BATON ROUGE, LA – Louisiana Attorney General Jeff
Landry issued the following statement regarding the Alton Sterling
investigation:
“Today, the United States Department of Justice (USDOJ)
released its findings in the death of Alton Sterling.
In the hours after this July 5, 2016 tragedy, state and
local elected officials – as well as community leaders – requested an
independent federal investigation by the USDOJ. That precluded state
investigations until the federal investigation concluded.
At this time, and due to the nature of their
investigation, my office has not been privy to any investigative materials
created and collected by the USDOJ. Therefore, I cannot and will not comment on
their findings beyond that they were made after an exhaustive investigation and
a thorough review of the evidence.
The USDOJ’s review of this matter was to determine
violations of federal law: specifically, federal civil rights laws. To date,
this matter has not been investigated or reviewed for possible violations of
the Louisiana Criminal Code.
Therefore, this matter now needs to be investigated for
possible state criminal violations. In order to ensure this matter is
investigated by the agency with the most expertise in officer-involved
shootings – I have directed the USDOJ to securely forward their investigative
materials to the Louisiana State Police (LSP) to conduct the state
investigation. And I have assigned a prosecutor from the Louisiana Department
of Justice to assist.
LSP has a team of investigators who examine
officer-involved shootings for Sheriff’s Offices and Police Departments all
over the State. They have investigated these types of matters on a routine
basis, including their work in Marksville on a case we recently prosecuted
against a former deputy marshal. There is no other unit in the State with more
experience or more expertise in the use of lethal force by law enforcement
agents. Had the USDOJ not been tasked to lead this investigation, there is no
doubt LSP would have led the investigation.
It is important for the public to know that this matter
will be handled by the most professional and proficient law enforcement use of
force team in Louisiana. Once LSP and our assigned prosecutor have reviewed the
materials generated by the federal government’s civil rights investigation and
have conducted any further investigation necessary – my office will meet with
them to review their findings, evaluate the evidence, and make the appropriate
prosecutorial decision.
This matter was recused to our office for prosecution by
the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney; and we will perform our duties
in a timely, prudent, and judicious manner when that time comes. As of now, we
consider this matter an open investigation by LSP; therefore, we will make no further comment.
A thorough and complete investigation could take a
considerable amount of time; as
such, we ask for patience from the public and the press.”
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