A federal judge sentenced former prosecutor Gary Haynes to seven years in prison, and sent him to jail Friday afternoon.
After Haynes was sentenced to seven years in prison and a $200,000 fine, the judge first said he could report to serve his sentence on January 6. But prosecutors objected, saying Haynes had business interests in Panama and $6 million in assets, and was a flight risk.
The court agreed, and ordered U.S. Marshals to take him into custody at Friday afternoon's hearing.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Luke Walker made the objection, saying that Haynes posed a "significant risk of flight."
He said Haynes will be 68 years old this month, has "ties to other countries" and has "$6 million in assets." Walker said that makes Haynes a prime flight risk.
Defense attorney Todd Clemons said Haynes had plenty of time to flee, and yet he's made every court appearance.
"If he was going to flee, he wouldn't wait until now," Clemons said. "He's already hired another firm to assist us in filing an appeal. He's standing on his innocence."
But U.S. District Judge David Joseph sustained the government's objection and ordered the marshals to take Haynes into custody at the hearing, which they did.
Back in September, a jury deliberated around two hours before finding Haynes guilty on charges of conspiracy to engage in bribery; bribery; two counts use of a cell phone to facilitate bribery; conspiracy to commit money laundering; and obstruction of justice. He faced up to 60 years in prison and fines of up to $1.5 million or more.
Before the sentencing Friday, the attorneys worked through several objections to the pre-sentence report. In federal cases, probation and parole officials conduct an extensive investigation of each convicted defendant's background and of the crimes they've been found guilty of. That information is applied to a formula to determine what the recommended sentence guideline is, usually a range. Before the sentence is handed down, both sides - prosecutors and defendant - can object to findings and argue their cases.
During Friday's 90-minute hearing, not surprisingly, the government argued for a higher sentence and the defense argued for a lower one. They argued back and forth about Haynes' role in the alleged bribery scheme, and the amount of money he was trying to get. In the end, after applying his decisions in those technical arguments, Joseph said the guidelines for Counts 1, 3, and 4 was 60 months. The range for counts 2, 5 and 6 was 97 to 121 months, plus fines of up to $250,000 on counts 1 through 5, and $300,000 on count 6.
The court sentenced him to 60 months on counts 1, 3 and 4, and 84 monts on counts 2, 5 and 6, all to run concurrently, or at the same time, for a total sentence of seven years. After Haynes completes his sentence he will serve two years of supervised release. His fine, of $200,000, must be paid within 60 days of today.
In handing down his sentence, Joseph said several things to Haynes that he has said to the other defendants in the case. All of the crimes of which he was convicted were related to the Pre-Trial Intervention program of the 15th Judicial District Attorney's Office, where Haynes worked for his former law partner Don Landry.
Joseph referred to the "enormous power" and "almost unchecked authority" that district attorneys have in making decisions about charges - "an encapsulation of one of the fundamental roles of government - to protect public safety."
"But you let your greed take over," Joseph said. Haynes "corrupted" the PTI program, he said.
"You were not just an attorney, but a prosector," said Joseph, who earlier in his career served as a JAG prosecutor and U.S. Attorney.
The system is "ripe for abuse," and by soliciting bribes from defendants, Haynes and his co-conspirators were taking advantage of people who are often desperate and at their lowest point, the judge said.
"The system cannot accept or tolerate corruption in any public servant," he said.
Haynes' case comes roughly a decade after his spouse pleaded guilty in a bribery scheme, also involving the District Attorney's Office; she served time in federal prison. To read more about that, click here. His wife now is ill; her health issues were the subject of a Motion to Continue earlier this year, which was denied.
Haynes was indicted in Fall 2024. He was 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.
The trial lasted a little more than a week. Haynes was prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney Luke Walker, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Nickel and Assistant US Attorney Steven Loew. Haynes' defense team was led by Lake Charles defense attorney Todd Clemons, himself a former federal prosecutor.
Testimony at trial showed that the FBI used Haynes' alleged co-conspirators to weave the web that ensnared him. The investigation began in July 2021 when the FBI got a tip about Joseph Prejean shaking down defendants who were facing charges in the 15th Judicial District. The wiretaps began with him, and expanded to Dusty Guidry and Haynes based on information gathered on those tapes. Prejean, Guidry and Scott businessman Leonard Franques already have pleaded guilty and been sentenced. Prejean was sentenced to 18 months in prison, $40,000 in fines and three years of supervised release. Franques was sentenced to one year in prison, more than $169,000 in fines and forfeitures, and one year of supervised release. Guidry was sentenced to four years in prison.
Testimony showed that Franques agreed to cooperate early on, wearing wires and setting up video cameras to capture conversations with Guidry and Haynes. Those recordings played a major role in the government's case. According to the government's theory of the case, Guidry and Haynes began working in the pretrial diversion program shortly after Don Landry was elected District Attorney. Franques was making money by offering classes to participants in the program for a fee; he was splitting the fee with Guidry and Haynes in exchange for their efforts to get him more customers. Haynes paid the two men more than $219,000 to "buy in" to the scheme, and resurrected along-dormant LLC in order to serve as a depositor for some of the graft, along with more bribes coming from Franques in connection with a similar scheme involving the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. In that case, former LDWF Secretary Jack Montoucet was indicted and is awaiting trial.
If you'd like to read more of our coverage of this case, here are some stories:
https://www.katc.com/lafayette-parish/update-dusty-guidry-sentenced-to-four-years-in-prison
https://www.katc.com/lafayette-parish/gary-haynes-files-motion-for-new-trial
https://www.katc.com/lafayette-parish/prosecutors-respond-to-haynes-motion-for-new-trial
https://www.katc.com/lafayette-parish/haynes-trial-what-the-jury-didnt-hear
https://www.katc.com/lafayette-parish/jury-deliberations-underway-in-federal-bribery-trial
https://www.katc.com/lafayette-parish/gary-haynes-suspended-from-the-practice-of-law
https://www.katc.com/lafayette-parish/another-former-da-employee-testifies-in-bribery-trial
https://www.katc.com/lafayette-parish/bribery-trial-resumes-jury-hears-more-recorded-conversations
https://www.katc.com/lafayette-parish/witness-disputes-fbis-version-of-her-statement-takes-the-fifth
https://www.katc.com/lafayette-parish/update-former-ada-gary-haynes-indicted-by-federal-grand-jury
https://www.katc.com/lafayette-parish/update-court-denies-haynes-motion-for-new-trial
