Request to drop felony case against Lafayette City Marshal Brian Pope has been denied

Claire Taylor | The Daily Advertiser

Show Caption Hide Caption How Brian Pope Got in Trouble updated This is an abbreviated timeline of how Brian Pope went from victorious candidate for Lafayette City Marshal in 2014 to being escorted to jail in handcuffs and facing seven felony charges by 2018.

An attempt by attorneys for Lafayette City Marshal Brian Pope to have his felony case dismissed over an alleged vindictive and retaliatory prosecution claim was denied Thursday.

Pope was in 15th Judicial District Court Thursday before Judge David Smith. His attorneys wanted Smith to dismiss the indictment of Pope on the grounds that the charges were retaliatory and vindictive.

Smith said no.

Pope faces seven felony counts, including five malfeasance in office charges and two perjury charges, all stemming from a lawsuit The Independent, a former newspaper, filed in 2015 when Pope refused to comply with a public records request.

During a 2015 election for sheriff, Pope held a news conference at his office, dressed in his uniform and surrounded by uniformed deputies where he criticized candidate Mark Garber, alleging Garber encouraged illegal immigrants to file lawsuits. Pope endorsed Garber's opponent in the race.

MORE: Lafayette Marshal Brian Pope keeps job despite jail time

In the motion to dismiss the indictment, Pope's attorneys claim he also discussed in the October 2015, news conference policies of then-Sheriff Mike Neustrom that restricted the marshal's office and other agencies from arresting and booking illegal immigrants on misdemeanor charges.

Pope never urged voters to vote for or against either candidate, the motion claims.

That is the basis of his claim that the prosecution is vindictive and selective in violation of the First Amendment right to free expression.

Also Thursday, Pope's attorneys admitted into evidence a tape of a KLFY TV-10 news story about a news conference where Pope's predecessor, Earl "Nickey" Picard endorsed Pope for city marshal.

Assistant District Attorney Alan Haney is prosecuting the case.

MORE: Brian Pope: What happened

Pope's trial is set for Sept. 24.

The charges against Pope

Pope is accused of committing malfeasance on:

Sept. 1, 2015, when he had two employees of the City Marshal Office, while on the public's time, write a letter for his personal political campaign.

Oct. 7, 2015, when he held a press conference using the public funds of his office, including his office space and employees who were on duty, for a political purpose,, namely to criticize Mark Garber, a candidate for sheriff who opposed Chad Leger, who was supported by Pope.

Nov. 10, 2015, through June 2, 2016, by using public funds to pay an attorney to prepare and draft a motion to unseal the divorce records of Mark Garber.

June 13, 2016, by using public funds to pay for an attorney to represent employees of the City Marshal Office during questioning in a criminal investigation in which they were not the targets.

The other charges allege Pope committed perjury while under oath Dec. 28, 2015, at a sworn deposition in The Independent's civil case:

When he denied he authorized the distribution of an email through a third-party mass distribution service.

When he said Hilary "Joe" Castille, who worked on Leger's campaign, only provided him with a press advisory.

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