PARDON BOARD RECOMMENDS COMMUTATION
4 WITNESSES TESTIFY TO FRAME-UP

A woman imprisoned for 20 years on a life term for distributing heroin
won a rare pardon recommendation Tuesday when a former investigator on
her case said she was unjustly prosecuted.

Cheryl Beridon, now 45, admitted to the board a past criminal history
involving drugs and forgeries, but asked to be released to complete
her education and perform community service. She let out a sharp gasp
upon hearing the board's vote.

"Thank you from the bottom of my heart," she said.

Her mother, Ella Townsend of Thibodaux, said she was thankful "the
truth came out.

"I'm not bitter, I'm better," Townsend said. "The truth is always
stronger."

The state Pardon Board voted unanimously to recommend a pardon for
Beridon, who has been at the Louisiana Correctional Institute for
Women in St. Gabriel since March 1980.

Beridon has long claimed she was framed by then-Terrebonne Parish
District Attorney Norval Rhodes after she had an affair with him.

Her story was backed up before the Pardon Board Tuesday by C. Chris
Williams, a former investigator in Rhodes' office; Jerome Boykin, a
former Terrebonne Parish sheriff's deputy and current president of the
Terrebonne Parish NAACP; Kevin Thompson, an assistant attorney for
Terrebonne Parish; and Will Abshire, a private investigator from Lake
Charles.

According to information discussed at the Pardon Board
hearing:

Beridon already had an extensive arrest record in 1977 when she was an
informant with Rhodes' office and claims she had a relationship with
him. When the relationship soured and Beridon refused to cooperate
with drug prosecutions, investigators say Rhodes prosecuted her for
distributing heroin in August 1977.

In 1979, Rhodes urged a judge to give Beridon the maximum prison time
possible. When she was imprisoned in 1980, she was separated from her
8-year-old son, who was raised by Townsend.

C. Chris Williams, now a lobbyist, businessman and bail bondsman in
Houma, was an investigator on Rhodes' staff at the time. He signed an
affidavit in February 1998 that acknowledged the Beridon-Rhodes affair
and the office's attempts to put her in prison.

Williams told the board Tuesday that Rhodes' office had broad police
powers at the time and routinely gave out drugs for undercover purposes.

Beridon was an informant but also a known user, Williams said, and the
drugs she was arrested for could have come from Rhodes' office.

"We could do anything we wanted," he said. "She didn't cooperate and
she was embarrassing the DA, so we turned on her. Even though we sent
her to prison unjustly, we probably saved her life. She was young and
she was messed up in politics involving some heavy people. We
interpreted the law for personal reasons."

Williams said he was the first black man in Rhodes' office and had no
choice but to keep silent about Beridon's plight.

"I didn't think about her for years," he said. "I turned my back and
stayed silent. The DA was a powerful man; I wasn't going to stand up
to him."

Abshire, who investigated Beridon's case for free for a year after
hearing her claims, said he determined she was telling the truth.

"I never thought I'd be before the Pardon Board on behalf of a
convicted felon," he said. "But I think she was framed."

Beridon is not free yet. Her case now goes before Gov. Mike Foster,
who receives recommendations from the Pardon Board. Foster must
approve the pardon, and Beridon must then be approved for release by
the state Parole Board.

There are more than 200 pardon recommendations pending before Foster,
some dating back to 1996, said a secretary in Executive Counsel
Bernard Boudreaux's office.

Boudreaux himself, however, said Foster may consider Beridon's case
soon. "If there is credible evidence that she was wrongly imprisoned,
the case will be fast-tracked," Boudreaux said.

Townsend said the family has not yet considered a suit against Rhodes,
who now lives in Key West, Fla., and could not be reached for comment
Tuesday. He left office in 1984.

Any charges against him would come after an FBI investigation, said
Hattie Broussard, an attorney with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the
Eastern District of Louisiana.

Kriss Fortunato, a spokesman for the FBI's regional office in New
Orleans, said the FBI could not comment on the Rhodes case.

Current Terrebonne Parish District Attorney Joe Waitz Jr. said his
office was unaware of any other cases in the parish that may have been
tainted.

"I don't know about a lot of Mr. Rhodes' activities," he said. "If
something comes forward, we will look at it. No one ever wants to see
an innocent person sent to jail. But I have a very limited knowledge
of the facts in this case now. I was just getting out of high school
at the time." Waitz said his own office has "never in the past and
never in the future" abused the law.

Beridon's hearing Tuesday was a continuance of an April 1999 hearing
before the Pardon Board.

Tuesday's vote by board members Julia Sims, Larry Clark, the Rev. Paul
Blange and the Rev. C.J. Bell came after the four met in executive
session for 10 minutes.

The board's vote was to commute Beridon's life sentence to 45 years,
making her eligible for parole immediately.

Board Chairman Irv Magri said it was only the second commutation of a
life sentence in the past year and a half. He said the board has
granted 52 regular pardons, which restore a person's civil rights to
vote or bear arms, in that time period.