EDGARD, La. (AP) - A Louisiana judge has rescheduled a trial for one of the two men charged with murder in the shooting deaths of two sheriff’s deputies in 2012.
Brian Smith’s trial is scheduled to start Oct. 22. It had been scheduled to start last month, but state District Court Judge J. Sterling Snowdy’s order on Friday says prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed to the new date because several pretrial matters remain unresolved.
Smith and co-defendant Kyle Joekel are set to be tried separately on first-degree murder charges in the August 2012 shootout that killed St. John the Baptist Parish sheriff’s 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.
Smith and Joekel 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 have claimed Brian and Terry Smith and Joekel are “sovereign citizens,” members of an anti-government extremist movement. The FBI says sovereign citizens believe they are separate from the U.S. 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 claim that his client was involved in the sovereign citizen movement.
During a hearing Friday, Bourke asked State Police Lt. Patrick Bradley, the case’s lead investigator, if he has any seen evidence that Brian Smith has 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.
Lea Hall, one of the prosecutors in Smith’s case, 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.
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