York trial terminated

Former Louisiana State Trooper Kory York, one of the two remaining defendants in the 2019 in-custody death of Black motorist Ronald Greene, is expected to enter a plea Monday in 3rd Judicial District Court, thus ending his case.

York’s lawyers and District Attorney John Belton’s office reached what Belton called a “case termination agreement” just days before York’s trial was to have begun.

“A plea will be entered Monday with an agreement as to sentencing,” 3rd District Judge Thomas Rogers said Wednesday.

Officials declined to discuss the specifics of the agreement, saying they would be outlined Monday in court. The proceeding is set for 10 a.m. at the Union Parish Courthouse.

York faced eight counts of malfeasance in office for what prosecutors say was his role in Greene’s death.

Greene died May 10, 2019, alongside a rural Union Parish road after leading state police on a high-speed chase that began in Ouachita Parish. Greene was Black; the officers, white.

Troopers’ body camera footage released almost two years later appears to show officers beating, kicking, and pepper spraying Greene after he was subdued until he became unresponsive.

Jury selection in what was expected to have been York’s trial was to have begun Monday. The jury pool was dismissed Friday, Union Parish Clerk of Court Dodie Eubanks said. Potential witnesses have also been dismissed.

If all goes as planned Monday, Union Parish Sheriff ’ s Deputy Chris Harpin will be the remaining defendant. Harpin faces two counts of malfeasance in office. As of now, he’s expected to go to trial next year.

York and Harpin were among five law enforcement officers indicted by a Union Parish grand jury on Dec. 15, 2022. Charges were dropped against the other three.

York was originally charged with one count of negligent homicide and 10 counts of malfeasance in office. The charges stem from allegations that York repeatedly beat Greene even after Greene was subdued.

But in September, prosecutors dropped the negligent homicide charge and one of what by then were nine lesser malfeasance counts.

The negligent homicide charge was the most serious charge left in a case that’s slowly been chipped away. Belton said at the time his office dropped the negligent homicide charge because the evidence didn’t meet the standards for conviction.

Part of the issue became that both federal and state authorities couldn’t say exactly what caused Greene’s death.

State police initially told Greene’s family the 49- year- old died from injuries sustained when his small SUV hit a tree. But later evidence and testimony before a state legislative committee looking into Greene’s death contradicted that.

Though court records say three head injuries suffered by Greene weren’t consistent with an auto crash, neither a 2019 nor a 2021 autopsy report list the manner of Greene’s death, that is, whether his death was homicide, accidental, undetermined, etc.

State prosecutors were long skeptical the negligent homicide charge would hold up in the face of autopsy reports that cited “complications of cocaine use” among contributing factors to Greene’s death. Others included troopers’ repeated use of a stun gun, “physical struggle, prone restraint, blunt-force injury and neck compression,” but the forensic pathologist in Arkansas who examined Greene declined to identify which factor or factors were most lethal.

The 2019 autopsy report signed by Arkansas forensic pathologists Drs. Frank Peretti and Jennifer Forsyth listed Greene’s cause of death as “cocaine induced agitated delirium complicated by motor vehicle collision, physical struggle, inflicted head injury, and restraint.”

But Forsyth later removed delirium.

The amended report lists cause of death as “best classified as: complications of cocaine use, conducted electrical weapon application, physical struggle, prone restraint, blunt force injury, and neck compression.”

Last year, York’s attorneys sought to have all the charges against him dismissed, saying prosecutors illegally used statements from an LPS internal investigation in seeking an indictment against York.

In an August 2023 hearing, Small said York was required to answer questions as part of the state police investigation, and that prosecutors allowing use-of-force expert Seth Stoughton to listen to the interview violated York’s 5th Amendment rights.

But Rogers disagreed.

He said though Stoughton did listen to audio of statements York made to LSP investigators, it was police body camera video that led Stoughton to conclude York allegedly used excessive force against Greene.

Stoughton’s testimony was considered pivotal to the grand jury’s decision to indict York.

In November 2023, Small asked the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals to review Rogers’ decision, but it refused. Small took the matter to the state Supreme Court, but in April the courted declined to hear York’s appeal of Rogers’ decision.

In July 2023, Rogers dismissed obstruction of justice indictments against former Trooper Dakota DeMoss and former LSP Captain John Peters. In October of that year, Belton agreed to drop charges against the ranking trooper on the scene, Lt. John Clary, of Ruston, in apparent exchange for his cooperation.

Clary was accused of lying about the existence of his body-camera footage. Clary’s attorney has denied any immunity agreement.