Committee investigating Ronald Greene’s death votes to hold former LSP leader in contempt

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - A special committee of lawmakers tasked with investigating the 2019 death of Ronald Greene while he was in the custody of Louisiana State Police found former Superintendent Kevin Reeves in contempt on Wednesday, May 11.

The committee took the action because the former head of LSP refused to turn over journals he wrote during the early stages of the investigation into Greene’s death.

“This is not a witch hunt to try to find some random thing in the journal, so the concern is only stuff that’s relevant,” Rep. Tanner Magee said.

Magee says out of the 3 journals they subpoenaed, only 11 pages were turned over.

Reeves’ attorney Lewis Uglesby says they didn’t give the committee the remaining pages because they’re considered personal and unrelated to the case.

“The rest of this is personal, and none of their business. I personally think this is getting blown out of proportion,” Uglesby said. “Why Louisiana legislature thinks it needs to be involved in this instead of worrying about something important for the citizens, I can’t answer.”

Rep. Tanner Magee believes the subpoena power granted by the state House of Representatives should give them access to each journal, but Reeves continues to refuse.

“Colonel Reeve’s notebooks do clearly say that he was considering administrative leave if there was a possible criminal investigation from early on in the process. So, the question is if Colonel Reeves was early on considering, why nothing happened over the life of 3 years,” Reeves stated.

The committee has recommended the House issue a $5,000 fine.

“There was never a cover-up and there was no effort to dissuade anyone. All the evidence was turned over to the appropriate district attorney authorities very timely,” Uglesby said.

Reeves will have a chance to present a defense at a hearing before the House and Governmental Affairs Committee. The Full House will then follow up with a hearing of their own.

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