Political Illusions of the Cajun Mafia

fRom PAgE A1 l LoCAL
Carnival rides, cows and
critters at the Cal-Cam fair
Sunday, OctOber 19, 2014 aMerIcan PreSS A5
Kirk Meche / Special to the american Press
Codi Bradley helps Carter with a game at the Cal-Cam Fair on Saturday in
Sulphur’s West-Cal Arena.
Kirk Meche / Special to the american Press
Jennifer Vest dries Sassy, a Bradford, after a bath.
Will Vest of Bell City High School was to present
Sassy later Saturday at the Cal-Cam Fair Livestock
Show.
Kirk Meche / Special to the american Press
A judge with the Louisiana Rabbit Breeders Association
evaluates a rabbit at the Cal-Cam Fair on Saturday.
RACE
continued from A1
DeRosier, a graduate of
Louisiana-Lafayette and LSU
Law School, took office in 2005,
replacing Rick Bryant. Previously
a private-practice attorney,
he served as Lake Charles
city attorney for former Mayor
Willie Mount for seven years
and represented the Calcasieu
Sheriff ’s Office.
Bryant approached him
about running 16 years before
he finally decided to enter the
race, but he wasn’t ready yet,
he said. He finally decided to
run when Bryant left office to
take a judgeship.
“I think we all owe an obligation
to the public and just
the people who kind of put us
where we are, to put back into
the system,” DeRosier said. “If
you have the capability of putting
back into the system and
making it better, then I think
you also have the obligation
to give it your best shot and
that’s what I wanted to do.”
Deterring crime
DeRosier said he had a
hand in instituting both
mental health court and drug
court. A veterans court is also
in the works, he said. Among
his pretrial programs is the
DWI diversion program; only 1
percent of those who complete
the course are repeat offenders,
he said.
DeRosier said he has been
both “militant” and “proactive”
in fighting drugs, but that
“at the same time, we can’t
incarcerate our way or prosecute
our way out of the drug
problem that we have in this
country. We have to educate
our way out of it and we have
to show people that there is
an alternative and why they
should select our alternative
rather than the easier path of
sliding into the drug culture.”
With “the right counseling
and the right guidance,” some
will get back into the mainstream,
he said.
Because pretrial diversion
programs are expensive, “if
(nonviolent offenders are) pretrial
eligible, we want to catch
that right after your arrest
or you’re charged,” Chesson
said. Rather than people sitting
in jail, Chesson said he
would like to see organizations
such as the VFW, the United
Way, the Salvation Army and
churches “come forward and
help monitor these people
from the point of their arrest.”
“When people get arrested,
they’re publicly humiliated,
their family knows and all
that stuff,” Chesson said. “In
my opinion, that’s the time
they’re most susceptible to
change. It’s an effort to try and
move alcohol and drug-related
crimes out of the criminal
justice systems, in its ordinary
sense.”
Crowded dockets
Chesson said he would
like to see fewer people in the
courtrooms. Cooperating defendants
wouldn’t be required
to be present for arraignments
— a routine procedure where
not guilty pleas are entered
and court dates set — he said.
“They don’t need to go to
court; they can stay at work,”
Chesson said. “At some point
they either go online to get notice
of their court date or they
can come by the courthouse
and sign for notice.”
He said he would also like
plea deals to be worked out before
trial dates, so courtrooms
aren’t so crowded on those
dates.
Rather than prosecutors being
assigned to each judge’s division,
Chesson said he would
change to divisions based on
crimes — drugs and alcohol,
violent crimes, sex crimes and
theft.
Quickly clearing misdemeanors
would help alleviate
the crowded system, DeRosier
said. He wants a system similar
to Harris County, Texas,
where those charged with
misdemeanors — who would
likely face only a few days in
jail — would have their cases
heard within 24 to 48 hours
rather than sitting in jail, he
said.
That would ease the
“burden on the taxpayers
for having to feed and house
all those people for crimes
which they’re only going to be
sentenced to three, four or five
days to begin with,” DeRosier
said.
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DeRosier has often lobbied
before the state Legislature for
law changes.
He said he first began doing
so in 2007 to stop the travel of
prescription pills into Southwest
Louisiana from Texas. All
told, he or his office has had a
hand in drafting 17 laws since
2007, he said.
“It’s not the district attorney’s
job to fight the proliferation
of drugs from one state to
another or to fight the problem
of people dying of drug
overdoses in this parish or any
other parish,” DeRosier said.
“But, you know, you’ve got
to step back and look at it —
somebody’s got to do it.”
DeRosier’s role in slowing
the influx of prescription
drugs into the area is one of
his top accomplishments because
of its impact, he said.
Chesson said if elected, he
also would work to shape the
law.
“I would work with our
surrounding DAs primarily,”
Chesson said. “If we’re going
to go lobby, I think we would
have to get together. Just like I
would promote parish unity, I
would want to promote unity
with our neighboring parishes,
especially in the areas of
law enforcement.
“At that point, we can get
with the Legislature and other
district attorneys and come
up with solutions to problems
that can be utilized to change
laws.”
Pot law changes?
Chesson said that in a poll
he conducted, a large percentage
of Calcasieu residents
favored lesser penalties for
marijuana possession and
other minor offenses. The proliferation
of synthetic marijuana
is a result of marijuana
being illegal, he said.
“I’m not necessarily in
favor of making marijuana
legal; that’s not my job,” Chesson
said. “As a prosecutor,
I have to enforce it. But any
time you’ve got 80 percent-plus
of your parish favoring lesser
penalties for such offenses, I
think that’s something that
you have to adhere to.”
Marijuana charges can be
amended to various charges,
such as attempted possession
of marijuana or criminal mischief,
he said.
“So that way, they don’t set
themselves up so they don’t
have two marijuana charges ...
and are a felon and can’t vote,
can’t own a gun, can’t hunt.”
While he is against the
legalization of marijuana,
DeRosier recognizes that
there is a change in the public
sentiment about the drug, he
said.
There is a place in society
for medical marijuana, but in
a pill or capsule form, he said.
He considers marijuana to be a
gateway drug, he said.
“Whether we like it or not,
society has changed a little bit,
it’s migrating,” he said. “So,
while we do not want to legalize
recreational marijuana, we
have to recognize that there
are lots of people who do it.
For small amounts for personal
use, you’re going to see the
lowering of penalties to some
degree.”
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