BATON ROUGE - Though the 19th Judicial District Court was already behind prosecuting cases before 2020, the COVID pandemic and shutdown of nearly all governmental agencies caused it to skyrocket.

Four years later, prosecutors are still playing catch up.

"We're there. We're feeling the impact, still, with COVID and you have to add to that higher numbers of homicide over the past few years,” District Attorney Hillar Moore said.

The impact of those two factors has caused the case backlog to balloon to over 14,000–that includes everything from murder to misdemeanors.

"We've seen a lot of increases in really big cases by the Sheriff’s Office with fentanyl and guns.”

Moore says another factor in the slog is how understaffed they are.

"We really need to be more fully staffed than what we are now.”

In Louisiana, each judicial district is allotted a specific number of assistant district attorneys to prosecute cases. The 19th JDC has 55. While East Baton Rouge parish is the most populated, Orleans Parish has the most — at 83. Jefferson Parish has 54.

"We are allotted a certain number of ADA’s per parish and they have been historically set over the years and we are not the top of the list.”

The lack of available prosecutors directly impacts how quickly cases can go to trial.

"Generally it would be two or three years for murder cases to proceed through the system which is too long.”

One of the most recent instances of this was the Hamed Ghassemi trial. Ghassemi was arrested for the murder of his ex wife in 2015 but was convicted at trial just last year.

In order to try and tackle the backlog, the city-parish implemented the Commissioner’s Court at the beginning of July. The group of four appointed commissioners will take on things like bail hearings, arraignments, domestic violence hearings and post-conviction relief petitions.

"What it's designed to do is have the elected criminal court judges actually be in court, working on the serious cases all day long as opposed to the more ministerial aspects of the job — setting a bond, an arraignment — so those cases can move a lot faster."

Moore says the court congestion affects more than just people waiting for their right to a speedy trial.

"The backlog of the cases and just the volume of the cases and nature of the cases just seem to take a toll emotionally on the people that work on these cases. So not only do we have a backlog, but we have people that are seeing this everyday in and out and the stress levels are extremely high."

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BATON ROUGE — Police arrested a man who allegedly broke into a woman's home and shot at her on July 4, arrest records show.

Tremaih Washington, 38, was arrested Wednesday for a litany of felonies, including attempted second-degree murder, false imprisonment, home invasion and battery.

A man kicked down the door of a woman's North Carrolton Avenue home around 9:40 p.m. and started shoving her around. She pushed him away and he pulled out a gun and fired at her. The bullet grazed her head near her left ear.

The attacker broke her phone to keep her from calling police, telling her he wanted her to bleed to death on the floor. When he was distracted by his phone, the woman ran for help. She got to Harry's Food Mart down the street and called police. EMS brought the woman to Our Lady of the Lake Medical Center where she was treated for the non-life-threatening gunshot wound, the arrest warrant said.

The woman identified Washington, whom she has known for many years, as her attacker.

According to court records, Washington has a lengthy criminal history, including simple burglary, illegal carrying of weapons, armed robbery and principal to first-degree murder.

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BATON ROUGE - A man with a decade of domestic violence arrests was put behind bars again Tuesday after allegedly kidnapping a woman and raping her. 

Robert Cole is accused of holding the woman captive in his home for days, beating, choking and raping her. He left for a court appearance in an unrelated domestic abuse case on July 9 and she called for help. 

The Baton Rouge Police Department said the victim was taken by Cole when she left work on July 3. She had left her situation and was staying at the Iris Domestic Violence Center. She told police that when she did not answer Cole's questions about where she had been, he physically attacked her and took her to his home.  

Police said the following day, the victim told Cole that she was staying at the Iris Center. He took her there to get her things and leave. Documents said Cole damaged the gate of the center before taking off with the victim. 

According to BRPD, detectives learned that a female victim was kidnapped from a local domestic violence center. During the course of the investigation, detectives had very little to no leads on the name or location of the suspect and no whereabouts of the victim.

The arrest report says over the next five days, the woman was forced to stay in Cole's home where he beat her, choked her to the point of losing consciousness and raped her. She told police she was able to call for help on July 9 when Cole left for a court appearance and she found a cell phone. Officers noted that when they arrived, the woman's right eye was swollen shut, she had visible wounds on the sides of her neck and swelling on her head

Parish records show that Cole was in court for a probationary hearing. In March, he pleaded guilty to one count of domestic abuse aggravated assault and was sentenced to five years in prison, which were suspended by Judge Louise Hines. Instead, he was placed on probation for two years. 

The plea stemmed from a 2023 arrest where Cole allegedly punched a woman and her child while holding a knife. After he was in police custody, he threatened the officer — saying he was going to hunt them down and kill them. He was arrested for two counts of domestic abuse aggravated assault, threatening a public official and resisting an officer. 

Before that arrest, he was taken into custody in 2021 after punching the same woman and setting a fire in front of her home. Documents say that Cole gave the woman a bloody nose, knocked out one of her teeth and broke the glasses she was wearing. Officers said Cole left before the fire department arrived. He was arrested and booked for domestic abuse battery with serious bodily injury. He pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of domestic abuse and was sentenced to seven days in the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison by Judge Tarvald Smith. 

Cole was arrested twice in 2014 — once for domestic abuse and five months later for incest. Parish records said Cole was arrested in January 2014 after beating a woman in front of children. He pleaded guilty to domestic abuse battery after sitting in jail for two months and was given credit for time served. He was put on one year of probation, which he broke when he was arrested in May 2014 for aggravated incest and sexual battery. Due to the probation violation, he was put back in parish prison for two months. 

Currently, Cole is in the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison for first-degree rape, simple kidnapping, domestic abuse battery with strangulation, false imprisonment and simple criminal damage to property.

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CENTRAL - The City of Central Police Department is once again bringing some of the latest, state-of-the-art technology to the front lines.

"Some people would say 'toys,' but it's new equipment that will help us out in the field," Chief Roger Corcoran said.

The new "toys" include brand-new body cameras, unit cameras and Tasers.

Though Central officers already wear body cameras, these new ones come with a novel feature.

"One good thing about these new cameras, if one of my officers gets in a pursuit or gets into a bad situation, I can actually remote (connect) into their camera and I can see what they see."

The new cameras in the police cruisers will be able to tap into the already-in-place license plate readers installed around the city.

"When one of my officers arrives in a parking lot, it will actually run every license plate in the parking lot and if there is a stolen vehicle in the parking lot, they will know it's there."

The price tag for this new equipment comes with a yearly subscription fee totaling around $68,000. It was approved by the city council in December.

While Central is a relatively small, part-time police department with about 18 officers, they've obtained some of the newest technology year after year.

The department, and the city as a whole, is funded by the same two-percent sales tax the newly formed City of St. George is trying to tap into.

"We've done a lot with grants too," Corcoran said. "There's lots of grants out there for law enforcement and first responders."

Corcoran hopes the price tag will be worth the increase in accountability.

"I want my officers to do the right thing. We always do. Are there bad actors out there? Yes, there's bad actors on both sides. We want to keep everybody honest and this is the way you keep transparency. "

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BATON ROUGE — A former high school coach in Baton Rouge who was accused of luring a student into a closet for sex in 2023 pleaded guilty to several charges after previously pleading not guilty in January, court records show.

Johnnie Butler's sexual battery charge was dismissed Monday by the 19th Judicial District Attorney, and a third-degree rape charge was reduced to an obscenity charge, records show. Butler, who was fired from Istrouma High School, pleaded guilty to the obscenity charge.

Butler also pleaded guilty to two counts of prohibited sexual conduct between an educator and student, court records show. If he is sentenced to anything other than probation, he would have the right to withdraw his plea, the court records said.

Butler, a health teacher and coach, was placed on leave shortly after he was accused of raping the student in May 2023. 

"He pushed her in a closet in the gym... in the weight room," the student's father told WBRZ. "He forced himself up on her. He's a big guy."

As soon as that happened, the teen called a friend whose mother took her to a hospital. A warrant was put out for Butler's arrest, and he was booked on May 11, 2023, after East Baton Rouge deputies found sexually explicit text messages between Butler and the victim.

Butler's sentencing was set for Aug. 29.

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ORLEANS PARISH - A lawyer for two men arrested in the rape of LSU student Madison Brooks is suing media personality Nancy Grace over comments she made during her broadcasts. 

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Casen Carver and Everett Lee, aims to collect damages for defamation from Nancy Grace, Fox News Network, iHeartMedia and Ashley Baustert — Madison Brooks' mother. 

The lawsuit says that Nancy Grace did multiple stories on Brooks' case and strayed from facts reported by the WBRZ Investigative Unit and other media outlets. 

Jan. 15, 2023, 19-year-old Brooks was hit by a rideshare driver and killed after a night of heavy drinking at a Tigerland bar. Documents said Brooks blood-alcohol level was .319 at the time of her death.

The WBRZ Investigative Unit learned that before her death, Brooks left Reggie's bar and got in a vehicle with Casen Carver, Everett Lee, Kaivon Washington and a 17-year-old who was later identified as Desmond Carter. Washington told WBRZ that both he and Desmond Carter had consensual sex with Brooks in the vehicle while Carver and Lee were in the front seats. Washington said that Brooks asked to go home, but she gave the group multiple addresses before getting out of the car near the Pelican Lakes subdivision. After she was dropped off, she wandered onto Burbank Drive. 

According to the lawsuit, Grace was on a Fox News show promoting her special, "Left for Dead: The Madison Brooks Story," and claimed that the four men sexually assaulted Brooks and then pushed her out of a car.

“She gets into a car with people she doesn’t really know that well, she ends up being horribly sex assaulted, they push her out on the highway, she gets run over and killed. I want felony murder charges on all of those young men and that has not happened yet," the document said.

On January 27, Grace published a podcast, sponsored by iHeartRadio, that included an explanation of Carver and Lee's principal to third-degree rape charges. During a podcast four months later, Grace alleged that Carver and Lee got into the backseat and sexually assaulted Brooks. 

“They gave very detailed statements about what happened to Madi, in fact, the ones in the front seat rotating into the back seat so they can also assault her," she said during a podcast which featured Brooks' mother Ashley Baustert. 

The lawsuit alleges that due to Grace's previous statements about the charges, it proves that Grace has a "reckless disregard for the truth."

The lawsuit also lists Baustert as a defendant due to comments made on Nancy Grace's show. 

“I’m pleased and would like to see an additional negligent homicide charge as well, especially for the driver, who dropped her off in that condition because that’s inevitably what killed her was being put in that situation," Baustert said. 

Lawyers say that due to these remarks made on a national scale, there will not be a fair jury in East Baton Rouge Parish. 

Initially, Washington and Carter were arrested and booked with third-degree rape. Carver and Lee were booked for principal to third-degree rape. 

In Louisiana, third-degree rape occurs “when the victim is incapable of resisting or of understanding the nature of the act by reason of a stupor or abnormal condition of mind produced by an intoxicating agent or any cause and the offender knew or should have known of the victim's incapacity.”

After grand jury hearings, Carver, Washington and Carter were formally charged with first-degree rape and video voyeurism. Carver was charged with an additional count of third-degree rape. Everett Lee was never formally charged. 

State law says first-degree rape occurs when two or more offenders take part. In its definition of "participation," the law notes both taking part in the actual rape or to "physically assist in the commission of such act."

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BATON ROUGE - During a quest to find the grave of her family member, one woman is helping to draw focus to an area of the Capital City where history is buried.

Sue Howes called 2 On Your Side's Brittany Weiss after visiting Magnolia Cemetery and discovering that her late baby brother's plot was nowhere to be found. Howes had suspected that the headstone was covered by dirt and grass had grown on top of it.

It turns out that's exactly what happened. Howes found the disguised headstone while walking around. She dropped to her hands and knees and started digging through dirt and grass to find the marker for her late brother, Roy Sullivan. Her brother had only been alive a few days before he passed in 1935.

Magnolia Cemetery is a National Historic Site. Graves date back to the 1850s. Certain markers are very old and broken, parts are overgrown, and it makes Howes feel sad.

"I don't feel calm or the peace I have in time of coming here because of the neglect," Howes said.

The cemetery has been maintained by BREC for decades. Howes says there should be more respect for the loved ones buried in the cemetery, while some of them might not have living relatives to look after their graves.

"They need to be respected for what they did or didn't do," she said.

The discovery of her brother's grave brought tears to her eyes. It's got her thinking about the other markers covered with grass and weeds that may be hidden around the cemetery.

"It's painful to see," she said.

The Park Operations Director plans to go out to the site next week to take pictures and evaluate the cemetery. BREC will have a more detailed response next week.

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NEW ORLEANS — As federal prosecutors in Louisiana formally brought charges Friday against the man accused of killing a Loranger woman and one of her two young daughters, documents filed by a New Orleans FBI agent detail the accused man's intent to keep one girl alive for sexual purposes.

At a hearing in New Orleans federal court, prosecutors accused Daniel Callihan, 36, of kidnapping and transporting minors for criminal sexual activity. An FBI agent assigned to the case said in an affidavit filed with the court that Callihan admitted to two murders and discussed why his 6-year-old kidnapping victim wasn't killed.

"During his custodial interview, CALLIHAN confessed to the murders of CALLIE BRUNETT ("BRUNETT") and her minor daughter, MINOR VICTIM 1 (a four-year-old female whose identity is known to me), the theft of BRUNETT's vehicle and disposal of her cellular telephone, and his intent to keep the living minor child as a 'sex slave,'" Special Agent Patrick Brister wrote.

Callihan also told investigators he had stabbed Brunett about 30 times. 

The girls were likely abducted June 12; their mother's body was found in their home June 13. Roadside license plate readers tracked Callihan to a McDonald's restaurant in McComb, Mississippi, where he was changing a tire on Brunett's car, then to a neighborhood south of Jackson, Mississippi. U.S. marshals said a witness had seen Callihan with the two girls.

On the day Brunett's body was found, Callihan's sister said she received a message from Callihan through Brunett's Facebook account, and that Callihan said "he had done something bad and needed gas money." Callihan's sister notified police, the affidavit said.

While a task force was staging near where it believed the girls to be, witnesses said they had recently heard two girls screaming from a wooded area. Moments later, agents found the girls, and the younger one was dead.

Louisiana prosecutors have already accused Callihan of killing Callie Brunett, 35, and Erin Brunett, 4. State charges are also pending in Mississippi.

Erin Brunett and her sister were the subject of an AMBER alert after their mother's body was found in their home June 13. Police ultimately tracked Callihan and an alleged accomplice, Victoria Cox, 32, to central Mississippi.

Callihan had previously faced a kidnapping accusation in Mississippi federal court . The transportation charge was added Friday. Though partially redacted, the federal court documents reference Louisiana and Mississippi statutes governing rape and sexual battery.

He is due in federal court July 12.

A prayer vigil for Erin and Callie Brunett is scheduled for Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Loranger High School's football field. More information can be found here.

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GONZALES — A Gonzales man arrested in the shooting death of his wife has been arrested twice before in killings -- including a triple murder with two child victims -- but was not convicted in those cases, court records show.

He was acquitted in one case and had the triple murder charges dropped by prosecutors.

Sean Morris, 50, was arrested Wednesday for second-degree murder after a shooting on Garcon Road in Gonzales left his wife, 44-year-old Brenda Morris, dead, Ascension Parish deputies said.

In 1993, he was arrested in Livingston Parish for the shooting death of a neighbor. They had been feuding over money. Morris was acquitted at trial, records show.

He was also indicted in the May 2000 murder of a woman, her 4-year-old daughter and a 7-year-old. Morris and Marvin Jones allegedly kidnapped the three victims, took them to a remote road in Port Allen, shot them all in the head and left them to die. Jones was convicted of the crime, but charges against Morris were dropped in 2014, records say.

Morris was booked with domestic abuse battery in 2023, but records show that the case was dismissed later that year. It is unclear from court records whether his wife was the victim, but she was subpoenaed in the case.

Morris was also arrested in 2009 for holding up a sushi restaurant and pleaded guilty to simple burglary in 2015; by 2018, he was issued a first-offender pardon.

He also pleaded guilty to simple property damage in December 2023 and was sentenced to 30 days in jail, but the imposition of his sentence was delayed until Feb. 7, 2024, and he didn’t show up for court, records show. A bench warrant was then issued.

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BATON ROUGE - Tuesday, two big developments involving the now-defunct Baton Rouge Police Department's Street Crimes Unit happened in federal and district court. The cases are different, but involve officers from the same unit.

At the 19th JDC, four former "Street Crimes" unit officers were indicted on charges related to an incident where they are accused of beating, tasing, and strip-searching a man in a BRPD building, which is nearby the infamous "BRAVE Cave" It was a non-BRPD building where, investigators say, officers would interrogate and strip search people who were not officially under arrest.

"This has nothing whatsoever to do with the BRAVE Cave," said DA Hillar Moore in a press conference Tuesday. "I know this has been BRAVE Cave related but it is absolutely not. This is a completely isolated incident that happened four years ago."

In federal court, attorney Ryan Thompson argued that the Street Unit's strip-search policy is unconstitutional.

On the stand, BRPD Chief TJ Morse stated the department's policy allows strip searches to be performed on people who are not under arrest, and in very rare cases, without probable cause.

Thompson says he finds it hard to believe the two cases aren't related.

"What you have here is you have the deputy chief Troy Lawrence Sr, who used to be a commander of that unit, you had other individuals who were involved in that unit who are now indicted so for me they are actually connected. I believe that the connections are there and to say they are not connected, I would disagree with that wholeheartedly."

Though the allegations against the four officers indicted Tuesday in district court occurred before the ones from the BRAVE Cave, this case came to light after the BRAVE Cave was uncovered.

"Once those revelations came forward, you had an officer come forth that we now know as a whistleblower to say the same unit or individuals involved in this unit did something in 2020 involving some individuals that were taken to a bathroom, beaten, threatened to be tased and subsequently was the destruction of body-worn camera."

Doug Chutz, Troy Lawrence Sr., And Todd Thomas were indicted on charges of obstruction and malfeasance in office.

Martele Jackson, who has been identified as the whistleblower, was indicted on malfeasance charges. He is expected to be booked sometime next week.

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BATON ROUGE - Confusion over a permit could cost one man thousands of dollars.

Rich Knecht, a contractor, says he's having trouble with the permitting office after fixing up a house, with intentions to rent it out as a duplex. The city is saying he doesn't have permission to do so.

"It would have been nice if they told me that in the beginning, I wouldn't have spent all this money separating everything," Knecht said.

The house, which has been sitting vacant since the 2016 flood, has been completely redone from top to bottom. The property has a new roof, insulation, wiring, flooring, cabinets, tiling, and the whole nine yards. Knecht says he got about 90 percent done with the project and was told his plan to turn it into a duplex is not allowed.

The city says the contractor doesn't have the right permit and the house cannot be a duplex. The city says once it noticed the property was being turned into two units, it told Knecht it couldn't be done because it's not zoned for two units.

Knecht says the city has known about his plans from the beginning and even got the paperwork to change the address.

"It cost me a fortune and then he told me, no it can't be done," Knecht said.

The property was purchased in 2020 and Knecht has steadily been having inspections ever since. The house has two of everything - two kitchens, two electrical panels, and two water meters. Now he fears the money and time he put into the place will be for nothing.

"Now I have an over-sized house with two kitchens, two laundries, two of everything and I can only charge so much for it," he said.

The city says when the property owner called for a gas test inspection, an inspector saw that the house was set up for a duplex and informed Knecht he would need a separate permit. The property owner applied for and was issued a second gas permit as well as a second address for the property.

While the city admits the gas permit was issued in error, the property has several more steps to take to establish a two-family dwelling. The gas permit has since been voided.

Knecht now has the option to go to planning to see if the property zoning can be changed to allow for a duplex. His other option is to revert the property to a single-family house.

Knecht hopes his investment won't be a flop, but if he has to turn the house back into a single-family property he could face a loss of about $1,000 a month.

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BATON ROUGE - In August 2022, the East Baton Rouge Metro Council voted 7-5 along racial lines to approve a new district map.

It was the culmination of a six-month process of community meetings, workshops and demographic research from Mike Hefner. He has been involved in hundreds of redistricting projects throughout his career.

"We did redistricting in about 39 parishes in this past 2020 redistricting cycle," he said.

Hefner was hired by the City-Parish to equally redistribute the population among the 12 districts following the 2020 census.

"First thing we do is we take a look at the current districts they have in effect from the 2020 population. We find out which ones are outside plus or minus 5 percent from the district average. Where they are high or low beyond that then we make adjustments to their boundaries to either put people in, or take people out to rebalance the total population."

Black council members wanted to use the redistricting opportunity to draw in another majority black district. That didn't happen.

Now, council members Cleve Dunn, Chauna Banks, Darryl Hurst, Lamont Cole and Carolyn Coleman plan to sue the parish, claiming the new map violates the Voting Rights Act by not accurately reflecting the parish's demographics.

Hefner says he isn't surprised by the lawsuit.

"I think a lot of them at the time, not just in EBR, but other areas felt that this was an opportunity to get more minority representation by adding more minority districts."

He says he does not believe the map he helped draw violates the Voting Rights Act and wouldn't have recommended it if he thought the map was breaking the rules. Hefner says Black residents started to outnumber white residents in East Baton Rouge Parish between 2010 and 2020.

"It's a plurality. It's not over 50 percent with the 2020 census. It's more than the white population by about three percent, but it's not over 50 percent."

Additionally, the future plaintiffs say the new map set to take effect this upcoming election dilutes voting strength by "packing" large numbers of black voters into a few majority-black council districts.

It's not clear why this lawsuit is being filed mere months before the fall election, however it comes after the success of similar ones challenging congressional and supreme court maps.

Dunn, Banks, Coleman, Hurst and Cole will have a press conference announcing the lawsuit Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. in City Hall.

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Domestic violence touches nearly every corner of Louisiana, including the Capital Region. Victims, non-profit organizations, and law enforcement say it is a constant battle for people’s lives.

In this installment of the Our City, Our Problem series, the WBRZ Investigative Unit examines the root causes of domestic abuse, shares stories from victims, explores how victims and their families fight for justice, and takes you inside a domestic violence shelter to learn the needs of victims and shelter operators.

WBRZ has reported on several domestic violence cases. Experts ranging from domestic violence shelter operators, law enforcement, victims, and prosecutors say domestic violence often starts with subtle warning signs, but it can ultimately lead to much worse.

IDENTIFYING THE ISSUE
According to the Baton Rouge Police Department, there were 13 domestic violence homicides in 2023, and there were already three as of April 2024. For the officers and prosecutors working on these cases, legal remedies like protective orders and ankle monitoring do not guarantee a victim's safety.

BRPD Capt. Dave Mays is the department's Investigative Support Unit Commander and has worked on domestic violence crimes for decades. He says it starts with subtle signs.

“The warning signs are there, the red flags are there, but a lot of times they might not know that it's leading to more severe consequences based on those actions,” Mays said.

BRPD Victim Assistance Coordinator Detective Beulah Bowman says domestic violence can happen to anyone.

”It doesn't discriminate. You see male, you see female, you see teens, you see elderly, you see rich, you see middle class," Bowman said.

In 2023, BRPD made 932 domestic violence arrests.

“I've seen one where it initially started off as the female being the victim,” Bowman said. “We went through, made an arrest with him, but later he got out and then she victimized him, so we ended up having to arrest her."

There are safeguards like protective orders and ankle monitors, but that does not mean offenders will follow the rules.

According to East and West Feliciana District Attorney Sam D’Aquilla, keeping victims safe from their abusers is a top concern.

“These people on ankle monitors, they're very, very dangerous individuals. They're strapping something to their leg, [the companies] don't know where they are and what they're doing,” D’Aquilla said.

In September 2021, 70-year-old Peggy Rayburn was killed by her estranged husband, 63-year-old Marshall Rayburn, who wrapped his court-ordered ankle monitor in aluminum foil to avoid detection. The ankle monitoring company failed to notify anyone.

In 2022, a West Feliciana Parish grand jury indicted two ankle-monitoring companies for negligent homicide.

The case is being appealed to the Louisiana Supreme Court.

“We feel like the monitoring companies had a duty or a standard of care they had to operate under to notify somebody—the victim, the sheriff, the court—if there's a violation of a monitoring agreement,” explained D’Aquilla.

Both prosecutors and officers indicate that identifying red flags before they escalate is key to saving victims’ lives.

“I also try to inform them the importance of following through with the process, especially if it's a second time or if it occurred multiple times,” Bowman said. “What we're trying to avoid or prevent is death, because it could lead to that."

FINDING THE COURAGE TO LEAVE
For many victims leaving and getting help is easier said than done. Ignoring red flags, wanting to protect the children, or feeling helpless and alone are just some of the reasons someone might stay in an abusive relationship. That was the situation for Sandra Hally, whose story of abuse made headlines.

"I never thought I would be in something like this but I thank God I survived so I can tell the story"

Sandra Hally lived with her abuser for nearly 15 years, and while not all of those years were bad, by the time it ended, she was left with lifelong physical and mental scars.

Her story made news when he was arrested in 2019. Moses Evans—a justice of the peace in Baton Rouge—was charged with several counts of domestic abuse battery and cruelty to juveniles. 

But years before her pain became headlines, Sandra was in a happy relationship.

"He was prince charming. He did everything. He was so nice and I said, "This seems like this is a good guy'," she said.

The first few years of their relationship weren't physically violent, however looking back, Sandra realizes she was being controlled in another way.

"Like brainwashing. It was like grooming somebody. In their own special way."

Evans began to control every aspect of her life—from what she ate, who she spoke to and what she wore.

"I make a joke. I say I looked like 'Kunta Kinte.' My hair was cut off like a little boy. I wore glasses, had spots on my face. Anyone who knew me before would be like 'What is wrong with her?'"

The once vibrant, extroverted hairdresser shriveled. She was eventually let go from the salon where she worked.

"They can see the change. I wouldn't talk to my customers," Sandra said.

Then one day, at a wedding, Sandra was hugging someone goodbye.

"He didn't like that. He said I was his...and I didn't need to hug on no other man and all this kind of stuff and pulled my hair out. I remember I had some hair at the time."

It never got better.

Over the next few years, Evans became increasingly violent.

"I didn't know at the time that my nose got fractured, both my arms fractured. Got these crooked fingers that are not going to go straight, cauliflower ear, cuts on my lip, cuts on my eyebrow, burn on my arm."

Her kids were also victims. They were sometimes ordered by Evans to hurt their mother and other times recipients of his anger themselves.

"My children...I tell them something had to be wrong with me to let all that go down."

Sandra says she tried to leave many times.

"It seemed like within the last year—I ran away. I ran away and ended up coming back because my children were there."

The last straw came during one of those attempts. She says Evans tried to stop her and pinned her down on a scalding hot metal trailer.

"I was burning. I was on my back and [said] 'I'm burning! I'm burning.' He said 'You're gone burn more in hell that you are on this trailer' and he was punching me and I am blocking."

That was it. Sandra began formulating a plan to leave, receiving help from Evans' mother.

She found herself in the hospital receiving treatment for years of injuries. Eventually, when Evans was arrested, she got her kids out as well. She says she got back on her feet with the help of Iris Domestic Violence Center. 

"They signed me up with everything with the lawyers. Everything. To get the restraining order. Everything. They still help me now."

It's now a resource she urges others to use.

"There are people that are out there that can help you. I know, I understand it seems like you are out there by yourself. Nobody understands you or doesn't want to get involved. Well, we got some people that want to get involved."

Evans pleaded guilty and received a suspended sentence. He was released last year. 

MOVING FORWARD AFTER TRAGEDY
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, one in three women and one in four men experience intimate partner violence. In 2023, 38 people were killed in Louisiana by a current or former romantic partner.

The families of victims in those cases often have little recourse when domestic violence turns to murder. Still, Lafayette residents Drake Vincent and his sister Mallory found some form of justice for their late mother, Katherine.

“We're all we really had growing up,” Mallory Vincent said. “It was only ever me, my mom and Drake."

“Honestly, she was like a Mama bear, she would do anything for us,” Drake said as he gushed about his mother.

Katherine had a lot of love to give, finding romance after divorce. In 2012, Katherine Mashburn married Eric Babineaux.

“We take it upon ourselves to call her Mashburn," Drake said. "For a woman to take a man's name is more of a privilege, so when you do something like that, you're not really awarded that privilege."

In Feb. 2023, Mashburn filed for divorce and Babineaux moved to New Orleans. Three months later, Katherine didn't show up for work. Drake thought she might still be at home.

“I started calling for a while," he said. "And then that's where I just found her."

Before the divorce was final, 53-year-old Eric Babineaux rented a car and drove to Katherine’s home in Broussard, Louisiana. He laid low on the property for hours in the dark of night before shooting Mashburn multiple times and killing himself.

“I'm more comfortable talking about the statistics, The matter of fact,” Mallory said. ”It's hard to talk about how I feel about it because that is my loss," she continued.

The attorney for Katherine's estate, Andrew Quackenboss, said because Mashburn's murderer committed suicide, the family had to find justice in a different way.

In court, Quackenboss cited a 2014 law that makes abusers liable for damages caused by domestic abuse even if the abuser was not criminally prosecuted.

"We were able to use this law that exists to send that message or to at least give them some type of feeling that it's not just compensation,” he explained.

In February 2024, 15th Judicial District Court Judge Royale Colbert awarded Katherine’s estate $216 million in exemplary and compensatory damages against Babineaux’s estate. Quackeboss coined it the 'financial death penalty.'

“He can't go and commit this crime, kill himself and then people who are there get to benefit from it,” Quackenboss said.

”Instead, the court said, we're going to send a message that says ‘No, no, no, no, nobody's going to benefit in your line’, so to speak, from these types of actions. And instead, we're going to set an example to let everybody know in the community that this type of conduct's not going to be tolerated,” he explained.

Despite the large settlement, the Vincents say what was taken from them can not be replaced.

“We could have gotten a trillion dollars. It doesn't matter. We would have traded anything for our mom, so the number was just the message,” Mallory said.

With the settlement behind them, Drake and Mallory explained that their grief fueled their advocacy.

“We're able to get people to actually start talking about this issue to where, like, it affected my mom throughout her entire life. She may not [have] even noticed,” Drake said.

“It shouldn't have to get to a death or such an extreme measure, you need to get help before,” Mallory said.

“Everybody needs to reevaluate their situations and think twice about it and look at themselves to see if they are in a type of relationship that needs help,” she finished.

FUNDING FOR SHELTERS AT RISK
Despite progressive outcomes like the Vincent's case, domestic violence programs and shelters in the state remain widely unfunded. Now, they are facing even more cuts after this legislative session.

Louisiana's 17 shelters rely heavily on private donations and federal dollars, which many feel is at risk.

House Bill 608 by Rep. Roger Wilder, R-Denham Springs, created the 'Women's Safety and Protection Act' which requires bathrooms and changing rooms in public facilities to be designated male and female. 

"This bill's goal is to put women first by affording them confidence in their privacy and safety in their female-only use areas," Wilder said.

However, the wording in the bill could have some major unintended consequences according to the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence director Mariah Wineski. 

"There are federal regulations that require that domestic violence shelters serve victims of domestic violence in accordance with their gender identity and the bill specifically requires that spaces be established and designated based on its definition of biological sex. So we are concerned about that distinction and the ability of the shelters to maintain compliance with their federal regulations," Wineski said.

Domestic violence shelters are included in the bill, and despite lengthy testimony from advocates, legislators have refused to remove them.

Attorney General Liz Murill has said she would sue the United States government if that money is pulled, but Wineski says it's too risky.

"Shelters across the state—their funding situation is so precarious that they are not in a position to play chicken with the federal government over their money," Wineski said.

The millions in federal funding wouldn't be as crucial if Louisiana put any state dollars toward shelters, which historically Louisiana has not.

In 2021, a legislative auditor found that domestic violence programs in the state were severely underfunded. 

"What the legislative auditor actually found in their report was that an average of more than 2,500 requests per year for shelter went unmet. So that's 2,500 times that a survivor of domestic violence was calling a shelter needing a place to go and couldn't get one because the beds were full," Wineski said.

That changed last year when Governor John Bel Edwards included $7 million in the budget for domestic violence programs. According to Wineski, with that money, they opened five new shelters, expanded six existing shelters, and opened 11 new outreach offices. Outreach offices are the non-residential places where survivors can receive counseling, safety planning, and help to apply for a restraining order.

That money was cut for this year.

"Those services are what is at risk. So all of that just got off the ground and would have to shut down."

For Wineski, losing state funding and being at risk of having vital federal funds pulled is a slap in the face for domestic violence survivors and the programs that help them.

"It certainly feels like it is not a priority for our state."

HB 608 passed through the legislature with a few minor changes in response to the pushback and was signed by Governor Jeff Landry.

However, Wineski and other advocates fear that it may still put them in violation of federal statutes.

Murrill says she will ensure shelters have some sort of funding if it is pulled.

COMMUNITY STEPS IN TO FILL GAPS LEFT BY STATE
The lack of funding has extensive impacts on actual shelters and programs. Luckily, the network of community resources available is vast, often working together to help victims in any way they can.

At the Iris Shelter in Baton Rouge, director Pattie Freeman was able to build a new wing for transitional housing and begin work on a children's center. But the state money that funded it was cut this year, and the future of those projects is uncertain.

"That looks like a locked door on a transitional wing. That looks like a locked door on a children's wing that we just developed and are about to finish," Freeman said.

While Freeman says they usually scrape by on donations, they still can't fund certain things.

"I had to prepare my staff when that money was taken because it funded specific positions that weren't in place before. There may be cuts in staffing. There may be layoffs if this money isn't continued."

Iris is one of 17 shelters statewide. It services eight parishes.

"That alone there [is] over 850,000 persons, so if you consider those numbers where 1 in 5 women are a victim—that number is enormous and this shelter alone serves that number."

Freeman says recently it has been steadily at capacity.

"Right now, it's all but two rooms full and it's been one to two rooms from full for the last several months"

However, due to the dangerous nature of their work, Freeman says they will never turn someone away.

"Could you imagine the horror if we said, 'No we're full,' and so they don't go anywhere else and something horrific happens to them?"

While the future of domestic violence shelters in the state depends on legislators, other advocacy groups like the Butterfly Society are stepping up.

"Everybody plays a part in this. We cannot do this work alone and I'll put it this way. Everyone has a piece of the puzzle and we know when it's time to bring those pieces together to make it happen for a victim, survivor, or family," founder Twanna Harris said.

Harris is a domestic violence survivor herself. She started the Butterfly Society to help people in similar situations.

"Domestic violence—it doesn't wear a certain mask. It doesn't come from a certain side of town. It can happen to anyone at any given moment."

Often when Iris is stretched thin, they will reach out to her.

"We pull our dollars together sometimes. We put our minds together sometimes and we make it happen."

The program, which relies on funding from donors and a grant from Southern University, provides whatever someone may need to leave their situation.

"We're a catalyst for victims and families who are affected by domestic violence. We provide a whole host of resources from temporary lodging, rental assistance, utility assistance, and the necessities that someone would need leaving home. We even assist with funeral expenses as well as medical expenses. We've paid car notes. We've bought plane tickets, bus passes."

Like Sandra Hally, Twanna knows how tough it is to ask for help.

"That's the hardest thing to have to do sometimes is call a shelter or call the Butterfly Society or call Iris, or Family Services of Greater Baton Rouge because the moment you make that call, you're acknowledging that something is wrong, and what's the next step?"

The Butterfly Society tries to make that next step as easy as possible.

"We're in the trenches. We love meeting people where we are because where they are is where they are hurting. You can find us anywhere. In the barbershop, hair salon, neighborhood church, or even in someone's school."

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LORANGER - New documents from the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office shows that deputies applied for an AMBER Alert for two missing girls hours before it was sent out by State Police, who claim the delay was due to incomplete paperwork. 

During a press conference Friday, TPSO Sheriff Daniel Edwards questioned why the AMBER Alert for Erin and Jalie Brunett took so long to be issued from LSP.

"It was something that needs to be looked into – to say we provided an incomplete form – I don’t want to get into a tit-for-tat with our partners," Edwards said.

The WBRZ Investigative Unit obtained the AMBER Alert filed from TPSO, the timeline of events from TPSO's point of view, and communication between both parties through calls and texts. 

Read State Police's timeline of events here. 

According to the timeline provided by TPSO, Lt. Elizabeth Russell contacted the Louisiana State Police Fusion Center at 9:39 a.m. regarding an AMBER Alert. After filling out the form, Russell is told at 10:30 p.m. that the request qualifies as a Level 2 Child Endangerment but not an AMBER Alert.

This email was provided by TPSO. It was sent by Lt. Russell at 8:45 p.m.

At 10:40 a.m., Chief Deputy Jimmy Travis called the State Police Fusion Center to ask why the AMBER Alert could not be sent out. He was told that the process takes time due to vetting information. About an hour later, Travis laments to Chuck Hurst with the Louisiana Sheriff’s Association that the "media is on [their] ass because no AMBER Alert out."

Timeline from Chief Deputy Jimmy Travis

At 12:07 p.m., the Fusion Center employee told deputies the alert is coming soon. It was sent out 11 minutes later through email and social media. Ten minutes after that, phones were alerted. 

WBRZ also obtained an AMBER Alert form that was sent to LSP at 10:16 a.m. The initial email states that the "vehicle hit on [license plate reader] yesterday afternoon at 1800 hrs in Byram, MS," and asked if the alert could also be sent to Mississippi.

The form includes details that the mother, Callie Brunett, was found dead in her bedroom and the whereabouts of the two children were unknown. The document mentions accused killer Daniel Callihan as an "acquaintance that is unknown by family members visiting the resident" — but did not identify him. A description of the suspect and the last place the children were seen were left blank on the AMBER Alert form filled out by Lt. Russell. 

Lt. Russel said she was told the request "did not meet the criteria for an AMBER Alert because nobody had seen the male take the children and the car." At 11:21 a.m., the LSP employee asked for information regarding the license plate and any distinguishing marks on the vehicle. This was not provided on the form because "it listed vehicle information as far as description but no license plate."

Louisiana State Police gave their own timeline Friday, but have not responded to a records request.

All the full documents can be accessed here:

AMBER Alert Forms

Chief Deputy Travis Timeline

Lt. Russell Timeline

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BATON ROUGE - A Baton Rouge judge is facing some pretty harsh accusations about both her background and her 2020 campaign. 

19th JDC Judge Tiffany Foxworth-Roberts is accused of lying about her resume. The Louisiana Judiciary Commission says the judge's lies about serving in multiple military conflicts helped her win a seat as a judge. 

According to The Advocate, the judiciary commission got Foxworth-Roberts' military records in April. They don't match an advertisement that ran in the Central City newspaper in 2020, which was based on a post saying Foxworth-Roberts served 13 years in the U.S. Army as both an enlisted soldier and commissioned officer during Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan wars. 

This was posted Jan. 5, 2020 under a #Foxworth4Judge Instagram story on @judgetiffanyfoxworth account
"Served our country for 13 years in the U.S. Army, both as an enlisted soldier and Commissioned Officer during Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan wars"

Woody Jenkins, the editor of the Central City newspaper, said Foxworth-Roberts called him looking to place an ad in the paper. 

"She didn't have time to work it up, would we prepare the ad for her," Jenkins said. "I don't know if she ever saw it. It wasn't one ad we probably did five or six. But if there's any mistakes in there I'm responsible, not her. She just said 'Hey, do an ad for my campaign'," Jenkins said. 

This advertisement ran in the Central City News in Feb. 2020
It was made by the newspaper staff based upon other advertisements made by Foxworth-Roberts 

Jenkins said Foxworth-Roberts didn't sign off on the ad. He thinks there's a hidden agenda into the investigation. 

"She's been under attack by liberal people in the judiciary who don't like that they have a conservative democrat in this spot," Jenkins said. 

The Advocate says Foxworth-Roberts admitted she was not enlisted during Desert Storm, never deployed overseas or served in active combat and was not a captain. The commission said that her nursing history is under the microscope as well.

Her resume says she graduated nursing school in 2001. Campaign claims discuss her work at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland from 1993 to 1996 treating soldiers. The Advocate says the commission found she did not.

Foxworth-Roberts is set to appear before the judiciary commission on Oct. 3. This will not be the first time she has been under judicial review. A campaign committee decided Foxworth-Roberts wrongly implied to voters in 2020 that she was already a judge seeking re-election. 

WBRZ reached out to the judge's attorney, who said they declined to comment. 

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BATON ROUGE - Police body camera video from a May arrest on West Roosevelt Street, released Friday morning after repeated requests by the WBRZ Investigative Unit, sheds more light on a struggle first seen in cell phone video posted on social media.

Officers were responding on May 21 to reports of gunfire in the area and to a ShotSpotter alert, which uses audio sensors to detect gunshots and triangulates their location. They found Rodrick Veal, 30, asleep in his car, which was running and had its lights on. It was parked on the side of the street facing the wrong direction for traffic.

Officers said they could see a handgun next to Veal in the car. The body camera video shows the officers waking him up with flashlight strobes and tapping on the car windows.

"Don't reach, don't reach," one of the officers said as Veal started to react to their presence. Officers told him to get out of the car, which he did after repeated requests and when an officer opened his car door.

Police tried to do a pat-down search and Veal first protested, saying he knew nothing about shots being fired and was just outside a relative's house. Police said he began to physically resist when one officer identified a plastic bag in Veal's pants pocket.

"What is this right here?" the officer patting him down can be heard saying on the police video.

After a tussle, the officer steps back and then uses his Taser on Veal, who falls to the ground on his back. The officers repeatedly order him to turn around so he can be handcuffed, and he objects between what appear to be additional Taser zaps.

In the struggle, police said, Veal grabbed at the officer's Taser and was able to fire it, with its leads landing in nearby grass.

"If you reach for my f*****g Taser one more time I'm going to f*****g shoot you," that officer can be heard saying at around the 6:25 mark in the video.

After several more minutes of grappling and arguing, additional officers arrived and, as a group, they were able to handcuff Veal.

Veal's mouth was bleeding and he told the officers they'd beaten him up. The officer Veal had struggled with the longest said he was just trying to do the pat-down search.

"All I asked, let me pat you down. That's it. Now you're going to jail, possession of Schedule II," the officer said, putting Veal into a police car..

Police say he was found to have marijuana and methamphetamines. He also is a convicted felon, police said, and couldn't legally have a gun.

Nearly two weeks later, Veal's neighbor Cassie Jones said she is still bothered by the ordeal.

"It's heartbreaking. It's very heart breaking," Jones said. "I feel like it was very unfair. And I feel like he didn't deserve it. He didn't deserve it at all."

Jones said officers shouldn't have even approached Veal's car.

"The guy in the car's asleep. So how would he know what happened if he was in the car asleep?" she said. "Numerous times the cars are parked there, on the wrong side of the street. Nothing ever said. City police always drive by."

Jones said there must be a better way, for police to approach people and for people to respond.

“Give more respect, you know, from both sides," she said.

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GONZALES - A person who was sent inappropriate text messages by a Gonzales police officer says that the department's discipline is not sufficient. 

The WBRZ Investigative Unit spoke with Kevin Dunbar, one of the people who received hostile and profane messages from officer Duane Carpenter.

"I kind of knew it was just going to be a slap on the wrist," Dunbar said. 

Carpenter was issued a misdemeanor summons in Dec. 2023 and pleaded guilty to three counts of improper telephone communication in May. Documents from the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office detail Carpenter's use of spoof phone numbers and phony emails to send messages anonymously. Paperwork shows Carpenter sent anonymous messages to at least five people.

Since his guilty plea, Carpenter has returned to work at the Gonzales Police Department after mandatory training. 

Gonzales Police Chief Sherman Jackson was not available for an interview, but the department sent the following statement:

After an internal investigation, Officer Carpenter was found to have violated policy and a misdemeanor state law, and was disciplined. Once he completed discipline he was ordered back to duty. The courts have determined measures in response to Carpenter’s misdemeanor charges that are separate from departmental discipline. After this incident, Chief Jackson implemented and held a mandatory training regarding stress management and self-care for the entire department.

Dunbar said the fact that Carpenter is still at work is concerning and he does not believe that stress management training is enough to fix the issue.

"They might think it may help, I don't," he said.

Dunbar said he was harassed for more than two years. The messages, laced with expletives, revealed details about Dunbar's life that he said most people would not know. 

"I got that text and I'm like this has to be someone that knows me, like to know all of these things about me," Dunbar said. 

By using a private investigator, Dunbar was able to track the IP address used to Carpenter's home. He says that the two were friends at the time. 

"I don't tell my business to many people unless we're close friends, and you know he was someone I thought was a close friend of mine," he said. 

Even though the two were acquaintances, Dunbar says that the information in the anonymous messages went beyond common knowledge. 

"You have my address. You have my phone number. You have the VIN number to my vehicle to know what I drive."

Dunbar says he's afraid that Carpenter will keep harassing others due to the light punishment. 

"They're just going to do the same thing over, and over, and over again."

WBRZ attempted to reach Carpenter but we could not get in contact. 

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BATON ROUGE - A woman's trash bin has been stolen three times since she moved into her home six months ago. Jennifer Freeman says thieves hide goods in the bin and then wheel it away.

The hassle of getting that bin replaced encouraged Freeman to call 2 On Your Side.

Last Wednesday, on trash day, Freeman wheeled her bin out to the curb. That same day it was taken. A camera captured what appeared to be a man walking down the street carrying two cases of beer. The man looks into the neighbor's bin then walks over to Freeman's bin and loads the two cases inside and wheels it away.

"He put the beer in there and went down the street with it," she said.

Freeman's house number is visible on the outside of the bin. It's not the first time her camera captured her bin being stolen. This past March, three men walked away with Freeman's empty can. She said it appeared they had put shoe boxes inside. It was after that incident that she decided to purchase tracking tags.

As of Monday morning, her stolen can is sitting in a carport a few blocks away. It appears the thief spray-painted over the house number.

"All trashcans have serial numbers so you can still find it," she said.

And in Freeman's case, it also has a tracking tag attached to the bottom. Each time the can is taken Freeman calls the police and files a report.

"That's to get another trashcan, you have to call the police to get a file number, call 311 and they'll issue you another trashcan but if not you got to pay for it," she said.

It's a hassle, one Freeman has had to take off work for. It's something she can't wrap her head around.

"It's aggravating, out of all the things in the world to steal a nasty, filthy, dirty trashcan," she said.

Her new bin arrived over the weekend. She marked it with her address and secured a tracking tag to the back, hoping it will prevent it from being taken a fourth time.

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BATON ROUGE - It's been two weeks since a man was hospitalized following an encounter with Baton Rouge police officers outside his grandmother's home. Despite repeated requests for the body camera footage, it has still not been released.

Roderick Veal is charged with disarming a police officer, resisting arrest, and being a felon in possession of a gun. During his arrest, Veal says he was beaten so badly he had to go to the hospital.

The WBRZ Investigative Unit finally received some details from BRPD, giving the officers' account of things. 

An affidavit says on May 21 officers saw a gun in the car Veal was in and asked him to step out. They did a pat down and found drugs. When they tried to arrest him he "resisted violently" and tried to grab one of the officer's tasers. The officer fought back by punching veal in his mouth.

The affidavit does not say anything about why the officers stopped Veal in the first place.

"If my client's position that he was unjustifiably pulled from his car and beaten to the point that he went to the hospital is not true or unfounded or he did something to justify the police response, then please, show the footage and we can move on," Veal's attorney Ron Haley said.

Last week, WBRZ was told BRPD would not release the body cam footage because the incident was being investigated. According to Chief TJ Morse, he has not seen the video yet but does plan to view it later this week. He said there is an internal affairs investigation pending.

On Friday, BRPD released body cam footage of an incident that happened a nearly week after Veal's arrest at Liberty Lagoon where several fights broke out involving officers.

Morse says after he reviews the footage, he will release it to the public. 

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PORT ALLEN - A West Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office reserve deputy who livestreamed himself shooting rounds into a car on I-10 in August 2023 was indicted for malfeasance in office and illegal use of weapon charges Thursday.

An SUV had been stolen from former Port Allen Police Chief Esdron Brown's residence on June 15, 2022. A deputy and a reserve deputy patrolling I-10 found the car heading west on the interstate near the LA 415 exit. After noticing the car did not have a license plate, they initiated a stop, where the driver pulled over and then drove away.

Afterward, the reserve deputy who was riding with him, Shawn Pardazi, allegedly opened fire on the SUV as it pulls off. Eight months later, Pardazi was fired from his reserve role.

The Investigative Unit reported that during an internal affairs investigation, Pardazi was live streaming the event on his Facebook page. Pardazi was asked about the video, but he told detectives he deleted it. Additionally, Pardazi was using his personal firearm, and not one issued by the West Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office.

Motions have been set for August. Pardazi's attorney, John McLindon, says Pardazi plead not guilty.

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