Sound Off Louisiana

Carla JeanBatiste, Chairperson of the St. Martin Parish Council, who now appears to have been far more active in the Billy Broussard affairs and the Facebook group of Mendy “Mob Boss” Girouard than Broussard knew to be the case in late November of 2022 when he filed a Motion to Compel the Facebook posts pertaining to his property on Duchamp Road in Broussard, Louisiana.

It was only a few days ago that we published this feature as a preview of today (Tuesday, May 23, 2023)’s court hearing wherein Mendy “Mob Boss” Girouard and Melissa Dubroc sought to recover their attorney fees incurred in defense of a defamation suit filed by Billy Broussard.

We made the football analogy of Broussard, in his extensive Opposition Memorandum, literally sending an all-out blitz to sack the quarterback who, in the football analogy, would be their defense attorney, Eric Timothy Haik.  Haik was sacked today in court, and the ball was turned over on downs to Broussard!

Judge Vincent Borne, as is stated on the following video, was incredibly respectful and courteous to both sides at today’s hearing; furthermore, he did an excellent job of summing up where everything stood going into the hearing.  He likely wanted to minimize time spent because his court has a major trial ongoing entailing the St. Martin Parish School Board v. Shell Oil.  Consequently, there was a large audience of attorneys watching this proceeding as they took a pause for this matter before resuming their obviously far more serious matter pending before the court.

In the following video, Broussard covers many of the benefits he obtained from filing the litigation to particularly include the extensive material gathered which he believes will be useful whenever he chooses to convene his own court hearing for a Permanent Injunction regarding the 33-acre farm he purchased which formed the basis for all of the litigation filed in the last 21 months (both where he’s had the roles of plaintiff and defendant):

Broussard covers his courtroom victory with particular focus on material learned about the present Chairperson of the St. Martin Parish Council, District 2 Councilwoman Carla JeanBatiste.

On November 21, 2022, when Broussard filed his Motion to Compel Discovery entailing the “Mob Boss” Facebook group posts, he went out of his way on the video to indicate that he felt there was “no way” Batiste was actively involved in the despicable acts of “Mob Boss” and her associates.

We at Sound Off Louisiana, however, were a little more dubious about JeanBatiste.  Accordingly, we telephoned JeanBatiste on November 28, 2022 and invited her to appear on camera and place distance between herself and the vicious material “Mob Boss” was publishing.  When JeanBatiste declined to even return our call, our suspicion level only increased.  Given what all Broussard learned from his newly-obtained Facebook posts by “Mob Boss,” we can now much more readily see why she didn’t return our call.

We at Sound Off Louisiana are going to take it a step further.  JeanBatiste’s husband is Harold JeanBatiste, who is St. Martin Parish Sheriff Becket Breaux’s Chief Deputy.  We now believe the evidence is becoming overwhelming that what transpired was a husband and wife team wherein Carla JeanBatiste worked with “Mob Boss” to assist with the dissemination of falsehoods about Broussard on that Facebook group while her husband, Harold, worked with others to effectuate a completely baseless arrest of Broussard on May 10, 2022.  That’s our theory after an extensive and in-depth delving into just what all transpired between December of 2021 and May of 2022 entailing what is one more sordid scandal as evidenced by all of those Facebook posts!

We have repeatedly offered St. Martin Parish Sheriff Becket Breaux the opportunity to appear on camera to speak on the Broussard arrest, and he has declined every invitation.  The only quote we have from him is second-hand from someone who told us that Breaux said, “I’m not happy that my office was dragged into all of this!”  Well, if his office was “dragged” into the whole Broussard matter (and it must have been given that it’s his office that made the arrest of Broussard on May 10, 2022), it would seem to us that it was Breaux’s Chief Deputy, Harold JeanBatiste, who is the obvious culprit for having engaged in such “dragging.”

Getting back to Broussard and his resounding courtroom win today, here are educational lessons we believe were obtained from it and this whole litigation:

#1) Haik learned about LA CCP Article 971 (Special Motion to Strike) and how much more effective it may be in defending a lawsuit of the nature Broussard filed against “Mob Boss” and Scott Lopez (Haik was defense attorney for that suit too, and Lopez also failed to recover attorney fees).  We think it was nice of “Mob Boss” and Dubroc to remit $6,000 ($3,000 each) to Haik for him to gain a better appreciation of a Special Motion to Strike.  Of course, that’s assuming that he had any appreciation of it whatsoever at the outset of the litigation because, if he did, it sure begs the question of why he failed to file it.

#2) Ali LeBlanc and Eric Haik both gained a better appreciation of Louisiana Local Rule 9.5 and its five-business-day period for an opposing attorney (or pro se litigant) to object to the wording of a proposed judgment.  We’re not about to assert that either Haik or LeBlanc didn’t already know that because even a law school graduate with a week of experience knows it!  Perhaps they learned that it may be best not to play fast and loose with it under the mistaken belief that a pro se litigant won’t know its terms or have the ability to look it up.

#3) Facebook posts can end up being costly.

As Broussard said in the video above, it is election season, and we think it’s going to be an interesting one, and it just may be far more challenging for an incumbent St. Martin Parish Council Chairwoman than she may have previously thought given some rumblings we’re hearing in the St. Martin Parish community of voters!

The mother of a man who claimed her son was beaten to death by Baton Rouge Police Officers on Flag Street in Baton Rouge holds up a picture of her son as she makes inquires of United States Department of Justice officials at a Baton Rouge town hall held on the campus of Southern University on Tuesday, May 16, 2023.

At a town hall meeting of the United State Department of Justice (DOJ) conducted on the campus of Southern University on Tuesday, May 16, 2023, one of the biggest concerns expressed by attendees was the lack of subpoena power of those conducting a “pattern and practices” investigation of Louisiana State Police (LSP).

Let’s watch some highlights from the town hall meeting:

Sound Off Louisiana’s founder, Robert Burns, inquires how the public can be dissuaded from perceiving DOJ as a “toothless tiger” given that those conducting the investigation lack subpoena power.

As Burns mentioned in the video above, he actually showed up and set up his unipod only to discover he’d left his camera at home.  That prompted a mad dash back to Burns’ home, retrieving the camera, and a mad dash back.  Luckily, community activist Belinda Parker-Brown, founder of Louisiana United International, used her cell phone to record the period during which Burns was absent.  As a result, we want to present prominent civil rights attorney Jill Craft having posed her questions of DOJ officials (to include whether they have subpoena power) so their original responses can be available:

After DOJ officials provide a brief overview of their roles in investigating LSP, Craft asks about limitations they may be under.

Here are other video highlights:

Burns inquires if DOJ will delve into the massive LSP cheating scandal as well as the horrendously bad promotional practices deployed by LSP over the last few years.

Belinda Parker-Brown inquires whether DOJ’s investigation will include, “the corruption on the Louisiana State Police Commission?”

Parker-Brown inquires about indictments being handed down for the Ronald Greene cover-up, “from the Governor’s Office on down.”

Sister Khadijah Rashad inquires about DOJ investigating circumstances surrounding alleged suicides at law-enforcement agencies such as that of her grandson days before he was scheduled to be released.

“Brother Jay,” who, along with community activist “Sister Khadijah Rashad,” host a weekly public broadcast on Wednesdays in Lafayette, Louisiana, inquires about having a public database to keep bad police officers from being transferred from one law-enforcement agency to another.

The mother of a man who claims her son was beaten to death on Flag Street in Baton Rouge by Baton Rouge Police Officers voices concerns about law enforcement officials as she holds up a picture of her son.

CLICK HERE for the town hall in its entirety.

Dinelle Hardin, Ronald Greene’s sister, expresses her opposition to a pay raise for Louisiana State Police troopers at the meeting of the Louisiana State Police Commission at its May 11, 2023 meeting.

On May 9, 2023, the Louisiana House Ways and Means Committee advanced a tax measure to raise $22 million to fund a pay raise for Louisiana State Police troopers.  The bill is sponsored by Rep. Paul Hollis (R-Covington).  If passed, the bill proposes an approximate six-fold increase on the taxes imposed on vaping and e-cigarettes.  The bill advanced out of Committee by a 14-0 vote despite experts in the industry who testified that, even at present, 70 – 80 percent of the market for these products is going untaxed.

Let’s take just a few minutes to take a look at some highlights from these opponents’ arguments against the bill:

Opponents to HB-635 testify to the failure to collect taxes on “70 – 80 percent” of the existing vape and e-cigarette market and to the fact that, upon passage of the proposed bill, the market would, “without a doubt increase the illicit trade that’s already a huge problem in this particular category.”

Even though it was a given to pass the Louisiana State Police Commission at its meeting of May 11, 2023, that didn’t stop Felicia Cooper and Dinelle Hardin, sister of Ronald Greene, from expressing their sentiments against the proposal.  Let’s take a look:

Felicia Cooper states her reasons for opposing the increase in LSP Trooper pay at the 5/11/23 LSPC meeting.

Dinelle Hardin, sister of Ronald Greene, states her reasons for opposing the increase in LSP Trooper pay at the 5/11/23 LSPC meeting.

 LSPC, led by member Jared Caruso-Riecke, who spearheaded the pay increase initiative, discuss the proposed LSP pay raise initiative at the 5/11/23 LSPC meeting.

In a separate matter, the LSPC discussed an initiative to provide whistleblower protection entailing reporting LSP Trooper wrongdoing and, upon its passage, Hardin openly inquires, “Is there any way you can now reinstate Carl Cavalier?”

We’ll update this feature as it makes its way through the remainder of the legislative process to include whatever tomorrow’s vote by the full House turns out to be.