DAY TWO: District Attorney Don Landry continued his testimony in the trial of his former Assistant District Attorney, Gary Haynes.
Haynes was indicted last fall, accused of conspiracy, bribery and obstruction charges. To read the indictment, scroll down. He's accused of using his position over the 15th Judicial District Attorney's Pretrial Diversion program to solicit bribes from companies that provided required programs to people who participated in the program.
A jury was seated on Monday, and testimony began Monday afternoon with Landry, who was Haynes' former boss - and mentor, friend and law partner. Tuesday morning the defense began its cross-examination of Landry.
Landry, who said he is running for re-election, seemed to have frequent problems understanding defense attorney Todd Clemons and also testified that he did not recall a lot of things Clemons asked about. That led to a lot of repetition during his testimony Tuesday.
Clemons asked him about a dentist who had been accused of sexually assaulting a patient - and been admitted to the program, even though he shouldn't have been. Landry said he didn't know about the man's admission to the program until after the FBI investigation began. He said if that man was admitted it was a violation of the rules - and it was Haynes who should have dealt with the issue.
"Gary Haynes was given authority to run the Pretrial Intervention Program and I expected him to run it," he said.
Landry said he was consulted by Haynes about some cases, including a man who was in arrested for his third DWI while he was in the program, but in general he expected Haynes to handle what happened in the program.
Clemons asked Landry about numerous vendors who provided services to defendants at the direction of the DA's office, including Joe Prejean, who already has pleaded guilty in this case, and Brandon Shelvin and Amy Jones, who provide monitoring services. Prejean and Shelvin both have been listed as witnesses who may testify in the case.
Clemons asked Landry about his receipt of a Kastigar letter in this case.
That refers to a case heard before the U.S. Supreme Court back in the 1970s; the decision allows the U.S. government to compel testimony from a witness by offering immunity. Clemons showed Landry's Kastigar letter to the jury; in it Landry is promised that nothing he says to investigators will be used in any criminal case against him. Landry testified that he hired defense attorney Gerald Block to represent him because he wasn't familiar with federal law and he felt it would be best for the DA's office if he had advice.
Clemons went over Landry's grand jury testimony with him as well. In that testimony, Landry told the grand jury that Haynes had called to tell him that he had heard that the man with the third DWI said he was being asked to pay money to stay in the program. Landry said he told Haynes to investigate that allegation, but then never heard back from him.
At issue is how much authority Dusty Guidry had in the program, and Clemons asked Landry frequently about that. Guidry, who had run the PTI program for the DA in Baton Rouge, was hired by Landry as a contractor. Landry knew Guidry's father, testimony established, but he also had heard that Guidry was a "pretrial guru," despite not being an attorney.
Guidry also has pleaded guilty in the case.
When asked if he now regretted hiring Guidry, Landry said he does. And, when asked if he had trusted Haynes the entire period that Haynes worked for him, he said he did.
Testimony resumes at 1 p.m. Tuesday. The trial is expected to last for two weeks.
Opening statements were made on Monday. To read about that, click here.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Luke Walker is prosecuting the case, and Lake Charles attorney and former federal prosecutor Todd Clemons is defending Haynes.
If convicted on all six charges, Haynes faces a maximum sentence of 60 years in prison and fines of up to $1.5 million or more; the conspiracy to launder money allows a fine twice the value of any money he's convicted of trying to launder.
KATC Investigates has been covering this case for several years; here's some background on this case:
The indictment alleges that Haynes, 66, of Lafayette, conspired with Dusty Guidry, Leonard Franques, and others to solicit bribes and kickbacks and to accept things of value while Haynes was an Assistant District Attorney in the 15th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Guidry and Franques already have pleaded guilty, along with a business owner, Joseph Prejean. Franques pleaded guilty on January 12, 2024, to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds. Guidry pleaded guilty on March 23, 2023, to two counts of conspiracy to commit bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds and one count of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds. Prejean pleaded guilty in December 2023 to conspiracy to commit bribery of a public official in the Lafayette Parish District Attorney's Office. All three men are scheduled to be sentenced later this month.
Guidry, Franques and Prejean all are set to testify during the trial.
According to the indictment, Haynes oversaw the D.A.’s Office’s Pretrial Intervention (PTI) program–a program that offered an alternative to criminal prosecution for certain criminal offenders. Haynes approved defendants to participate in the program and then directed them to take classes from Franques’ companies.
Haynes is charged with conspiracy to commit bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds, bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds, two counts of using his cell phone in aid of bribery, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and obstruction of justice.
After his indictment, we reached out to Clemons, who sent us the following statement:
"Gary is relieved that he can finally commence the process of clearing his good name. Gary is a good and hardworking man. He served the citizens of Lafayette Parish with distinction for many years. He has lived under the cloud, and the enormous stress, of overtly being investigated by our federal government for well over two years.
"The prosecutors authored an Indictment that tells a false story. A falsehood created by weak and less than honorable men pressured into cooperating with the Department of Justice. Gary Joseph Haynes is an honorable man of integrity. He will stand tall and fight these false allegations until he is exonerated by twelve of his peers."
Here's a copy of the indictment against Haynes:
KATC Investigates has been covering this case for more than two years. To read more background, click here and here.
