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Trial Begins For Lousiana Sheriff Charged In Jail Beatings, Cover-ups
Trial Begins For Lousiana Sheriff Charged In Jail Beatings, Cover-ups

Trial Begins For Louisiana Sheriff Charged With Jail Beatings, Cover-ups

Trial Begins For Lousiana Sheriff Charged In Jail Beatings, Cover-ups

Associated Press photo

The federal trial begins this week for a Louisiana sheriff who has been charged with ordering beatings of prisoners, masterminding coverups, and using racial slurs.

The Department of Justice is trying Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal with the crimes, the Associated Press reports. Nine former sheriff's deputies already plead guilty earlier this year to charges connected to the jail beatings, with the district attorney dismissing more than 100 criminal cases as a result.

Ackal has been barred from carrying a gun since he was indicted in March, but he remains in office despite calls for his resignation. Local activists say the case is stoking the racial tension of a community that has consistently fallen victim to police brutality and misconduct.

There is a laundry list of accusations of police brutality and corruption against Ackal.

He has been accused of using "racially derogatory language" when speaking to two narcotics agents who told him they got drunk while off-duty and assaulted two young black men in November 2008. The indictment says that he told the officers to lie about the incident, and had a supervisor delete the report that listed the agents as suspects. He is also accused of threatening to shoot a federal prosecutor assigned to his case between his "Jewish eyes." Thc comments were allegedly captured on tape by an informant.

The charges against Ackal include ordering beatings of five prisoners in a chapel away from surveillance cameras; instructing deputies to "take care of" a man who allegedly assaulted one of Ackal's relatives; and burning internal affairs records on excessive force allegations. Officers are also accused of writing false or misleading reports and lying during depositions for civil lawsuits over prisoner beatings.

Area activists have said that the charges

Ackal's lawyers say that the officers simply assumed that his was instructing them to beat the prisoners, that he never beat any of the prisoners himself, and that the evidence against him is "weak."