The trial of Louisiana Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal for beating prisoners and then covering up his actions starts this week in federal court, AP reported Sunday, noting that the case against Ackal and his underlings has raised racial tensions and did away with whatever had been left of the public’s trust in local police.
Roberta Boudreaux, of the Committee to Elect Iberia Parish Sheriff, who ran against Ackal last year, told AP that her community was “very fortunate not to have an uprising in our parish.” Ackal, 73, remains in office despite the trial, but he has been barred from carrying a gun.
The indictment accuses the sheriff of using “racially derogatory language” when two narcotics agents told him they got drunk and attacked two young black men in 2008, and instructed them to lie about the incident. He is also accused of ordering a supervisor to delete the agents’ names from a report on the attack. He is also accused of ordering his men to beat up prisoners in 2011. Ackal faces a prison sentence if he is convicted of the charges of conspiracy and depriving prisoners of their constitutional rights.
Ackal is also accused of threatening to shoot a federal prosecutor investigating his case between his “Jewish eyes.” The threat was allegedly captured on tape.