A former Opelousas Police Officer no longer faces attempted manslaughter, assault and battery charges in the December 2023 shooting of her chief and his wife.
Savannah Butler had been accused of attempted manslaughter, aggravated assault with a firearm, aggravated battery, three counts obstruction of justice and three counts malfeasance in office in connection with the events that happened at her home.
On Friday, upon the motion of the Attorney General's Office, the manslaughter, battery and assault charges were dismissed, said her attorney, Harry Daniels of Baton Rouge.
The AG moved to dismiss the charges related to the actual shooting - in which Chief Craig "Twin" Leblanc and his wife, St. Landry Parish Sheriff's deputy Crystal Leblanc, were wounded - after seeing more video from that night, Daniels said.
"The St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office, what they retrieved from the alarm company did not show the entire incident," Daniels explained. "It shows Ms. Butler in her home defending herself, preventing Ms. Leblanc from coming into her home."
Daniels said that, as soon as he showed the video to the AG's Office, prosecutors "did the right thing" and dismissed the charges. There had been a previous incident at the home involving the women months before, and Leblanc had been told she could not return to Butler's property, Daniels said.
The video, which he did provide to KATC, shows the chief approaching the door, and his wife coming up behind him as Butler opens the door of her home.
"For whatever reason, they didn't get the full video of the incident, so they didn't have the whole picture" when the case was presented to the grand jury, he said.
Daniels said he does not believe the AG's prosecutors ever saw the full video, nor were they aware some video was missing.
"We're happy that the Attorney General did the right thing when we presented the actual evidence to them," Daniels said. "We found that video as a result of our own independent investigation. We don't think the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office should have investigated anything having to do with their own deputy."
Daniels said he looks forward to fighting the remaining charges, and has several Motions pending before the court.
We've reached out to the AG and to the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office for comment on these developments and will update this story as soon as we hear from them.
The shooting in question happened in December 2023. In the weeks following, Butler was booked with two counts of negligent injury, one count of obstruction of justice, and one count of illegal use of a weapon. LeBlanc was booked with obstruction of justice, malfeasance in office and failure to assist or aid another officer. And a third officer of the department, Tyrone Abrams, was booked with one count malfeasance in office, and one count principal to obstruction of justice.
All three were indicted in October 2024; Butler on charges of attempted manslaughter, aggravated assault with a firearm, aggravated battery, obstruction of justice, malfeasance in office, Leblanc on charges of obstruction of justice, malfeasance in office and Abrams on charges of malfeasance in office and obstruction of justice.
To see the warrant issued for the chief, which contains the details of the allegations of the investigating agency - St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office - you can click here.
