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Cavalier’s Opposition Memorandum to AG Landry’s cramdown efforts paint attorney Jill Craft in a horrendously bad light.

Jill Craft, fired LSP Trooper Carl Cavalier’s former attorney, who withdrew as his counsel (both for his Federal civil rights lawsuit and for his pending appeal before the Louisiana State Police Commission) has been accused of coercion by Cavalier’s new attorneys, Clifton Ivey, Jr., and James C. Carver, PhD.

When we first began reporting upon the fact that fired LSP Trooper Carl Cavalier was unwilling to accept LSP’s efforts to cram a $200,000 settlement offer right down his throat, we included the fact that Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, in representing Louisiana State Police (LSP), made it known that LSP opposed Cavalier’s former attorney, Jill Craft, entailing her Motion to Withdraw as Cavalier’s Counsel of Record. LSP (and Landry’s) opposition notwithstanding, Craft’s Motion was granted.

Why was LSP so adamant that Craft not be permitted to withdraw? That is now so obvious that even the late Ray Charles could have seen why LSP feared a withdrawal by Craft. LSP wanted Craft to be forced to remain on the case, as illogical as that is, because they knew they could count on her to continue portraying to Cavalier that his case was hopeless as she communicated that he’d “lose all your leverage” if things “go south” before the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC), for which she volunteered that, “I sure as shit don’t like those people!”

If Cavalier procured new counsel, which he did in the persons of Clifton J. Ivey, Jr., and James C. Carver, PhD, LSP feared that would torpedo its efforts to solidify the $200,000 cramdown offer. That torpedoing, in turn, would mean that all of Craft’s alleged “coercion” efforts on Cavalier would be down the drain. That would also mean that this whole episode could become both LSP and Attorney General Jeff Landry’s worst nightmare, particularly given Landry’s quest to become Louisiana’s next Governor.

Well, the nightmare took on a whole new meaning, particularly as it relates to attorney Jill Craft, as Cavalier’s new team filed this Motion in Opposition to LSP’s Efforts to Enforce a Settlement upon Cavalier on Thursday, December 22, 2022, and the filing is complete with emails from Cavalier to Craft which, in our opinion, particularly an email of October 13, 2022, are extremely damning to Craft. From the memo:

Plaintiff indicated to his counsel that he would not settle the case unless certain nonmonetary aspects of his employment were included in any settlement. During the settlement conference Mr. Cavalier had attempted to re-direct his counsel’s attention to a certain non-monetary aspect of the settlement, namely his re-employment with state police. On or about September 27, 2022, during a telephone conversation between Mr. Cavalier and his attorney, Ms. Craft outlined the settlement proposed by the Defendant, including holding a settlement conference before a magistrate judge. During the settlement conference Mr. Cavalier had attempted to re-direct his counsel’s attention to a certain non-monetary aspect of the settlement, namely his re-employment with state police which she refused to do. That Cavalier’s re-employment was essential and material term, rather than a mere issue of how the settlement would be implemented had to be known. He repeatedly communicated this, and his desire to go forward with his administrative appeal to the Louisiana State Police Commission to his counsel. Certainly by this time the defendants had to know this was a material issue to Cavalier as they were well aware of the State Police Commission appeal.
Cavalier has shown through communications to his attorney that he did not want to settle, nor did he give his counsel authority to settle, for the amount that had apparently been offered at least a month prior to the settlement conference. What was vitally important to him was reemployment, and in lieu of that, to have his hearing before the State Police Commission. Whatever affirmations he made at the conclusion of the settlement conference were due to the pressure and coercion by his counsel.
Although Cavalier participated in the settlement conference with the benefit of counsel, his instructions were ignored. Through numerous citations herein, he had long since informed his counsel that he disagreed with the settlement amount and explained his rationale why. He was clear that he wanted to proceed with his hearing before the State Police Commission if favorable
settlement on his reemployment could not be reached. As Cavalier has raised the claim that he was unduly pressured and coerced to agree, which goes to the validity of the settlement agreement itself, this Court should not rule summarily on these motions, but rather afford him a hearing.
Furthermore, on October 13, 2022, Cavalier wrote
” ………. As for the proposed settlement, I am not comfortable with it and have never been comfortable with it. I have expressed that to you verbally and in writing. While in the conference with the magistrate judge, I asked you to ask for my job back. You refused to even present it to the judge or opposing counsel. I expressed to you prior to settlement talks that I wanted to proceed with my case through LSP commission hearings and other necessary avenues with hopes of getting my job back.
Mr. Cavalier also sought relief regarding at least one non-pecuniary aspect of the case, namely to get his job back at Louisiana State Police. He repeatedly asked his counsel to seek this relief both before and during the settlement conference, which was repeatedly refused. It is beyond belief that Mr. Cavalier consistently maintained his position regarding acceptable settlement terms in every communication with his attorney, yet not on the date of the settlement conference.

We’ve previously posted Cavalier’s recorded phone calls and one discussion with Craft (see pages 40-68 of the preceding link). Here’s one final parting statement by Craft to Cavalier in the waning moments of her representing him (see page 64 on the preceding link and, more specifically, the bottom of page 12 of that recorded conversation between Cavalier and Craft):

JILL CRAFT:
Carl, I told you, I need to get counsel myself. And that’s what I’m going to do.

We’d say that was a pretty good idea on Craft’s part!

As for Landry, as the old saying goes, “You’ve made your bed, so now you can sleep in it!”

Cavalier’s attorneys repeatedly stressed (and cited case law) that should prompt Judge deGravelles to convene an open-court hearing for both LSP’s Motion and Cavalier’s Motion to be argued to him for a ruling. If he does, we commit to attend that court hearing and report thereafter on its outcome.

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas on Sunday!

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AG Landry adamant on cramming $200,000 settlement down fired LSP Trooper Cavalier’s throat just as he crammed LA GOP endorsement down all our throats.

Court filing on Tuesday, December 20, 2022 by Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry insisting that fired LSP Trooper Carl Cavalier be “ordered” to accept $200,000 and dismiss his appeal pending before the Louisiana State Police Commission.

In the final video of our most recent feature, Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns emphasized just how adamant Louisiana State Police (LSP) and, more importantly, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry, are about cramming a $200,000 settlement right down fired LSP Trooper Carl Cavalier’s throat. We’ll repeat that video at this time:

After Dinelle Hardin, Ronald Greene’s sister, and Eugene Collins, NAACP Baton Rouge President, call for LSP to reinstate fired LSP Trooper Carl Cavalier, Cavalier addresses the press. Subsequently, Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns inquires of those in attendance at the press conference whether any political pressure can be exerted to cause LSP to change its stand on essentially cramming $200,000 down Carl Cavalier’s throat as a means to keep him from ever wearing an LSP uniform again.

We’ve already reported upon Cavalier’s efforts to reopen the cause, and we also reported upon his recorded phone calls with former attorney Jill Craft which form the basis for Cavalier’s assertions that he was placed “under duress” by Craft to agree to the settlement. We’ve also reported upon LSP filing a Motion to Enforce the oral agreement.

On Tuesday, December 20, 2022, Attorney General Jeff Landry, as evidenced by the lead photo of this feature, filed this Opposition Memorandum to Cavalier’s efforts to reopen his cause and instead have Cavalier ordered by Federal Judge John deGravelles to sign the settlement and deposit the net proceeds (likely around $110,000 or so given Craft’s prior commitment to do everything possible to have this settlement declared a non-taxable event) into his bank account. That signed settlement would also end Cavalier’s rights to ever wear an LSP uniform again in his lifetime.

We have made clear our steadfast resolve that Landry had no business extending the offer in the first place; however, given his quest for Governor next year, he likely wants to avoid the potential for any Ronald Greene facts to be used as weapons against him by his opponents. We firmly believe that both the offer and Landry’s subsequent cram down efforts will most certainly find their ways into campaign ads and debates next year.

Accordingly, we look for Landry to receive, at a maximum, 2.5 percent of the black vote in Louisiana, and that makes for an awfully tough boulder for any candidate to push up a mountain and claim victory. Accordingly, we actually believe Judge deGravelles would do Landry a huge favor if he were to grant Cavalier’s Motion to Reopen the Cause and deny Landry’s Motion to Enforce the Settlement, but we’ll readily admit we doubt Landry possesses sufficient intellect to comprehend that fact.

We also believe Landry has done himself no favors in the cram down efforts he’s deployed in locking up the Louisiana GOP endorsement, which took place in a Zoom meeting entailing seven big-time Republican operatives such as businessmen Eddie Rispone and Lane Grigsby. That action on the Louisiana GOP’s part angered plenty of GOP folk:

On Nov. 5, he won the endorsement of the Louisiana Republican Party on a secret vote by the seven-member executive committee, nearly a year before the primary.
Kennedy privately expressed his concern at the action to Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, who had strongly criticized it.
“He said, ‘I can’t believe what the Republican Party did to you,’” Nungesser said. “’You’re the top Republican in the state, and they didn’t have the courtesy to tell you.’”
Landry and party chair Louis Gurvich have defended the decision by saying a majority of the 230 elected members of the state central committee had signed affidavits supporting Landry. But Gurvich canceled a meeting where the full party could have publicly debated and voted on the endorsement, and he has refused to make public the affidavits.
On Nov. 14, six days after winning reelection, Kennedy made the next move, saying he was seriously considering a run for governor and releasing a poll showing he led a hypothetical nine-candidate field with 22%, followed by Shawn Wilson, a Democrat who is the transportation secretary, with 18%, and Landry, with 13%.
Other potential Republican candidates — Nungesser, Treasurer John Schroder, state Sen. Sharon Hewitt, of Slidell, and state Rep. Richard Nelson, of Mandeville — scored lower.
Kennedy returned with another poll on Monday, when he announced in an email to supporters that he’ll decide in January whether he’ll run for governor.
This poll showed Kennedy leading a three-candidate field with 42%, followed by Wilson with 22% and Landry with 14%. Kennedy’s poll also showed him leading Landry in a head-to-head contest by 45% to 20%.
“Kennedy fired a shot at everybody who had taken a position or were thinking of taking a position on Landry’s candidacy,” said Bernie Pinsonat, a veteran Baton Rouge-based political consultant. “Kennedy is saying, ‘I’m thinking about running for governor. Don’t take a step further toward Landry. I will beat him.’ It was aimed at Jeff’s progress and at the people who made Jeff’s progress possible.”
Landry, however, told a reporter that he won’t abandon the governor’s race even if Kennedy runs.

Regarding the final paragraph above, we will only state, “Okay, Jeff. It’s your funeral!”

Let’s cover a little more about how Landry managed to pull off this feat:

On Nov. 30, according to the state party’s latest campaign finance report, Landry moved $90,000 from Cajun PAC II, a super PAC, to the party’s coffers. On that same day, two entities owned by businessman Shane Guidry donated $50,000 each to the party “to help elect conservative Republicans,” Guidry said in an email.
Guidry has been an unpaid special assistant to Landry. Landry, meanwhile, sat on the board of Guidry’s oilfield-services company, which paid him $50,000 a year for legal advice, but left before he announced his campaign for governor in October, according to a Landry spokesperson.
Another big Landry supporter, Steve Orlando, who owned a company in Lafayette that built, installed and removed offshore platforms, gave $25,000 to the party.
“He’s an incredible guy,” Orlando said of Landry. “The fact that the Republican Party gave him the endorsement early on is quite an accomplishment.”
The contributions swelled the coffers of the Louisiana Republican Party, which has often been strapped for cash.

Well, we guess that explains that! It was only seven years ago that a dictatorial Governor exited the Governor’s Mansion. In fact, Landry brought some of Jindal’s key staffers, most notably Liz Murrill, who has essentially served as the de facto Attorney General while Landry has gone all over the state and nation glad handling and grand standing on national issues while essentially ignoring all of the corruption going on in his home state. Seem familiar to that dictatorial Governor of seven years ago? Sure does to us, and he just may end up in the same boat Bobby Jindal finds himself in today!

Ronald Greene’s family, friends express disappointment in the gravity of charges in indictments but resolve to fight on to include demanding that Carl Cavalier be reinstated as LSP trooper.

Dinelle Hardin, sister of Ronald Greene, addresses the press in the imediate aftermath of the indictments of four (4) LSP Troopers and one (1) Union Parish Sheriff Deputy pertaining to Greene’s in-custody death on May 10, 2019.

Well, we’ve all learned plenty since Sound Off Louisiana first broke the story on Ronald Greene on September 10, 2020. As everyone is aware by now, indictments pertaining to Greene’s arrest and in-custody death were handed down by a Union Parish Grand Jury on Thursday, December 15, 2022.

Since those indictments are now the first formal criminal charges (and a plethora of folk are hoping they are far from the last) against anyone pertaining to the Greene incident, we believe the best thing to do is republish the video we composed and published on May 24, 2021 after Louisiana State Police (LSP)’s belated spaghetti-against-the-wall release of all of the videos in its possession, which was comprised of nine (9) separate videos. Beneath the video, we will list those who were indicted on Thursday along with their charges. Here’s the video:

Consolidated video of arrest and in-custody death of Ronald Greene. The following four (4) LSP Troopers and one (1) Union Parrish Sheriff Deputy were indicted pertaining to the arrest on Thursday, December 15, 2022 [Note: names appear in the order of body camera footage above — also, we note LSP Trooper Chris Hollingsworth and what transpired entailing him after the Greene matter began being exposed]:

Master Trooper Kory York (still employed with LSP and placed on administrative leave after the indictments): Negligent Homicide and ten (10) Counts of Malfeasance in Office.

Master Trooper Chris Hollingsworth (died in one-vehicle head-on crash into guardrail on 9/24/20, two weeks after our initial feature above….Many assert death was a suicide, but Coroner officially ruled it as “accident” on his death certificate).

Trooper Dakota DeMoss (terminated from LSP effective June 4, 2021): One Count of Obstruction of Justice.

LSP Lieutenant John Clary (still employed with LSP and placed on administrative leave after the indictments): One count of Obstruction of Justice and one count of Malfeasance in Office.

Union Parish Sheriff Deputy Christopher Harpin: Three counts of Malfeasance in Office.

LSP Captain John Peters (not appearing in above video and never being on the scene, now retired from LSP): One count of Obstruction of Justice.

At this time, we’d like to present video segments of the press conference held by the friends and family of Ronald Greene soon after the indictments were handed down:

Eugene Collins, Baton Rouge NAACP President begins the press conference.

Greene Family attorney Ron Haley addresses the press.

Ronald Greene’s mother, Mona Hardin, addresses the press.

Ronald Greene’s sisters address the press.

State Rep. C. Denise Marcelle (D-Baton Rouge) addresses the press.

State Rep. Edmond Jordan (D-Baton Rouge) addresses the press.

Regarding the final video above, we want to make it clear what our stand at Sound Off Louisiana is! It’s our belief that it was both inappropriate and inexcusable that the $200,000 offer was ever made in the first place!

Given that stand, we further believe that, if Carl Cavalier prefers to not accept the $200,000 and instead appear before the Louisiana State Police Commission (LSPC) in an attempt to get his job back (knowing that he may not and thus risks the $200,000 if the Commission upholds Col. Davis’ termination of him), then he ought to have that right!

In short, we believe that it’s an insult to the integrity of the taxpayer dollars we pay for this “incentive” (and we’re being very kind in the adjective we use to describe this offer) to be made to Cavalier to forever sever his ties with LSP and his ability to work for the agency.

Having stated our stand on the matter, we are nevertheless compelled to present sentiments which have been communicated to us by troopers whom we believe strongly to be of good character.

What they have told us is that they believe Cavalier merely took the work of three other more-deserving troopers (Scott Davis, Scott Brown, and Albert Paxton) whom they claim are far more responsible for exposing the cover-up, and Cavalier ran with that material in a concerted effort to place the limelight on himself and, further, that his timing was coordinated to dovetail with the promotion of a book he published during that timeframe.

Those troopers have told us that they find the book “offensive.” When we first reported upon the book on June 10, 2021, we drew little attention to it (see itemization # 5 on the preceding link) because, at the time, LSP was not even stating publicly who wrote the book. Although the website to purchase the book is no longer active, here is the cover of the book, which these troopers have said they find offensive:

We will point out that Col. Davis handed down a 200-hour suspension for authoring and publishing the book referenced above. Thus, that incident is not what caused him to lose his job.

The troopers also indicated to us that, when Cavalier distributed numerous emails using the name Toussaint Louverture, while very much of what he communicated was in fact true, that he disparaged the character of four troopers with falsehoods which they claim Cavalier made no effort to substantiate before disseminating the emails to an ungodly number of recipients.

We believe we’ve now been objective in stating the concerns of those troopers who oppose Cavalier being reinstated and their reasons why.

We again reiterate our own position on the matter, however, which is that:

The $200,000 offer never should have been made in the first place,
Cavalier should have every right to opt to decline the offer and just let the chips fall where they may in any LSPC hearing.

In concluding this feature, we believe that every Louisiana citizen loses out with the loss of transparency that a hearing entailing Cavalier would have brought about (both pro-Cavalier and anti-Cavalier, since we know Col. Davis would actively and forcefully testify against Cavalier’s reinstatement).

Of course, in dealing with an agency like LSP where transparency is akin to a deadly plague, is anyone really surprised that it wants to cram $200,000 down Cavalier’s throat and thereby deny the opportunity for more light to be shed on this entire incident?

CLICK HERE to see the press conference in its entirety.