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Thread: Brian Lyn Smith Ruled Incompetent in 2012 LA Slaying of Deputies Brandon Nielsen and Jeremy Triche

  1. #1
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    Brian Lyn Smith Ruled Incompetent in 2012 LA Slaying of Deputies Brandon Nielsen and Jeremy Triche



    St. John Parish deputies Brandon Nielson, left, and Jeremy Triche


    Brian Lyn Smith


    Two charged with murder in killings of Louisiana cops


    NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Louisiana state police brought first-degree murder charges on Wednesday against two men being held in connection with a pair of shootings near New Orleans in which two police officers were killed, authorities said.

    The new charges mean 24-year-old Brian Lyn Smith and 28-year-old Kyle David Joekel could face the death penalty if convicted of killing deputies Brandon Nielsen, 34, and Jeremy Triche, 27.

    The officers were investigating the shooting and wounding of deputy Michael Scott Boyington, 33, at around 5 a.m. on August 16 in a Valero Energy Corp refinery parking lot during a shift change. The shooter fled.

    While investigating the shooting in LaPlace, about 25 miles west of New Orleans, Nielsen and Triche ended up at a trailer park. St. John Parish Sheriff Mike Tregre said that as they were interviewing two suspects, a third person came from a trailer and fatally shot the two officers and wounded deputy Jason Triche, 30.

    Smith and Joekel were among seven people charged last Friday in connection with the parking lot shooting.

    St. John Parish District Attorney Thomas Dailey said in a statement on Thursday that his office would present the new charges against Smith and Joekel to the grand jury. The next regularly scheduled session of the grand jury is September 4.

    The charge of murdering a police officer in the performance of duty automatically carries the death penalty under Louisiana law, according to New Orleans criminal defense lawyer Lindsay Larson. Capital cases must go before a grand jury.

    The seven people suspected of being involved in the shootings are in custody at the St. Charles Parish Correctional Center. They include Terry Smith, 44, Derrick Smith, 22, Chanel Skains, 37, Brittney Keith, 23, and Teniecha Bright, 21, who face charges as principals or accessories to murder or attempted murder.

    Authorities said Joekel was wanted in Kansas and Nebraska in connection with threats against law enforcement officers.

    http://wtax.com/Two-charged-with-mur...?newsId=162058

  2. #2
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Families: Deputies’ deaths left void

    Edie Triche leapt up from her seat in the back row of a courtroom in Edgard and ran outside. She looked up to the sky, and she screamed.

    For hours, for days on end, she had sat there, listening to dozens of witnesses recount how her son, St. John the Baptist Parish sheriff’s deputy Jeremy Triche, was shot dead at a LaPlace trailer park last summer.

    But in that one moment, as she heard how he’d tried to run from assault-rifle fire, Edie Triche was broken by grief.

    Her whole world had changed that day, Aug. 16, 2012, a date that will be forever seared into the parish’s collective memory.

    It wasn’t yet dawn, and two deputies, Brandon Nielsen and Jeremy Triche, both fathers and husbands, lay dead in the gravel of the Scenic Riverview Mobile Home Park in LaPlace. Two other deputies were grievously injured.

    In the year since the shooting, the wounded deputies have returned home from the hospital, but with permanent disabilities and constant reminders of the horrors they faced that morning.

    The widows of the two dead, strangers before, have become best friends. They call each other nearly every day, to cry, or to shout, or to lament all of the things that their husbands have missed: birthdays and first fishing trips; dance recitals and skinned knees.

    “You wouldn’t think it would take an entire year to realize that he’s never coming home,” said Nielsen’s wife, Daniell. “It’s unbelievable that it’s been a year. Sometimes it feels like I saw him last week. Sometimes it feels like forever.”

    The community continues to mourn with them; a ceremony marking the anniversary is scheduled for Friday.

    The details of the shootings have been pieced together through a half-dozen hearings and testimony from other officers, the killers’ accomplices and innocents who witnessed some of the events.

    But the families still struggle to comprehend what might have provoked a group of strangers to gun down four good men. There is just one word they all can come up with: evil.

    As they sat in jail cells for a year, the family accused in the killings have written various manifestos maintaining their allegiance as Sovereign Citizens, a loose but volatile group of anti-government extremists. They are described by the FBI as domestic terrorists and their encounters with authority, particularly police, routinely turn violent.

    “They proclaim me anti-government. Bitch, I’m a Sovereign Citizen,” one of the accused wrote in a rap found scribbled on the back of a police report in his jail cell.

    “You approach me ya better be ready to get in, to wear a badge is a sin, you will be put to death, my bullets cuttin through ya vest.”

    Seven people were originally charged in the massacre.

    Avowed Sovereign Citizen Terry Smith had inculcated his deep distrust in government with his two sons, Brian and Derrick. The Smith family, originally from northern Louisiana, has stuck together, moving from state to state, trailer park to trailer park, picking up jobs as welders and day laborers at construction sites. Terry Smith’s wife, Chanel Skains, and Brian Smith’s girlfriend, Britney Keith, traveled with them.

    In Tennessee, months before the shooting in LaPlace, they met a like-minded Nebraska outlaw named Kyle Joekel, who’d fled his home state in a high-speed chase after threatening to kill any cop who tried to control him.

    Joekel and the Smith family had a few things in common: both were on the run from the law, and both shared a profound hatred for law enforcement.

    Brian Smith and Joekel would months later become the accused gunmen in the LaPlace killings.

    But prosecutors suggest in court filings that the family had planned to slaughter officers long before they moved into the back of the LaPlace trailer park.

    Derrick Smith, during one of his many prior incarcerations, wrote his brother a letter from jail. “Dad said he wanted to go to war with the police, well I’m gona see if he bout that,” he scribbled. “I aint got nothing to live for any more, so I’m gona take everyone to hell with me. I found out where my old P.O. lives. I’m gona get his wife and kids, let him live in pain.”

    That letter, found in one of the sons’ trailers after the LaPlace massacre, has become evidence in the case against them. Prosecutors point to it as proof that the father not only knew of his son’s murderous intentions, but encouraged them.

    Of the seven charged, only three still await trial.

    One, 22-year-old Teniecha Bright, was released from custody when authorities decided she was telling the truth — she’d merely hitched a ride home with the Smith clan and got caught in the fray.

    The two other women, Skains and Keith, have pleaded guilty as accessories and agreed to testify against their former family.

    And Derrick Smith, too, pleaded guilty as an accessory and agreed to a five-year sentence, plus a 12-year sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm. He is scheduled to be paroled in June 2017, according to the Department of Corrections.

    He showed less remorse than the women. “5 years for fillin a cop full of lead, no evidence only he said she said,” he wrote in the rap deputies found in his jail cell. “Looked at the DA with a smile on my face, now I’m sittin here waiting to catch my next murder case. Only gota do 5 so I’ll be straight. Goin home on parole but I’m leavin the state.”

    His father, Terry, remains charged as principal to attempted first-degree murder.

    Brian Smith and Joekel, the two accused shooters, are each charged with capital murder, facing the possibility of execution if convicted.

    Edie Triche has taken her place in the back row of the courtroom each and every time they appear for a hearing. If she got too close, she said, she’s not sure of what she might do.

    “All I can do is stare them down,” she said. “They’ll get what they deserve — if it’s the death penalty, if it’s life in prison. Either way, I’ll never have my son back.”

    The shooting last summer began with a scene reminiscent of other violent episodes involving Sovereign Citizens. Terry Smith refused to carry a driver’s license. Sovereigns espouse a complicated conspiracy theory, involving a federal government that enslaves its citizens, tricking them into signing away their freedom on licenses and Social Security cards.

    He’d trained his boys to believe the same, according to testimony.

    The Smith family, along with Joekel, were working the graveyard shift for a contractor at a Valero refinery. They were leaving the employee parking lot before dawn on Aug. 16, 2012, when an off-duty St. John the Baptist Parish deputy, working a detail at the lot, tried to pull Terry Smith over. He asked for Smith’s driver’s license.

    And the routine morning quickly turned to chaos.

    Smith gunned his truck, kicking up dust, and sped away. The officer gave chase. Brian Smith, described by his loved ones as a a paranoid schizophrenic, allegedly pointed an AK-47 out of the window of the car and fired at the deputy in pursuit.

    Deputy Michael Scott Boyington was hit four times with high-velocity rounds, twice in the arm and twice in the sides. Smith, meanwhile, fled to the nearby trailer park where the family had been staying.

    Edie Triche lives in a house 100 yards from that trailer park. Her son called her, she said. He told her that an officer had been shot nearby and to stay inside.

    He was going out to the trailer park, he told her.

    Jeremy Triche soon arrived there with deputies Brandon Nielsen, Jason Triche and Anthony Bullock. Jeremy and Jason Triche are not related.

    The group scuffled with Kyle Joekel, eventually pinning him to the ground and handcuffing his arms behind his back, according to testimony.

    Bright, hiding in a bathroom, heard someone outside scream: “Help! Brian! Kill them all!”

    Brian Smith carried his assault rifle to the trailer’s front door and looked out, his girlfriend, Britney Keith, testified at a hearing. He handed her a pistol.

    “You shoot, too,” he told her.

    “Please don’t do this,” she said she implored him. “Just run.”

    But Brian Smith opened the door, stepped out and started firing.

    Edie Triche heard the shots. She knew her son was there. She screamed. She waited by the phone for him to call. He never did.

    As Keith described that moment during a hearing in May, Edie Triche could take no more.

    Keith told the court that one officer fell quickly, and another tried to run for cover.

    The latter, Edie Triche knew, was her son. He had been afraid. He had tried to run when they cut him down.

    “That destroyed me,” she said.

    Jeremy Triche and Brandon Nielsen were both killed. Jason Triche was shot through the back, but survived.

    Neither Jason Triche nor Michael Boyington are expected ever to be able to return to their work in law enforcement.

    Boyington, who’d worked four years with the Sheriff’s Office, lost count of the number of surgeries he underwent. Maybe seven, maybe eight, he testified.

    Jason Triche, an 11-year veteran of the department, recalled from the witness stand how he found his way, bleeding, to a patrol car. He drove himself to the hospital, radioing in his location along the way. He felt himself growing weak, breathing in cold air.

    “I told them over the radio, I said I don’t know if I will make it,” he said.

    But he did. He spent two weeks at the hospital, then a month in a medically induced coma.

    He woke up to learn all he’d lost. “That’s when I realized I don’t have a gall bladder anymore, a spleen,” he said at a hearing. “My right kidney was gone. And then that’s when I realized I was on dialysis. And that’s when I realized that Jeremy Triche passed away in the incident. And Brandon Nielsen.”

    Edie Triche still catches herself waiting for her 27-year-old son to walk through the door. He stopped by often, just to say hello, drink a Coke and snack on a Hershey bar. It took months before she stopped buying his favorite treats. He was married to Misty Triche, and they had a toddler together named Kade, who just turned 3.

    “Jeremy has missed all the everyday things, tucking him into bed, teaching him how to fish. Kade doesn’t have that anymore,” she said. “When he comes here, we talk about his father. We go through pictures. He will remember his dad.”

    Dozens of family and fellow officers pack the back rows of the courtroom whenever the Smiths and Joekel are set to appear.

    But Daniell Nielsen tries to avoid the hearings. She likes to remember the things she loved about her husband — how he changed the words to songs to make her laugh while they drove in the car, how he made funny faces when his picture was taken, how much he loved his two daughters and three stepsons.

    “We were a team,” she said. “He was my best friend.”

    The only part of him she wants to forget is how he died.

    She doesn’t go to every hearing, so she can manage to get up in the morning and be strong for their youngest daughter, now getting ready to start third grade.

    “I’m all she’s got now. I’ve got to be strong, I’ve got to take care of us, give her the sense of security we had when he was here,” she said. “That’s all on me now. And I wouldn’t wish that on anyone else.”

    She has woken up 359 mornings without him.

    But all the firsts have now passed for her: the first Christmas, first birthdays, the first days of school, graduations, the first Thanksgiving alone. She hopes that now, without the constant tide of milestones, she might finally find some peace.

    http://theadvocate.com/news/neworlea...eft-deep-scars
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  3. #3
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    2 men charged with killing St. John deputies file motions to avoid death penalty

    One of the defendants in last year's shooting death of two St. John the Baptist Parish sheriff's deputies says he shouldn't face the death penalty because of his severe mental illness. Another wants the judge to throw out the murder indictment against him, saying it fails to meet federal specificity standards.

    The motions were filed by attorneys for Brian Smith and Kyle Joekel. They are scheduled for a hearing Sept. 12 in Edgard before District Judge Sterling Snowdy.

    Smith and Joekel were indicted in 2012 with first-degree murder of deputies Jeremy Triche and Brandon Nielsen. The deputies were killed during a shootout in a LaPlace mobile home park.

    They also are charged with attempted murder of deputies Michael Boyington and Jason Triche. Both deputies survived gunshot wounds and are still recovering.

    The motion filed by Smith's attorney doesn't indicate the nature of his "severe mental illness. " But his stepmother, Chanel Skains, testified during a preliminary hearing last year that Smith often exhibited paranoid behavior and questioned the loyalty of his friends and family.

    Joekel's attorney said the "short form" indictment that St. John used in the case simply listed the charge as first-degree murder. Although that format is acceptable in Louisiana, the motion says, it violates a U.S. Supreme Court mandate requiring " every essential element of the offense be charged in the indictment.".

    The grand jury presumably charged first-degree murder because the victims of the killlings were law enforcement officers. But according to Joekel's motion, without listing that or other specific aggravating factors, the intentional killing should be considered second-degree murder. First-degree murder is punishable by execution or life in prison, while life is the only option for second-degree murder.

    In addition, Joekel's attorney filed motions to:

     Suppress all evidence gathered during the investigation, saying it was obtained in violation of his rights and without proper warrants

     Require the state to disclose whether prosecutors will seek the death penalty if he is convicted

     Make the state disclose what, if any, prior "bad acts" by Joekel the prosecutors intend to use during the trial

     Force prosecutors to disclose any plea bargains with potential witnesses in the case.

    Seven people were arrested in the shootings, including Smith's father, Terry Smith; his younger brother, Derrick Smith; his stepmother, Skains; his girlfriend, Britney Keith, and a co-worker..

    Charges against the co-worker, who worked with the Smiths and had caught a ride home with them the day of the shootings, were dropped. Derrick Smith, Skains and Keith have pleaded guilty to accessory charges. The three others are awaiting trial.

    On Friday, the St. John Parish Sheriff's office is holding a remembrance program in honor of the deputies who were killed a year ago on Aug. 16, 2012.

    http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/...illing_st.html
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    2 defendants charged with killing St. John deputies head to court Thursday

    Brian Smith and Kyle Joekel, defendants in last year's shooting death of two St. John the Baptist Parish sheriff's deputies, are scheduled to appear in court on Thursday for motion hearings aimed at avoiding the death penalty.

    Smith's attorney said his client shouldn't face the death penalty because of his severe mental illness. Joekel 's attorney wants the judge to throw out the parish grand jury murder indictment against his client saying the form used by the state doesn't meet federal specificity requirements.

    District Judge Sterling Snowdy will preside over hearings at the courthouse in Edgard.

    Smith and Joekel were indicted in 2012 with first-degree murder of deputies Jeremy Triche and Brandon Nielsen. The deputies were killed during a shootout in a LaPlace mobile home park.
    Brian Smith

    They also are charged with attempted murder of deputies Michael Boyington and Jason Triche. Both deputies survived gunshot wounds and are still recovering.

    The motion filed by Smith's attorney doesn't indicate the nature of his "severe mental illness." But his stepmother, Chanel Skains, testified during a preliminary hearing in 2012 that Smith often exhibited paranoid behavior and questioned the loyalty of his friends and family.

    Joekel's attorney said the "short form" indictment that St. John used in the case simply listed the charge as first-degree murder. Although that format is acceptable in Louisiana, the motion says, it violates a U.S. Supreme Court mandate requiring "every essential element of the offense be charged in the indictment."

    The grand jury presumably charged first-degree murder because the victims of the killings were law enforcement officers. But according to Joekel's motion, without listing that or other specific aggravating factors, the intentional killing should be considered second-degree murder. First-degree murder is punishable by execution or life in prison, while life is the only option for second-degree murder.

    http://www.bayoubuzz.com/louisiana-n...court-thursday
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  5. #5
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    January 15, 2014

    In St. John deputies shooting trial, defense wants delay for money to hire experts

    By Littice Bacon-Blood
    The New Orleans Times-Picayune

    The lack of money to hire expert defense witnesses could postpone trial for Brian Smith, one of two men charged with killing two St. John the Baptist Parish sheriff's deputies. The trial is scheduled to start in March, more than 1-1/2 years after the fatal shootings.

    Smith's court-appointed attorney has asked District Judge Sterling Snowdy to suspend the death penalty case because he doesn't have money to hire experts to help mount a proper defense for his client. Snowdy is expected to address that motion, among other issues, during Thursday at the St. John Parish courthouse in Edgard.

    Smith and Kyle Joekel were indicted in 2012 with first-degree murder of deputies Jeremy Triche and Brandon Nielsen. The deputies were killed during a shootout in a LaPlace mobile home park.

    The defendants also are charged with attempted murder of deputies Michael Boyington and Jason Triche. Both deputies are still recovering from gunshot wounds.

    Terry Smith, Brian's father, is charged with attempted first-degree murder in the shootings.

    First-degree murder is punishable by execution or life in prison. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty.

    Smith's trial is scheduled March 10, Joekel's April 14.

    Richard Bourke, an attorney with Louisiana Capital Assistance Center, has said the state Public Defender Board is responsible for paying the fees for expert witnesses. But he said the board has not provided the money for Smith's case. Bourke, who told the court he's been waiting for money since last summer, filed a motion to halt the prosecution until the money is provided from the state or an alternate source.

    Court records indicate that the state board has budgeted $431,000 for expert fees in 2014 for cases across Louisiana. But it's still unknown when or how much of that money, if any, will be allocated to Smith's defense. Bourke has told the court that the St. John public defender's office is strapped for cash.

    The state Public Defender Board oversees the public defender system in Louisiana and disburses money collected through traffic fines and court fees to pay legal costs for people who can't afford an attorney. The board contracts with non-profit agencies, such as the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center, to provide legal service.

    However, board officials and defense attorneys have routinely complained that the system is poorly funded. A state legislative auditor's report released last summer indicated that most of Louisiana's indigent defense offices are operating on reserve funds to stay afloat.

    Officials with the St. John indigent defense office have told the court that they have had to cut staffing hours and benefits because of financial difficulties. It does not have money to hire experts for Smith, according to documents submitted to the court by local public defender Richard Stricks.

    In addition, Stricks objected that requiring the local office to provide the funds for the case would amount to an "impermissible taking" of money to satisfy the state's financial obligation.

    During a court hearing earlier this month istrict Attorney Tom Daley called Bourke's motion a stalling tactic. He said Bourke wants experts to support motions to declare the death penalty unconstitutional. Those arguments could be presented based on current case law, Daley said.

    "The state submits the testimony of experts is unnecessary in resolving these motions," Daley wrote in resisting a delay in the case. "Consequently, the motion to halt prosecution is not so much about providing adequate representation, but is an attempt to collaterally attack the state's right to seek the death penalty."

    However, in pushing for the delay, Bourke wrote that the lack of money for experts "constitutes deficient performance under the first prong of the test for ineffective assistance of counsel."

    Judge Snowdy also is set to hear motions to sever the three cases, giving the defendants separate trials. Terry Smith, who has dismissed his court- appointed attorney and is representing himself, has objected to separating the cases.

    Snowdy might also set a deadline for filing pre-trial motions. Daley has requested a Jan 24 deadline and written that defense attorneys have said they intend to file motions to have the trial moved from St. John Parish. No such motion has yet been filed.

    Seven people were arrested in the shootings, including Smith's younger brother, Derrick Smith; his stepmother, Chanel Skains; his girlfriend, Britney Keith; and a co-worker.

    Charges against the co-worker, who had caught a ride home with them on the day of the shootings, were dropped. Derrick Smith, Skains and Keith have pleaded guilty to accessory charges.

    http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/...hooting_d.html
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  6. #6
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    High-profile trials for men facing death penalty in killing of St. John deputies moved to St. Martin Parish

    BY DELLA HASSELLE
    The Advocate

    A judge has decided to move the most high-profile murder trial in recent St. John the Baptist Parish history to St. Martin Parish.

    Judge J. Sterling Snowdy, of 40th Judicial District Court, announced the move last month for the scheduled Feb. 15 trial of Brian Smith, who faces the death penalty if convicted. He is accused of having a role in a 2012 shootout that killed two Sheriff's Office deputies.

    Snowdy had approved a change of venue in March, calling the St. John courthouse "the heart of controversy" for the defendant. The judge chose St. Martin Parish after a visit to the area.

    Snowdy's ruling was in response to a motion filed in 2014 by Richard Bourke, the director of the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center and Smith's attorney. Bourke said his client could not get a fair trial in St. John Parish because of the "level of community engagement" in response to the shootings.

    He cited "the understandable and extensive support for those killed and injured and their families," noting that the victims also worked for the district attorney in local drug court.

    Deputies Jeremy Triche and Brandon Nielsen were killed during the Aug. 16, 2012, shootout, which happened before dawn at the Scenic Riverview Mobile Home Park in LaPlace.

    Deputies Michael Boyington and Jason Triche were left with permanent disabilities.

    Seven people were initially charged. Smith and another defendant, Kyle Joekel, are the only two facing the death penalty. They were indicted in 2012 on first-degree murder and attempted murder charges.

    Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty on the first-degree murder charge.

    Joekel will be tried separately, but his trial also will be moved.

    Aside from Smith and Joekel, only one other defendant is awaiting trial.

    Brian Smith's father, Terry Smith, was charged with attempted first-degree murder in the shootings. He was sentenced to life in prison last year in connection with a separate case.

    Three other suspects — Derrick Smith; Terry Smith’s wife, Chanel Skains; and Brian Smith’s girlfriend, Britney Keith — pleaded guilty as accessories years ago.

    The shootout created long-lasting scars in the community. The two slain deputies were both husbands and fathers and well-respected members of the community, according to witnesses.

    Witnesses said the fatal incident began when Boyington, who was working a security detail, tried to pull Terry Smith over. When the deputy asked for Smith's driver's license, he instead drove off and gunplay ensued.

    In 2012, the Southern Poverty Law Center said investigators suspected Terry Smith was tied to the anti-government “sovereign citizens” movement, a group whose members deny governmental authority and are sometimes violent toward law enforcement personnel.

    Bourke says his client, Brian Smith, is legally insane.

    While the trial is scheduled for February, a ruling on when to move the proceedings is being appealed.

    Bourke argued for the case to be moved immediately, but Snowdy opted to shift proceedings to St. Martin Parish only once the trial begins.

    Snowdy said because the case is so well-known, an immediate move would increase chances of prejudicing prospective jurors in the other parish, "defeating the purpose of moving the trial in the first place."

    Bourke has appealed to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeal.

    In the meantime, members of slain Deputy Jeremy Triche's family have asked not to be contacted by Bourke or any intermediary of his defense team.

    It's common for defense teams to have liaisons conduct outreach to victims' family members, but in this case, the family members argued that was causing them "emotional distress."

    http://www.theadvocate.com/new_orlea...ba09df097.html

  7. #7
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    St. John deputies murder defendant to stand trial in October

    By The Associated Press
    NOLA.com

    Six years after the shooting deaths of two St. John the Baptist Parish sheriff's deputies, the trial of murder defendant Brian Smith has been rescheduled again, this time to Oct. 22. Smith, one of two remaining defendants in the case, was set to stand trial in February, but Judge Sterling Snowdy of the 40th Judicial District said Friday (March 23) that prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed to the new date because several pretrial matters remain unresolved.

    Smith and Kyle Joekel are to be tried separately on first-degree murder charges in the August 2012 shootout that killed deputies Jeremy Triche and Brandon Nielsen and severely wounded two other deputies. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Snowdy decided last year to move the trial to St. Martinville, more than 100 miles from where the shooting occurred.

    The defendants are accused of killing the deputies at a mobile home park in LaPlace after ambushing and wounding another deputy who had pulled over a car driven by Smith's father, Terry. Terry Smith was charged with attempted first-degree murder in the shootings.

    Prosecutors say Brian and Terry Smith and Joekel are "sovereign citizens," members of an anti-government extremist movement. The FBI says sovereign citizens think they are separate from the United States and don't have to answer to any government authority, including courts and law enforcement.

    One of Brian Smith's attorneys, Richard Bourke, said prosecutors haven't presented any evidence to support their assertion that his client was involved in the sovereign citizen movement. During a court hearing Friday, Bourke asked State Police Lt. Patrick Bradley, the case's lead investigator, whether he has any seen evidence that Brian Smith had contact with a member of the sovereign citizen movement since his arrest. "Not that I recall," Bradley said.

    Bourke also urged the judge to prohibit displays of excessive security measures during Smith's trial, and to limit the number of uniformed police officers in the courtroom. Bourke said he recognizes police officers have a right to "stand in solidarity," but he argued it would deprive his client of a fair trial if jurors see a heavy contingent of uniformed, off-duty officers in the gallery. "I'm not asking for a blanket ban on uniforms," he said.

    Prosecutor Lea Hall argued officers have a First Amendment right to attend the trial in uniform. "One of their own has fallen," Hall said. "They have a right to justice just as much as anybody else."

    Snowdy didn't immediately rule on those requests by Bourke.

    http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/...der_trial.html
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  8. #8
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Related:

    Kyle Joekel has been found guilty of first degree murder in the killings of two St. John the Baptist Parish Deputies in 2012

    https://www.fox8live.com/2020/02/07/jury-deliberates-st-john-deputy-ambush-trial/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
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  9. #9
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    Related:

    The jury has recommended a death sentence for Kyle Joekel.

    https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/l...a-a9a2968e994a
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  10. #10
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Feb. 20, 2020

    Excerpt from article


    Brian Smith is also accused of firing on Boyington earlier in the morning and is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the Nielsen and Jeremy Triche killings, but he’s so far been ruled incompetent to stand trial and remains in a state mental hospital.

    https://www.nola.com/news/courts/art...a6b3fa576.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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