Former LSP leader agrees to give up notes

BATON ROUGE – The lawyer for former Louisiana State Police Superintendent Kevin Reeves has agreed to turn over Reeves’ journals containing notes from his meetings as the state’s top cop under the condition that they remain under seal.

As part of the agreement, the House and Governmental Affairs Committee agreed to defer a resolution holding Reeves in contempt of the Legislature if he complies by a 4 p.m. deadline Friday.

Under the agreement, Reps. Tanner Magee of Houma and John Stefanski of Crowley, both Republicans, will be permitted to inspect the journals at the office of Reeves’ lawyer, Lewis Unglesby.

The inspection will determine if any of the pages contain sensitive information, like Social Security numbers, which could then be excluded. The rest of the journals will return to the Capitol with the lawmakers by tomorrow’s deadline.

If the lawmakers are unable to retrieve the journals, the committee will vote on the resolution to hold Reeves in contempt, which if approved by both the committee and the full House, it would will subject Reeves to a $5,000 fine.

While some have argued whether the journals constitute a public document, the Legislature is entitled to subpoena any documents, public or private, that are needed to conduct its their business.

The Special House Committee to Inquire into the Circumstances and investigating on the Death of Ronald Greene, which is chaired by Magee, has been meeting since March to determine if there was a coverup of Greene’s killing.

Greene, a black man, died after a violent altercation with state police after a high-speed chase in May 2019. During the incident, Greene was beaten, tased, and dragged face-down while his hands and feet were shackled.

Following a subpoena in April, Reeves turned over several pages of his notes to the committee. Magee and other committee members argued that these pages did not amount to full compliance with the subpoena.

Unglesby, who appeared with Reeves when he testified before the committee, has had a contentious relationship with lawmakers, particularly Magee.

Unglesby was removed from the witness table at his first appearance on March 15 after repeatedly interrupting other committee members.

In his remarks opposing the resolution to hold his client in contempt, Unglesby lashed out at lawmakers for accusing him and his client of lying and engaging in a coverup.

“There is nothing to hide," Unglesby said.

Unglesby initially objected to Magee being the one to inspect the documents, insisting that he did not want to speak to anybody who called him a liar. Stefanski intervened, and Unglesby acquiesced under the condition that Stefanski accompany Magee.