A former Louisiana State Police trooper must face the most serious charges stemming from the death of Ronald Greene after a beating by troopers on a Union Parish roadside in 2019, the Louisiana Supreme Court decided Tuesday.
The state’s high court in a 6-0 vote declined to hear an appeal from former Master Trooper Kory York over a judge’s refusal to quash the indictment against him.
York faces negligent homicide and malfeasance charges for his alleged role in Greene’s death after a high-speed chase through the Monroe area.
A state grand jury indicted York among a handful of LSP troopers and a Union Parish deputy, Chris Harpin. Only York and Harpin remain as defendants in the case. In October, District Attorney John Belton agreed to drop charges against the ranking trooper at the scene of Greene’s death, Lt. John Clary, in exchange for his cooperation.
Belton declined to comment on the court’s decision or how he’ll now proceed in the case against York and Harpin, who faces three counts of malfeasance in office. York’s attorney, Mike Small, did not immediately respond to a request Wednesday for comment.
Judge Thomas Rogers of the state’s 3rd Judicial District, who denied York’s bid to quash the indictment against him, did toss the charges against two others indicted in the case: former Trooper Dakota DeMoss, and Capt. John Peters, who helmed the Monroe-based troop at the center of the scandal around Greene's death at age 49.
Greene’s family said State Police originally told them he’d died as a result of injuries sustained in a crash at the end of a high-speed chase. In May 2021, after The Associated Press published body camera video from several of the officers on the scene, State Police acknowledged Greene had not died in a wreck.
The video showed officers tasing Greene, then beating and dragging him by his ankles while facedown and shackled. York, who was not among the first troopers on the scene, featured prominently in the video.
Small argued that York’s indictment should be thrown out, however, because prosecutors improperly allowed an expert witness, Seth Stoughton, to review a statement York gave as part of an internal State Police probe.
York was compelled to answer questions as part of that inquiry. Small, his lawyer, argued at an Aug. 22 hearing that allowing Stoughton to hear the interview as part of his review of case materials was a violation of York's Fifth Amendment rights.
In denying York, Rogers noted that Stoughton filed an affidavit saying that "his opinion would have been the same whether he listened to the tape or not." He said Stoughton's testimony focused almost entirely on his review of body-camera footage.
"It is clear that the bodycam videos were the evidence Stoughton relied on to come to his conclusions as to improper use of force," Rogers wrote.
Under state law, statements compelled in internal investigations cannot be used against officers in a criminal proceeding.
Belton and Assistant District Attorney Hugo Holland, who are prosecuting the case, acknowledged that the report should not have been sent to Stoughton. They did not explain during the hearing how or why the material was included.
But they pointed out that Stoughton did not reference the disputed statements in his testimony to the grand jury.
