posed of Broussard regarding his hay operations would be provided.  Here they are:

Direct links for previous features in the St. Martin Parish Government / Billy Broussard Saga:

1.  LSP Trooper Lopez allegedly demands Broussard’s driver not go down “my road” again (feature contains and extensive video tour of Broussard’s 33-acre farm).

2.  Cedars obtains court-ordered Temporary Restraining Order shutting down Broussard’s farming operations.

3.  Broussard’s attorney asserts in court filings that Cedars is on “crusade” to “harass” Broussard.

4.  Cedars caves and begs for TRO court hearing to be cancelled and offers major concessions to Broussard to do so.

Political analyst and pollster John Couvillon of JMC Analytics appears to revel when provided the opportunity by Sound Off Louisiana’s Burns to espouse his thoughts on prospective candidates for Louisiana Governor in 2023.

Political analyst and pollster John Couvillon of JMC Analytics was the guest speaker at the Baton Rouge Press Club (BRPC) on Monday, September 27, 2021.  Sound Off Louisiana’s Robert Burns asked Couvillon to speculate on whether he foresees any GOP contenders beyond the all-but-obvious contenders of Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser and Attorney General Jeff Landry entering the 2023 race for Louisiana Governor.  Here’s what Couvillon had to say:

Couvillon provides his take on any GOP contenders beyond Landry and Nungesser for Louisiana Gov. in 2023 and also his take on whom the “standard bearer” may be for the Democrats entailing the Louisiana Governor’s race in 2023.

We’ll point out that, when Gov. Edwards put his foot in his mouth on the 9/16/21 “ask the Governor Jim Engster show” regarding the cause of death for Ronald Greene or, more likely, when he felt compelled to dispel any notion of a Louisiana State Police (LSP) cover-up entailing Greene’s death because he’s had an active role in aiding and abetting that cover-up in order to win his 2019 quest for Louisiana Governor, we made the following observation from the just-linked feature:

During the Engster interview, one caller asked for Edwards to consider running for President of the United States.  Not only did Edwards rule that out (in stating, “I love my wife and want to keep her,” in indicating she would not be on board for a Presidential run), but he also ruled out challenging John Kennedy for U. S. Senate next year.  He indicated that he looks forward to returning to his family home and resuming working in private practice.  Let’s give him credit for one thing:  he knows his political career, just as was the case for his predecessor, Bobby Jindal, is over.

Having said that, if the best the GOP has to offer in 2023 is Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser and Attorney General Jeff Landry, don’t be surprised if a dark horse in the person of Gary Smith (D-Norco) doesn’t become the next one to pull off a feat similar to Edwards’ own incredible feat in 2015.  It is truly a sad state of affairs in Louisiana politics unless there are changes in the offing for the GOP major announced field of contenders for the Governor’s Mansion in 2023!  We sure hope such changes ARE in the offing!

Given our commentary above, we’ll note Couvillon mentioned the same name we touted as a prospective Democratic contender, and we’ll add that Couvillon’s contention that more GOP candidates will enter the field beyond Landry and Nungesser comes as music to our ears!  Being blunt, we have no intention whatsoever of supporting or lifting a finger to assist either one of those two gentlemen in occupying the Governor’s Mansion in early 2024!  None!

Nungesser was never even a serious consideration for us.  Over the course of the next two years, we’ll gradually roll out features that have caused us to go from being enthusiastic supporters of Attorney General Jeff Landry to being in the “no way in hell in 2023” camp.

Irrespective of whether Landry and/or his operatives (who are typically pretty bright and come in handy to offset the fact that Jeff Landry literally doesn’t possess walking-around intellect) realize it or not, Landry’s negatives are sky high among many Louisiana voters.  That is to say they are unwilling to vote for him under any circumstances!

Many of those “no way in hell I’ll support Landry” folk, including Sound Off Louisiana’s Burns, not only supported him in 2015, but quite a few even raised funds for his 2015 race and now state to us privately that they too are absolutely and unequivocally in the “no way in hell” camp entailing Landry!

Landry’s operatives’ obvious strategy is to convince a black candidate to enter the Governor’s race in 2023 who has some decent name recognition and can run a decently-funded campaign with the obvious hope that balck candidate finishes second behind Landry.  Thereafter, Landry’s folk believe it’s clear sailing for Landry into the Governor’s Mansion (dreams of Mike Foster v. Cleo Fields in 1995 dangle in their minds during their sleep)!

We believe it’s not 100 percent totally out of the question for Landry’s camp to get the absolute shock of their collective lives when the returns roll in on election night even if the above “dream scenario” they crave so much were to unfold!  We view Landry as THAT bad!  We don’t sugar coat anything at Sound Off Louisiana, and Landry’s stock has absolutely plummeted in our eyes over the last few years and, we can state with a high degree of certainty that many other Louisiana citizens share our sentiments regarding Landry!

For those who may care to listen in on Couvillon’s take on national races with an emphasis on the midterms next year, feel free to watch his  presentation in its entirety by clicking here.