The bipartisan committee investigating the circumstances of and events following the deadly arrest of Black motorist Ronald Greene is set to hold the former head of the Louisiana State Police, Kevin Reeves, in contempt for his refusal to turn over documents that could shed additional light on the actions of LSP. Committee chair, Representative Tanner Magee gave his thoughts to the Associated Press.
“(Reeves) told the committee that he still had those meeting notes,” said Magee, “and so we asked him to produce them. He said it could have private information for him, so we filed a subpoena to get it. His attorney missed the deadline to return it to the subpoena.”
Magee says he arranged to meet with Reeve’s attorney, Lewis Unglesby to review the journals and get only information related specifically to the Greene case. When he arrived, the meeting did not go as planned…
“He had made copies of what he thought was related,” said Magee, “which was not our agreement, and tried to give that to me. I said ‘No, I want to see the actual journals and review them,’ We had a back and forth discussion that got a little heated.”
During the meeting, Magee said he identified an entry date of June 17, 2020, that referenced Governor John Bel Edwards by name along with notes about police brutality and body cams, and wanted to review it in greater detail. Unglesby refused to turn it over, along with the other materials Magee requested, leading to the current situation.
“I said ‘Look, I think this could be related.’ I said ‘Well, then can you just give me the white pages that you agreed to produce when I showed up?’ He said he’d only give that to me unless I agreed not to take anything else. I couldn’t do that and I said ‘we’re going to go forward with contempt charges.'”
In response, Unglesby says that Col. Reeves hasn’t done anything to warrant contempt charges and has been wholly cooperative with the investigation.
“These are personal notes of Kevin Reeves, these are not police reports or official documents or anything like that, maybe there is some confusion there,” said Unglesby.
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