"Well, looks like the feds will be back," Jessica Broussard, a former employee of the Lafayette district attorney's office recalled telling Assistant District Attorney Gary Haynes before the FBI raided his office in May 2023.
Broussard testified Friday morning in Haynes' federal bribery trial in Lafayette, our media partners at The Advocate report.
Her comment referred to a previous bribery scheme in the DA's office, when Mike Harson was district attorney. Haynes' wife, Barna, Harson's longtime assistant, went to federal prison for her role in that scheme, the newspaper reports.
In that case, a Lafayette private investigator, Robert Williamson, gave cash and items to Haynes and other employees to fast-track mostly operating-while-under-the-influence cases through the judicial system and clear their records quickly.
Prosecutors were prohibited from telling jurors that Haynes' wife was involved in the earlier scandal, the Advocate reports.
Broussard worked in the district attorney's office when the FBI raided it in 2011. She opened the door for them, she said.
A witness for the government, Broussard testified Friday that she was working in the office of Frederick "Fritz" Welter, an assistant district attorney in the 15th Judicial District, when Haynes, who was in charge of the pretrial intervention program, asked her to refer a specific case to his office without consulting with Welter first, the newspaper reports.
Haynes pressured her to refer the case, she said, despite her objections that Welter should be made aware.
"I said, 'absolutely not,'" Broussard recalled.
To read the rest of the story with details about the ongoing trial, click here.
