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BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - After meeting for months, a Special Grand Jury handed down indictments against four Baton Rouge police officers on Tuesday, June 25.

The case involved the alleged coverup of the 2020 beating of a man in police custody.

Troy Lawrence, Sr., the former deputy chief and number two person in the department, was among those indicted. He is now a Lieutenant.

Corporals Douglas Chutz, Todd Thomas and Martele Jackson were also indicted.

The indictments are as follows:

OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE: Chutz (1 count), Jackson (1 count), Thomas (1 count)

CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE: Chutz (1 count), Lawrence (1 count), Thomas (2 counts)

MALFEASANCE IN OFFICE: Chutz (2 counts), Jackson (1 count), Lawrence (4 counts), Thomas (3 counts)

All four officers remain on the force but on administrative leave. Lawrence, Chutz and Thomas were arrested in the case last year. An arrest warrant was issued for Jackson shortly after the indictments were announced.

An indictment means the grand jury believed there is enough evidence in the case to proceed to trial.

District Attorney Hillar Moore emphasized that none of the charges against the officers carries a mandatory jail sentence if the officers are ultimately found guilty.

“This was an isolated incident, this is not an indictment on the Baton Rouge Police Department,” Moore said at a news conference to announce the indictments.

The grand jury did not indict Corporal Jesse Barcelona, a fifth officer who was being investigated in the case. Barcelona also remains on the force.

TROY LAWRENCE SR.

Troy Lawrence Sr. was the commander of the Street Crimes Unit at the time of the reported beating. Internal affairs investigators interviewed him on October 31, 2023, sixteen days after he had been placed on administrative leave.

Lawrence Sr. told investigators that he did not recall seeing anyone beaten.

Also, Lawrence Sr. could not recall if he threatened the suspect that another officer would “knock the f**k” out of the man until he complied with the strip search.

Investigators wrote that Lawrence Sr. also could not remember activating his stun gun to scare the man or conspiring with another officer to get rid of body camera footage of the incident after being told by Officer Todd Thomas that the footage “looked bad.”

Lawrence Sr. notably transferred Jackson from the Street Crimes Unit to a different unit after making a personal request to former chief of police Murphy Paul. Still, according to the leaked documents, he kept running into Jackson.

Investigators said that Lawrence Sr. discredited the whistleblower and explained the constant run-ins by saying that “something is wrong with him.”

CORPORAL TODD THOMAS

Thomas reportedly came into the bathroom where the suspect was being strip searched and got physical. The whistleblower told the investigator Thomas punched the man about four or five times.

Thomas reportedly took Jackson’s body camera and viewed the footage filmed after Officer Lawrence Sr. activated the stun gun.

This officer also reportedly took the body camera away from Jackson.

Officer Thomas told investigators that he could not recall whether any of those things happened.

CORPORAL DOUGLAS CHUSTZ

Chustz was inside the bathroom before the reported beating.

He also reportedly activated his stun gun at some point to scare the suspect into submission.

He also told investigators that he could not recall the reported beating.

OFFICER JESSE BARCELONA - NOT INDICTED

Then-sergeant Jesse Barcelona denied witnessing or taking part in the reported beating.

He told investigators he was helping Jackson write up the missing body camera.

He denied hearing any information about the arrest or what happened to the body camera prior to sending a report up the chain of command.

CORPORAL MARTELE JACKSON

Jackson’s account ties the other officers to the alleged scheme.

As he remembers it, he and Officer Chustz were in a bathroom at the precinct when Officer Todd Thomas came in and began beating the suspect.

Jackson recalls Officer Lawrence Sr. making threats to force the suspect to comply and then activating his taser to scare the suspect.

Unknown to the group, the sound of the taser also activated Jackson’s body camera.

Jackson alleges that Officer Todd Thomas viewed the video. Thomas then warned Officer Lawrence Sr. that the footage was incriminating and then took the body camera.

Jackson then filed a report on the missing body camera, which Officer Barcelona sent up to their higher-ups.

Jackson notably chose to come forward after the anonymous complaint and only after former Chief of Police Murphy Paul had already told investigators to begin looking into the allegations.

The investigation also followed a damning report by the WAFB I-TEAM which revealed the existence and location of the “Brave Cave,” which was unrelated to this incident.

The “Brave Cave” is an unnamed processing facility that the Street Crimes Unit once used to hold and search suspects tied to drug investigations.

Officers do not mention the facility in police reports reviewed by the I-TEAM.

Those reports only say that suspects were taken and interviewed at the first district precinct.”

While the “Brave Cave” is less than a mile from the precinct, the two buildings are not connected.

East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome and Chief Paul announced that the “Brave Cave” would be shuttered in August. That month, Chief Paul also disbanded the Street Crimes Unit.

The report also increased attention to the Street Crimes Unit’s activities, specifically its previous arrests and interrogations.

WHAT’S NEXT

The officers have argued that they should be allowed to remain on leave until their cases go through the court system. They cited Chief Paul’s history of enabling other officer’s cases to go through the court system before he took discipline.

Chief Paul is now retired, however.

The decision of newly appointed Chief Thomas Morse will set the tone for his dealings with his officers accused of crimes.

It remains to be seen if District Attorney Moore’s office will be willing to entertain plea agreements with these officers before trial.

Federal prosecutors could bring additional cases against these officers from their own investigation.

Civil lawsuits have been placed on hold against the Baton Rouge Police Department, these officers, and the Street Crimes Unit for policies and practices that attorneys say violate the civil rights of the people those officers have sworn to protect and serve.

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