Opinion ID: 1699278
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The connection of government officials with the release of the publicity

Text: Some of the newspaper articles about the crime contained quotes from Bossier Parish Sheriff Larry Deen. In an article revealing defendant and an inmate charged with an unrelated murder had been moved from the Bossier Parish Jail to the Caddo Correctional Center to avoid the possibility of an escape attempt, the Sheriff stated, People who've committed this type of crime... don't have anything to lose, and will try to do anything they can to become free people. They're constantly working those angles. They'll make any attempt to escape. Gregg Trusty, Alleged murderers moved to Caddo Parish lockup, BOSSIER PRESS-TRIBUNE, February 15, 2001 at 1A. The article also quoted the Sheriff as claiming they had foiled defendant's plan to escape and defendant was just a big ol' boy who wanted to be bad, thought he was bad, and just absolutely found out he wasn't bad. Id. In another article, the Sheriff's spokesman, Ed Baswell, stated the authorities thought defendant is telling us about 90 percent of the truth ... but there are still plenty of holes in his story. He still maintains he was with two other people, and the two other people were the perpetrators. Gregg Trusty, Plain Dealing Murder: Police find alleged murder weapon, BOSSIER BANNER-PROGRESS, December 27, 2000, p. 1. The article continued that the authorities were very skeptical of defendant's claim concerning the other assailants. Id. We note these articles appeared well in advance of defendant's trial which began on May 3, 2002.