JUDGE RULES SCOTT CHIEF PLANTED FAKE DRUGS TO JUSTIFY CASH FOUND

LAFAYETTE - Scott Police Chief Jerry Carpenter planted fake cocaine in a
car to justify seizing $55,000 cash found during an interstate traffic
stop, a state district judge decided Monday.

Fifteenth Judicial District Judge John Trahan found Carpenter guilty on one
count malfeasance in office and one count filing false police reports in
connection with an April 1996 traffic stop on Interstate 10.

Carpenter faces up to five years in prison on each count. Trahan set
sentencing for 9 a.m. March 15.

Carpenter was indicted on five charges in connection with an April 1996
traffic stop on I-10. He was accused of planting the fake cocaine, planting
marijuana, filing a false police report, destroying the fake cocaine and
erasing a videotape that allegedly showed him planting the fake cocaine in
the car while it was parked at the Scott Police station.

Friday night, Trahan dismissed the charges that accused Carpenter of
planting the pot, destroying the fake cocaine and erasing the tape.

District Attorney Mike Harson said he is pleased with the judge’s verdict.

"It’s what the evidence showed. The overall circumstances of this case led
to no other conclusion," Harson said. "There were just too many coincidences."

Carpenter had no comment. His attorney, C. Michael Hill, said no final
decision has been made regarding an appeal.

"I have recommended that he seriously consider an appeal, because I don’t
think the evidence was there," Hill said. As for the verdict, Hill said the
chief "took it better than his lawyer did. He was calm. Obviously, he was
disappointed."

One thing was made clear by testimony in the trial: evidence handling in
the case was lax at the very minimum, Harson said.

"The evidence handling in this case was kind of peculiar," Harson said. "I
think I have more confidence now in how the evidence is handled. But at the
time of this case, certainly, there were a great deal of procedural
shortcomings, to say the least."

For instance, although eight officers were involved in the traffic stop and
the subsequent searches, only two filed reports, Harson said.

"It’s very poor procedure all around. More of that than we’d like," Harson
said.

Harson now will proceed with the prosecution of Scott Police Officer Byron
Romero, accused of planting marijuana in the car. Charges against a third
man, officer Darrell Broussard, were dismissed in exchange for his
testimony during Carpenter’s trial.

A second indictment pending against Carpenter charges him with injuring
public records, filing false records and malfeasance in office. He is
accused in that case of altering accident reports and filing falsified
accident reports.

Harson said he will wait to see what sort of sentence Carpenter receives in
this case before he decides if he will go forward with the second indictment.

In his closing arguments Monday, Harson told Trahan that Carpenter planted
the fake cocaine in the hopes that the three men involved would not fight
the forfeiture of the money.

Harson said he believes Carpenter believed the men actually were drug
dealers. "His plan got screwed up when it turned out they weren’t drug
dealers, and they did fight the forfeiture," Harson argued.

A district judge ordered the return of the cash to the three men following
a forfeiture hearing.

Hill argued that Carpenter did not have time to plant anything in the trunk
of the car.

He also argued that it made no sense for Carpenter to plant fake cocaine
because it would not have justified the forfeiture.

"It was not a controlled substance, and so the state would not be allowed
to forfeit the money," Hill argued.

Additionally, Hill argued, there are several reasonable hypotheses as to
what actually happened.

"The first being, that these Vietnamese men could have had dope in the
car," Hill said. "There is much reasonable doubt in this case."

In his ruling, Trahan said it is clear that the car was thoroughly searched
by two officers on the shoulder of I-10, before it was moved to the station.

He said it also is clear that someone intentionally erased the videotape.
Three witnesses testified that they saw Carpenter putting something into
the trunk on that tape prior to its erasure, the judge added.

"All the evidence points to one and only one reasonable conclusion, and
that is that Mr. Carpenter planted something in the trunk," Trahan said.

Carpenter’s second term as police chief expires at the end of the month. He
was defeated in the fall election by Darrell Menard.

Checked-by: Richard Lake