High Profile Cases
Suit Filed Alleging Mansfield Police Officer Fabricated Evidence In Murder Case
Share Here is the full text, and a link to the latest Shreveport Times coverage by Vicki Wellborn of the suit filed on behalf of our client Terrence Glaster, who was falsely accused of murder by a Mansfield Police officer. Mr. Glaster is represented by Senior Associate Chris Hatch. Mansfield officer accused of fabricating evidence in murder probe A Mansfield man twice-arrested for a homicide has filed suit in federal court, claiming the arresting officer fabricated evidence and lied during court proceeding. Terrance Glaster states as a result of his false arrest and incarceration he’s suffered damage to his reputation, loss of income and incurred attorney fees and expenses. He’s seeking unspecified monetary compensation for the damages he said he endured with violations of his constitution, civil and statutory rights. Attorney Christopher Hatch filed the lawsuit late Friday, naming the city of Mansfield, Mansfield Police Department, Police Chief Gary Hobbs and Sgt. Billy Locke as defendants. Hobbs and Locke are named individually and in their official capacities. “At this time, I have not been served,” Mayor Curtis McCoy said of the lawsuit. “Through conversation, I have heard about it, but no one has served papers at City Hall so … I can’t comment on it at this time.” Glaster, 31, has been charged on two separate occasions with the Dec. 24, 2012 shooting death of LaDerrick Hadnott, 29, of Mansfield. Hadnott was shot in the head in a house on Topeka Street he shared with a roommate. Glaster was first arrested Jan. 25, 2013 and charged in Hadnott’s murder. The charge was dropped after a grand jury on Feb. 13, 2013 declined to indict him. His second arrest was on March 21, 2013. Glaster was jailed until May 28, when he was released on a $200,000 bond. On Nov. 14, the DeSoto District Attorney’s office dismissed the second-degree murder charge against Glaster. No arrest has been made in Hadnott’s murder. Hadnott’s death was the first homicide investigation for Locke. Glaster accuses the sergeant of not conducting a thorough forensic investigation nor seeking assistance from another agency with more investigative resources. Glaster provided Locke with an alibi and the names and contact numbers for those he was with the night Hadnott was killed. Locke did not follow up on Glaster’s information, nor did he take action on information supplied by others, including a known police informant, who identified another man involved in a stabbing incident with Hadnott 23 days prior to his death, as a suspect, the lawsuit states. The informant, identified in the lawsuit as Anthony Jackson, told Locke he was less than 10 feet from Hadnott’s house when he saw the shooter run out with a “black nine millimeter.” Jackson gave other, sometimes conflicting, statements. “Despite the patent unreliability of Jackson’s uncorroborated statement, and despite the fact that Jackson actually implicated an entirely different person for the shooting (the man who Hadnott had stabbed), plaintiff was arrested and charged with the murder of Hadnott on January 25, 2013, based entirely on Jackson’s statement,” the lawsuit states. Ten days after Glaster was first released from custody, a police informant reportedly contacted Locke to say he could get a confession from Glaster. In Locke’s written report he states he met...
read moreDesoto Parish Man Freed after Murder Charges Dismissed
Share Here is the full text, and a link to the latest Shreveport Times coverage by Vicki Wellborn of the dismissal of charges against our client Terrence Glaster, who was falsely accused of murder last Christmas. Mr. Glaster is represented by Senior Associate Chris Hatch. MANSFIELD — The shooting death of a Mansfield man almost a year ago remains unsolved. And a criminal charge against an alleged shooter has been dismissed for a second time. Last month, DeSoto District Judge Robert Burgess formally dismissed an indictment handed up in March that accused Terrence Glaster, 31, of second-degree murder in the slaying Dec. 24 of LaDerrick Hadnott. Court records show no reason for the dismissal. The indictment marked the second time Glaster had been accused of Hadnott’s death. He was arrested in January after Mansfield police developed him as a suspect. A grand jury in February declined to indict him, so he was freed.The panel convened the next month after Mansfield police generated more information about Hadnott’s death. Hadnott was discovered dead of a single gunshot to the head in a house on Topeka Street that he shared with a roommate. Glaster’s attorney, Christopher Hatch, raised questions about the investigation and filed a pretrial motion in September seeking disclosure of grand jury testimony, particularly that of investigator Billy Locke. Hatch’s motion takes issue with information Locke provided at a previous hearing during which the detective said he saw or observed Glaster in front of a Grove Street house where a cooperating witness obtained a recording that was presented to the grand jury. “This evidence would be favorable to the defendant for impeachment purposes because it would be inconsistent with Locke’s testimony at the (preliminary examination) held on July 17, 2013, that he did not, in fact, actually see a person that he knew to be Mr. Glaster in front the Grove Street residence,” Hatch’s motion says. Records do not indicate the court ruled on Hatch’s motion since evidence sharing in the discovery phase was ongoing just prior to the decision by the DeSoto district attorney’s office to dismiss the indictment. Mansfield Police Chief Gary Hobbs said the investigation into Hadnott’s death is...
read moreOnce facing a lifetime in prison, Michael Madden is returning to real life.
Share Here is the full text to the latest coverage of the dismissal of Murder charges against our client Michael Madden by Sara Machi at KTBS TV. Click here to view the story. BOSSIER CITY, La. – Once facing a lifetime in prison, Michael Madden is returning to real life. He was accused of second degree murder for the 2011 shooting death of James Dean Smith in Bossier City. Madden’s attorney, Elton Richey, says his client should never have been put in this position and puts the blame on police misconduct. “Living in jail, being confined is bad,” Richey says. “It’s even worse when you’re innocent, and you know you’re innocent.” Michael Madden’s lawyer says his client is focused on returning to a normal life after being accused of the 2011 shooting of James Dean Smith. Madden was released from custody April 9th- more than a year after the grand jury put him there on April 2, 2012. Richey says- at best- there were several missteps in the investigation. “They didn’t even record their interview with Michael,” Richey says. “Which is troubling. You’re interviewing someone who is supposed to be a murder suspect, and yet you’re not taking a recorded interview?” At the worst, he says investigators fabricated a case even after their key witness identified another man as the shooter in a live lineup. “There’s a difference between an architectural project and an archaeology dig,” Richey says. “An archaeology dig, you’re digging through the ground, searching for the truth, trying to see what occurred in the past. In an architectural project, you’re trying to construct something in the future. Well, there’s a difference between searching for the truth and trying to build a case. And what I can say is, that they were trying to build a case. The Bossier Police department stands behind their work and denies the use of a live lineup. Public Information Officer Mark Natale says, “We do not do live line ups, nor do we have the facilities to conduct live line ups. All of the investigators involved in the case are still with the department. No internal investigation is being conducted.” Natale also says the homicide investigation continues with Madden as a suspect. Despite Richey’s distrust of the police investigation, he applauds District Attorney Schuyler Marvin’s decision to formally drop the charges against Madden. Calls to the Bossier Parish District Attorney’s office were not returned. As for the Smith family, the victim’s sister, Amy Smith, tells KTBS 3 News that the DA did not inform them in advance that the charges against Madden were going to be dropped. James Dean Smith was shot and killed July 23, 2011, while driving on Old Minden Road after a night at Rockin’ Rodeo in Bossier...
read moreMurder charge dismissed – A case of Mistaken Identification
The Shreveport Times is reporting today about the dismissal of murder charges against our client, Michael Madden. You can read the article at The Times or download the pdf here. For a year Michael Madden sat in the Bossier Parish Detention Center accused of a crime he did not commit. Michael is at home now with his family and we are honored to have been able to represent him. Every year over 750,000 people are arrested based on their identification in a police line-up, photo array or show-up. Although we have known about the problems with eyewitness identification for decades, there has been little change in the legal system or in police practices to prevent mistaken identification and the miscarriages of justice that flow from them. As a result mistaken eyewitness testimony remains the leading cause of wrongful convictions. According to the Innocence Project—Eyewitness misidentification is the single greatest cause of wrongful convictions nationwide, playing a role in nearly 75% of convictions overturned through DNA testing. In 1998, then Attorney General Janet Reno sought to deal with the inherent problems of Eyewitness Evidence and appointed a number of prosecutors, police officers, defense lawyers, and psychologists to work under the auspices of the United States Department of Justice and the National Institute of Justice to address the problem. This Technical Working Group authored Eyewitness Evidence: A Guide for Law Enforcement, National Inst. of Justice, U.S. Dept. of Justice (Oct. 1999) and Eyewitness Evidence: A Trainer’s Manual for Law Enforcement. These publications set out guidelines and best practices for the conduct of lineups and photo-arrays. Nationwide, many police departments have adopted these as standard practices. Sadly however, many police officers and agencies in our community and throughout Louisiana remain totally unfamiliar with these documents and the guidelines and best practices they...
read moreShreveport mother’s murder conviction reversed – KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana News Weather & Sports
Chris Hatch represented Satonia Small in seeking to have her conviction or Second Degree murder arising from the tragic death of her child in an apartment fire. Satonia was overwhelmed when Chris called her today to let her know that the Supreme Court agreed with us that she was not guilty of Second Degree Murder. The court set aside her conviction and life sentence and imposed a conviction for t the lesser offense of negligent homicide and a five year sentence. Here is the full text of the Louisiana Supreme Court opinion overturning Satonia Small’s conviction for Second Degree Murder Shreveport mother’s murder conviction reversed – KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana News Weather &...
read moreSentence postponed for Satonia Small – KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana News Weather & Sports
Sentence postponed for Satonia Small – KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana News Weather & Sports.
read moreHearing underway in “home alone” death appeal – KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana News Weather & Sports
Hearing underway in “home alone” death appeal – KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana News Weather & Sports.
read moreRemaining Charges Against Former Southwood High School Softball Coach Greg Frazier are Dismissed
Share Press Release after the dismissal of the remaining charges in State v. Greg Frazier Shreveport, Louisiana Tuesday, June 7, 2011 Remaining Charges Against Former Southwood High School Softball Coach Greg Frazier are Dismissed Over a year after a Caddo Parish jury acquitted former Southwood softball Coach Greg Frazier of accusations that he molested several of his former players as well as his ex-wife, remaining charges against Frazier have been dismissed. In March 2010, a Caddo Parish jury voted unanimously to acquit Frazier of allegations that he molested a former softball player. Although Mr. Frazier was charged with multiple counts of molestation, the Caddo Parish District Attorney chose to bring him to trial on only one count. Nevertheless, in an effort to prove its case, the prosecutors presented the testimony of all complaining witnesses. The “not guilty” verdict was rendered after two weeks of testimony. Prosecutors presented six complaining witnesses, in addition to an airport security officer, a private investigator. Three complainants were former softball players who asserted that Frazier had repeated consensual sexual relations with them while they played for the Southwood team he coached. The remaining three made allegations that Frazier touched them inappropriately and made lewd remarks. During four hours of questioning by his attorney, Elton Richey, Frazier acknowledged having sexual relations with three of the women who had played on his teams. His testimony explained that the relationships occurred after the women had graduated and were no longer minors, making the relationships lawful. Frazier further explained that he had married and divorced one of the complainants, his ex-wife Tammy, who played softball at Parkway when Frazier coached there in the late 1980’s. The couple had a contentious divorce and child-custody battle that continued through the time of his arrest. Unsatisfied with the verdict, prosecutors decided to bring Frazier back to court on the remaining two counts. That trial was scheduled to begin Monday June 13th. Prosecutors also asked Caddo Parish District Court Judge John Mosley to exclude significant evidence of Frazier’s innocence from the second trial which Richey had presented to the jury at the first trial. That evidence was, key to Frazier’s acquittal. Judge Mosley refused to grant most of the state’s request, and prosecutor’s appealed to the Louisiana Supreme Court. On Monday Morning the Louisiana Supreme Court refused the Caddo Parish District Attorney’s request to overturn Judge Mosley’s decision. Later that day the remaining charges were dismissed Background: Frazier was originally arrested in March of 2007 after a Southwood student accused him of improperly touching her and lewd comments to here when she was in his office at the Southwood softball building. Frazier denied the accusation. Several softball players, including Frazier’s two daughters, were present at the time. Each testified at trial that nothing had occurred. Frazier explained at trial that a comment, made to the girl as she left the softball building, that “it’s our little secret,” dealt with the girl telling him that a friend was pregnant rather than in reference to any misconduct with the girl. Mr. Frazier was originally charged with four counts of Molestation of Juvenile. After his initial release on $100,000.00 bond, he was re-arrested on another allegation of molestation of a juvenile. Each count involved allegations that Mr. Frazier had abused his position of trust as...
read moreJury returns an acquittal in Bossier Parish False Confession Case
Press Release following the Acquittal of Michael Hutchings On Tuesday September 1, 2009, a Bossier Parish jury returned a unanimous verdict of Not Guilty to acquit Michael Horn Hutchings on one count of Aggravated Rape of 13 year old and one count of Molestation of a Juvenile. Hutchings had been on trial for the past week in connection with the charges. His lawyer, Shreveport Attorney Elton B. Richey, Jr. contended that Hutchings’ 8 year old daughter had been lead into making a statement that investigators at the Bossier City Police Department and the Shreveport Based Gingerbread House, perceived to be a report of sexual abuse by Hutchings. In the course of the investigation Hutchings, who suffers from mild mental retardation, gave a false confession to a Bossier City Detective and was charged with Aggravated Rape based on the false confession.The molestation charge was brought by Mr. Hutchings older son from a former marriage. Upon learning of his father’s arrest in April of 2007, the boy claimed that he suddenly remembered his father had touched him in an inappropriate manner some seven years before. Hutchings’ lawyers contended that the boy was angry at his father over a spoiled 13th birthday party and was pressured by Hutching’s ex-wife to make the allegation.Hutchings’ son and daughter both testified. His daughter told jurors her father had not touched her in any sexual manner. His son maintained that Hutchings had touched him some seven years before around age six. A physical examination of the daughter showed no evidence of sexual trauma or abuse. Hutchings took the stand in his own defense and explained to jurors how the Detectives intimidated him during two and a half hour unrecorded interrogation into giving a tape recorded false confession.Richey presented expert testimony of Dr. Solomon Fulero, a nationally known expert in Interrogation tactics and false confessions, child psychologist Dr. Bruce MCcormick, prominent local Forensic Psychologist, Dr. Mark Vigan, and Dr. John VanSavage, a Pediatric Urologist. VanSavage testified that the lack of physical evidence of sexual molestation was inconsistent with the detailed and graphic confession Bossier Detectives secured form Mr. Hutchings.Richey presented evidence that the Bossier City Detective who obtained the false confession from his our mentally retarded client had previously obtained two false confessions to murder in an unrelated case. The Jury deliberated for about four hours before returning the Not Guilty...
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