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Oct. 12, 2026

Local Leaders: The Candidates #2 | Brad Cascio - 21st JDC District Attorney Candidate

Local Leaders: The Candidates #2 | Brad Cascio - 21st JDC District Attorney Candidate
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Season 1

In this episode Jim Chapman sits down with Brad Cascio, a candidate for the 21st Judicial District Attorney in Livingston Parish, about his background growing up in Hammond, his education at Southeastern Louisiana University, and his path into law at LSU Law School. Brad covers what he has learned in his 13 years as an assistant district attorney in the 21st Judicial after working in private practice highlighting major cases he has handled, his support of strong penalties for violent offenders and sex offenses, and says he would expand investigations, drug court, and victim services if elected.

You can learn more about Brad Cascio by visiting:
https://www.bradcascio.com

Timestamps:
01:36 Choosing Law School
05:27 LSU Commute Days
06:41 Finding the DA’s Office
09:17 Four Thousand Cases
11:28 A Case That Changed Him
14:29 Castration Law Victory
19:22 Improving the DA’s Office
25:15 Addressing the Deer Run Claim
33:21 Strengthening Drug Court
35:57 Tougher Sex Offense Sentences

Tags: Brad Cascio, 21st Judicial District Attorney, Livingston Parish, Holden, Southeastern Louisiana University, criminal litigation, criminal justice, public safety, juvenile crime

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Hey, everyone.

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Welcome back to Local Leaders, the podcast, and got a

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special guest on the show today, a guy that you've

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probably seen around town somewhere. He is everywhere as of late,

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and that is Brad Cascio, who is a candidate for

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the 21st Judicial District District Attorney. So, first of all,

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welcome to the show.

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Good morning, Jim. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it.

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Well, I'm excited to have you on, learn more about

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your campaign, what you would like to do in your

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new role should you be elected. So, you know, my

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goal on all these shows that I do when I

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have candidates on is I want people to kind of

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learn about these candidates. They're not just faces that you

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see on billboards. Right. And you have a pretty interesting story,

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and I want to start off kind of with that.

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First of all, where were you born and raised?

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Yes, I was born and raised in Hammond. Yep. Back

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then it was called Seventh Ward Hospital.

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It's the North.

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Oaks, as it's known now. Right.

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Yeah.

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I've lived there basically my entire life. Okay. There was

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a short period of time after Katrina, I moved to

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New Orleans to go work construction for a summer. Yeah.

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I knew there was work to be done and I've

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always been a hard worker. And so I go where

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the work is sometimes.

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Yeah. So- You know, you do that and you eventually

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graduate high school. You go to college. Where did you

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go to college?

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So when I was 19, I was in trade school

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to be a mechanic. Okay. That's the kind of work

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I've always enjoyed doing. I like working with my hands.

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I always have. I still do. Did that for a

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little while. And then it kind of dawned on me,

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maybe this is more of a hobby for me. And

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so I went to Southeastern. I graduated with a degree

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in criminal justice. And in choosing to do that, law

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school was not anywhere on my radar. My plan at

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that time was to become a federal agent. Okay. I

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like the idea, you know, wear a suit, travel the country,

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travel the world maybe. You know, I really wanted to

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do that. Yeah. And then at the age of 21, 22,

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I met my wife. And as our relationship got serious,

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I knew that traveling was not the kind of life

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I actually wanted. Yeah. I wanted to be settled down.

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I wanted to have a family and be home. Yeah.

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And so.

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Where did you meet her?

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At South? Yeah, South. Okay, very good. My fraternity and

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her sorority had a mixer.

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Yeah.

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I met her at an event. Awesome.

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Sparks flew.

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Sparks flew, man. It was almost immediate. I'm telling you.

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Your whole life changed from then on.

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It did. And it changed for the better. It really did. Right.

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Because as a young man, I wasn't always a prosecutor, right?

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Yeah, sure.

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And she kept me in line.

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Very good.

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Still does.

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Yeah.

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So I graduated college with a criminal justice degree, and

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I got a job in outside sales. I was selling

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bar and restaurant supplies. I was driving 3,000 miles a

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month in my personal vehicle, just going to different places,

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selling paper products, essentially. And it was fun visiting with people,

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but I didn't have a passion for sales. It was

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a job. And my wife knows me, and she knew

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that I like to do work. I want to enjoy

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my job. Most of us spend the majority of our

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waking hours at work. Right. And so it's always great

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if you can find something that you really enjoy.

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A hundred percent.

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And she brought the idea up, Brad, you should really

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go to law school. I think you'll be good at that.

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And I just kind of laughed. I was like, man,

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that's not what my family does. That's for rich people's kids.

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You know, my father used to work in the automotive

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world and then he became a mailman. My mother was

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a school teacher.

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Okay.

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Going to college was like, hey, that's it. That's as

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far as we go around here. But she kept pushing

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the idea, kept pushing the idea. And so I said,

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you know what? Let's take the LSAT. Let's just see

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what happens. And I'll never forget, I was at the

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red light of 190 and Highway 51 in Hammond. And

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I got the LSAT score emailed to me. And I

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saw it. And I read it again to make sure

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I was reading it right. And I called my boss.

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And I was like, boss, I love you. I'm giving

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you my four weeks notice. He said, four weeks notice?

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What are you doing? I said, I'm going to law school.

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And I hadn't told anybody. So it really, he was

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totally caught off guard. I said, I'll stick around for

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four more weeks. And so I did that. Then I

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went back to work in construction until I started law

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school at LSU.

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Interesting. And, you know, folks, I want to say this.

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That is not an easy test to take and pass.

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I actually took it just a little while back. I

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took a few questions. You can go online and it's

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like a practice LSAT test. And I'm like, you know,

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I know all kinds of stuff about crime. I can

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pass this thing easily. That is the most analytical test

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you will ever take in your life. And me and

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another person Brian knows, Kelly Jennings, both took that test.

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And Kelly did pretty good on it, but she has

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a degree in criminal justice. Jim Chapman doesn't. I took

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it and I was like, these are trick questions. And

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they all are. They really are. But you've got to

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get outside of the box. So that tells me how

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analytical you are. You're probably a very analytical thinker. And

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that's what, you know, I'll say that's always needed as

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a district attorney for sure.

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That's the biggest part of this job is analyzing every

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little element of every report in every case from the

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facts themselves to the people involved. and exercising that prosecutorial

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discretion appropriately.

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Yeah, very good. And so you took that and you

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tell everybody, hey, you're not gonna believe this. I'm gonna

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be a lawyer. I'm going to law school. And you do.

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Where did you go?

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So I went to LSU. Okay. I lived in Hammond

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the whole time. I commuted back and forth every day

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of the week. Yeah. And that was during those I-12

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construction days where it was, I would leave my apartment

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at five o'clock in the morning, Just to try to

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beat the traffic. And I would get to LSU's campus

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about 7 a.m.

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Yeah, I remember those days.

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And I would actually, I would handwrite my notes because

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I'm old school. I'm a pen and paper kind of guy. Same.

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But I would have a laptop and I would record

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the lectures. So on my drive home in the evening

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while I was in traffic, I would plug my laptop

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into my truck. and replay the lecture on my drive

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home so I could hear it again. So I didn't

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want to waste time. I wanted to utilize that time

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to study. And when I was in law school, it's

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not cheap. And so I was borrowing student loans to

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pay for my bills and my tuition and my books.

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You know, at Southeastern, you get to rent your books,

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which is incredible. In law school, you do not. And

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that first semester, I think I spent like, it was

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over a thousand dollars just in books.

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That's a lot. It's a lot.

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And so I said, okay, when I get out of here,

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I need a job where I make a lot of money.

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I was just, that was my goal. If I'm borrowing

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all this money, I need to make a lot of money.

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You know, lawyers are rich. That's the whole, that's why

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you do this, right?

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Yeah.

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So I had a couple of different intern spots. My

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first summer into my second year, I worked at a

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local law firm in town. I worked at one of

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these big box firms. And, you know, they do make

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a lot of money, you know, but they're not really,

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in my eyes, we weren't doing anything. We weren't accomplishing anything.

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It was just kind of.

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There was no impact.

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Right. I felt like a hamster on a wheel. We

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were just doing things. We're not getting anywhere. Right. And so,

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you know, being a major in criminal justice, I was

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always interested in that type, those classes. I said, man,

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you know, I think I would really like working in

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criminal law. But I knew I didn't have it in

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me to be a criminal defense lawyer. While I think

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that role is important and we need it, it's just

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not for me. So I just drove to A &

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E one day, kind of like I did with law school.

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I just showed up at the DA's office and I said,

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I'm here to see Mr. Paraloo. And they said, well,

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do you have an appointment? I said, no, ma'am. They said, well,

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does he know you? I said, I don't think he does.

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And he didn't. And after I waited quite a while,

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he saw me. And I told him that I wanted

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a part-time job while I was in school. And he

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gave me the whole, look, it's not in the budget.

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We don't have a place. We don't have the money.

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And I said, you know, I really want to do this.

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I said, I'll do it for free. You don't have

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to pay me. I just want to get in here

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and see if I enjoy it because I really think

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I would. Sure. And so he let me. And so

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for like eight months, 10 months, something like that, I

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worked for free and immediately just fell in love with

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the work that we do, the impact that we have,

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our ability to to not only help victims, but also

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help people that have made bad decisions and get them

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back on track. You know, it's just a wonderful, wonderful job.

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And I've been blessed to be in that position now

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ever since, to be in a position to help people

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and have a job that I love and that I'm

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good at. And that's very rare for people to find.

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It is in any field. I mean, you know, being fulfilled,

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feeling fulfilled in what you do in any job is,

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is a blessing because it is rare. You know, a

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lot of people are working because they got to have

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a job and they need a paycheck. And so they're

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taking whatever they can get. So how long have you

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been there now?

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I've been a full-time assistant DA for 13 years. Wow.

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Okay.

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Graduated LSU in 2013, took the bar that summer. You

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take it in July and you don't get the results

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till October. Yeah. So you're just kind of like, you know,

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in limbo waiting and nervous every day and having nightmares.

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So the results came out in October, passed it, and

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then I believe my official start date was November 1st.

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Awesome.

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And I started out with a felony division. They won.

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They won. And I'll tell you, since then, you've prosecuted,

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believe it or not, folks, over 4,000 cases. Now, let

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me say this, because, look, I've seen Facebook, I see online,

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and they've got a lot of people out there that.

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I'm not going to get.

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Too far into it, but in fact, 4,000 cases, whether

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they are pleaded down or a plea deal is taken

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or not, is considered a prosecution because that person had

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to pay for whatever crime they were charged with. That's right.

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I do want to put that out there because I

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don't like people making.

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Making things up.

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No, I don't either. And I saw that. And my

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answer to that is, yes, I have prosecuted and convicted

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over 4,000 cases. There's very few.

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Those are convictions.

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00:10:11.240 --> 00:10:13.860
Those are convictions. If we work with our law enforcement,

234
00:10:13.879 --> 00:10:16.620
work with our victims, and build a strong enough case

235
00:10:17.299 --> 00:10:19.440
to say, look, this is what you did. You know

236
00:10:19.480 --> 00:10:23.179
you did it. take responsibility, and they plead guilty because

237
00:10:23.200 --> 00:10:25.379
of the case that we put together, that's a conviction.

238
00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:26.240
Absolutely.

239
00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:28.899
I don't think there's a lawyer in this country that

240
00:10:28.919 --> 00:10:31.169
has had over 4,000 jury trials. No.

241
00:10:32.289 --> 00:10:33.169
I don't think so either.

242
00:10:33.230 --> 00:10:35.590
That would take five lifetimes to complete. Yeah.

243
00:10:35.649 --> 00:10:40.750
I mean, most of your active lawyers for 30 years,

244
00:10:40.850 --> 00:10:44.850
they might have 10, 15, 20. Um, if, if they're

245
00:10:44.870 --> 00:10:47.750
a special prosecutor, that's about the only people that all

246
00:10:47.789 --> 00:10:50.950
they do is jury trials, you know, these, these major

247
00:10:51.009 --> 00:10:53.830
special prosecutors. There's a couple in Louisiana that I actually

248
00:10:53.870 --> 00:10:58.019
know that are, they're good. Um, but you, you know,

249
00:10:58.159 --> 00:11:01.220
outside of a special prosecutor that, that a district attorney

250
00:11:01.240 --> 00:11:04.399
would hire in to prosecute maybe a high profile murder

251
00:11:04.419 --> 00:11:07.809
case or something like that, you're, you're going to, uh,

252
00:11:08.899 --> 00:11:12.970
deal with a lot of pleas. And that's basically the

253
00:11:14.169 --> 00:11:18.889
criminal or whoever's charged admitting that You got me over

254
00:11:18.909 --> 00:11:19.269
a barrel.

255
00:11:19.429 --> 00:11:19.590
Right.

256
00:11:20.049 --> 00:11:21.929
I can't get out of this. So guess what?

257
00:11:22.190 --> 00:11:23.590
That's a conviction. It sure is.

258
00:11:23.610 --> 00:11:25.450
Anyway, I'm going to get off that high horse. But

259
00:11:26.929 --> 00:11:29.809
you've had a lot of them. And of those, I

260
00:11:29.850 --> 00:11:32.409
want to ask you, what's a case? Give me an

261
00:11:32.450 --> 00:11:34.370
example of a case that really sticks out to you

262
00:11:34.389 --> 00:11:36.429
as something that kind of changed who you were in

263
00:11:36.450 --> 00:11:39.200
a way as far as the district attorney office is

264
00:11:39.240 --> 00:11:40.500
concerned in your career.

265
00:11:41.659 --> 00:11:44.679
Oh, man. So there's been a lot that has impacted

266
00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:48.289
my life and stuck with me. One in particular that

267
00:11:48.309 --> 00:11:50.990
sticks out, there was a young woman who was at

268
00:11:51.049 --> 00:11:54.809
Southeastern the week of finals. This would have been in

269
00:11:55.090 --> 00:12:00.509
the spring of 2023. And at 8.30 in the morning

270
00:12:00.549 --> 00:12:02.210
while she's getting out of her car to go take

271
00:12:02.250 --> 00:12:05.929
her final exams, the defendant pulls up and he acts

272
00:12:05.990 --> 00:12:07.769
like he has something in his vehicle that he needs

273
00:12:07.789 --> 00:12:11.230
help with. And so being the kind person that I

274
00:12:11.269 --> 00:12:13.450
know her to be, she walked over to help him

275
00:12:13.929 --> 00:12:16.500
and he pulled out an assault rifle. Hmm. And forced

276
00:12:16.509 --> 00:12:21.080
her into his vehicle, took off, went up North Oak

277
00:12:21.100 --> 00:12:24.399
Street the wrong direction, and then pulled into the Holy

278
00:12:24.419 --> 00:12:27.879
Ghost Catholic School parking lot, parked behind a dumpster, and

279
00:12:27.940 --> 00:12:28.759
raped her at gunpoint.

280
00:12:29.139 --> 00:12:30.000
Oh, wow.

281
00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:36.230
Horrific, horrific case. The victim was 19. The defendant was

282
00:12:36.230 --> 00:12:40.450
19 when this happened. He had no criminal history. Um,

283
00:12:40.610 --> 00:12:42.549
but he stepped in it. Yeah. He stepped in it

284
00:12:42.600 --> 00:12:45.960
big time and, and we devoted, you know, myself and

285
00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:48.360
my office, uh, a lot of time, a lot of

286
00:12:48.419 --> 00:12:51.000
energy into that case, because that's the kind of stuff

287
00:12:51.019 --> 00:12:53.580
that you don't see very often. Right. You see that

288
00:12:53.620 --> 00:12:57.639
in the movies, you know, a broad daylight kidnapping at

289
00:12:57.679 --> 00:13:03.159
gunpoint stranger danger kind of case. Um, and what's special

290
00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:05.279
about that case, not only did we take it all

291
00:13:05.299 --> 00:13:07.500
the way to trial, get a conviction, the guy's doing

292
00:13:07.559 --> 00:13:10.960
two life sentences now, plus 10 years. So he's never

293
00:13:10.980 --> 00:13:15.700
going to get out. It's the relationship that we build

294
00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:20.009
with those people involved. That shows the impact that our

295
00:13:20.090 --> 00:13:23.629
office has. As a prosecutor, the impact that you, not only,

296
00:13:24.429 --> 00:13:26.409
like I said, you know, the cases leave an impact

297
00:13:26.470 --> 00:13:28.870
on me, but this really shows the impact you can

298
00:13:28.909 --> 00:13:33.250
leave on them. That young girl is getting married and

299
00:13:33.740 --> 00:13:36.259
my wife and I received a wedding invitation to go

300
00:13:36.279 --> 00:13:38.919
to their wedding. Oh, wow. And we're going. You know,

301
00:13:39.399 --> 00:13:42.100
she is a wonderful, bright, young individual. Her and her

302
00:13:42.139 --> 00:13:46.679
fiance are both incredible people. And, you know, I was

303
00:13:46.779 --> 00:13:50.429
truly just like honored to receive that invitation. It's like, man,

304
00:13:50.450 --> 00:13:54.789
this really, the work we're doing is changing people's lives. Yeah.

305
00:13:54.889 --> 00:13:57.090
You know, it's sticking with them and to be just,

306
00:13:57.529 --> 00:13:59.509
I felt like I was being recognized for the work

307
00:13:59.529 --> 00:14:01.929
that I did from her. I don't care about the

308
00:14:02.090 --> 00:14:05.200
press and the publicity. It's when a victim sends you

309
00:14:05.240 --> 00:14:07.440
a thank you card. When a victim sends you a

310
00:14:07.500 --> 00:14:10.659
wedding invitation, that is impactful. Oh, it is.

311
00:14:10.919 --> 00:14:14.779
That's a huge impact. And I got goosebumps from that.

312
00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:19.850
I can imagine that that makes you sit back and say,

313
00:14:19.870 --> 00:14:21.789
this is why I'm doing what I'm doing every day.

314
00:14:21.950 --> 00:14:26.690
This is worth every second of lost sleep. And I

315
00:14:26.730 --> 00:14:32.169
think that's a beautiful thing. Great story. Speaking of your convictions,

316
00:14:32.190 --> 00:14:38.590
you're also the first person to secure a physical castration

317
00:14:38.750 --> 00:14:42.210
for a sex offender. You're tough on sex offenders, man.

318
00:14:42.450 --> 00:14:42.730
I am.

319
00:14:42.990 --> 00:14:45.110
I'll tell you what, I've done some research on you,

320
00:14:46.289 --> 00:14:48.659
as you should be. You're very tough on them. You're

321
00:14:48.899 --> 00:14:52.279
very no-nonsense with them, to the point that you secured

322
00:14:52.620 --> 00:14:56.840
a physical castration, probably not an easy feat. I would

323
00:14:56.879 --> 00:14:59.539
like to know, give me a little bit about that process,

324
00:14:59.919 --> 00:15:04.110
and what was the response from your peers after you

325
00:15:04.139 --> 00:15:05.179
were able to do that?

326
00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:08.149
Yeah, so the physical castration law has actually been on

327
00:15:08.190 --> 00:15:12.200
the books since 2008. Mm-hmm. And I'll be honest, I

328
00:15:12.240 --> 00:15:14.580
didn't know about it. And I don't think anybody else

329
00:15:14.620 --> 00:15:17.240
did either. And I was looking for something else, and

330
00:15:17.279 --> 00:15:20.000
I come across it. And I went to Mr. Perilou.

331
00:15:20.059 --> 00:15:21.919
I said, hey, boss, do you mind if I start

332
00:15:21.960 --> 00:15:26.659
doing this? And he didn't tell me no. And I said, look,

333
00:15:26.730 --> 00:15:29.309
I have the perfect candidate for this. I mean, this

334
00:15:29.350 --> 00:15:34.330
guy is a lifelong dirtbag. He impregnated a 14-year-old girl,

335
00:15:35.710 --> 00:15:37.909
forced her to lie about who the father was. This

336
00:15:37.929 --> 00:15:41.190
girl had that child, was raising that child. And finally

337
00:15:41.230 --> 00:15:44.070
just couldn't take the abuse any longer and came out

338
00:15:44.129 --> 00:15:46.990
and was brave enough to tell her story. Yeah. So

339
00:15:48.110 --> 00:15:52.350
the way it works is, you know, to me it's

340
00:15:52.389 --> 00:15:56.500
no different than when an inmate needs an appendix removed. Right?

341
00:15:56.580 --> 00:15:59.759
These facilities, Department of Corrections, have doctors on contract. They

342
00:15:59.779 --> 00:16:03.480
have contracts with hospitals. You know, because they called me

343
00:16:03.539 --> 00:16:05.860
after it happened. Right. A friend of mine with DOC

344
00:16:05.879 --> 00:16:08.100
called me. He got the order. And he said, Brad,

345
00:16:08.139 --> 00:16:11.549
what am I supposed to do? you know? And jokingly,

346
00:16:11.610 --> 00:16:13.269
I said, well, I've got some friends in La Ronja

347
00:16:13.309 --> 00:16:15.149
on a farm that have those bull bands you can

348
00:16:15.190 --> 00:16:17.179
put on them and that ought to take care of it.

349
00:16:17.409 --> 00:16:19.840
And I said, but seriously, I said, you know, you've

350
00:16:19.860 --> 00:16:22.580
got doctors on contract. It's a simple, it's a surgery.

351
00:16:23.159 --> 00:16:27.340
You know, if the taxpayer's dollars can go towards somebody

352
00:16:27.639 --> 00:16:30.120
who's serving a life sentence to have open heart surgery,

353
00:16:30.440 --> 00:16:33.220
to have their appendix removed, to have, you know, some

354
00:16:33.259 --> 00:16:36.100
type of pacemaker put in to keep them alive, why

355
00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:39.059
can't we use our tax dollars for justice? Why can't

356
00:16:39.100 --> 00:16:41.440
we use our tax dollars To show victims and to

357
00:16:41.500 --> 00:16:43.370
show these offenders we're not going to take it anymore.

358
00:16:43.730 --> 00:16:43.929
Yeah.

359
00:16:44.090 --> 00:16:47.289
And that's why I'm doing this. I've received a lot

360
00:16:47.370 --> 00:16:50.309
of phone calls from all over the place after that happened.

361
00:16:50.490 --> 00:16:51.090
Sure.

362
00:16:51.549 --> 00:16:54.250
Other DA's officers were calling me. Hey, man, how did

363
00:16:54.289 --> 00:16:56.080
you do this? Can you send me the form, the

364
00:16:56.139 --> 00:16:58.620
motion and order that you drafted? You know, we've got

365
00:16:58.659 --> 00:17:00.080
some people over here we want to do it to.

366
00:17:00.100 --> 00:17:02.320
And I was like, yeah, absolutely. I'd love to.

367
00:17:02.620 --> 00:17:02.799
Yeah.

368
00:17:02.899 --> 00:17:04.200
You know, because I think it's important.

369
00:17:04.660 --> 00:17:09.279
I think so, too. And it, you know... You've not

370
00:17:09.339 --> 00:17:11.259
only done it on the physical side, you've done it

371
00:17:11.319 --> 00:17:14.140
on the chemical side as well. So you've kind of

372
00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:17.700
become an expert at that at this point. But what

373
00:17:17.759 --> 00:17:20.500
I really like to see about it is you are

374
00:17:20.539 --> 00:17:26.130
providing a huge focus on child victims and the most

375
00:17:26.190 --> 00:17:32.549
vulnerable among us, right? And that is a huge importance

376
00:17:32.630 --> 00:17:36.369
to me for anybody that's running for district attorney is

377
00:17:36.970 --> 00:17:39.309
To me, that's what you're there for. You're there to

378
00:17:39.349 --> 00:17:43.210
find those loopholes, if you will. And look, here's an

379
00:17:43.349 --> 00:17:44.710
option that we hadn't considered.

380
00:17:44.869 --> 00:17:46.839
Right. And, you know, look, I've seen, I've gotten some

381
00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:49.880
pushback on it, believe it or not. Some people think, oh,

382
00:17:49.900 --> 00:17:52.799
that's not ever going to change anything. It's a mental thing. Well,

383
00:17:52.819 --> 00:17:55.220
you know, you take away somebody's testosterone completely.

384
00:17:55.259 --> 00:18:00.049
Scientifically, it's shown to, yeah, they took like 400 prisoners

385
00:18:00.130 --> 00:18:03.839
or something like that and actually did a study. And look,

386
00:18:03.900 --> 00:18:05.890
it's like if you don't have if you're a woman

387
00:18:05.930 --> 00:18:09.769
and you don't have enough estrogen, you lose the desire.

388
00:18:10.130 --> 00:18:12.660
If you're a man, you don't have enough testosterone. Same

389
00:18:12.700 --> 00:18:16.960
thing from what I hear. Let me be clear. But,

390
00:18:17.799 --> 00:18:21.180
you know, it's the same thing there. So the science

391
00:18:21.240 --> 00:18:24.359
is the science. And certainly it can't hurt anything to

392
00:18:24.380 --> 00:18:26.680
do something like that. That's for sure.

393
00:18:26.700 --> 00:18:29.099
But also it sends a message that we're not going

394
00:18:29.119 --> 00:18:31.599
to take this. You know, I think these would-be offenders

395
00:18:31.619 --> 00:18:33.119
are going to think twice that they know this is

396
00:18:33.160 --> 00:18:35.519
going to happen to them. I agree. And I've also read,

397
00:18:35.569 --> 00:18:38.569
and it is true, the law is they don't have

398
00:18:38.630 --> 00:18:42.609
to do it until two weeks prior to their release. Yeah.

399
00:18:43.109 --> 00:18:46.849
but they could do it today. Yeah. You know, there's

400
00:18:46.890 --> 00:18:48.210
no time where it's too early.

401
00:18:48.549 --> 00:18:48.789
Right.

402
00:18:49.009 --> 00:18:51.869
And my message to the Department of Corrections is pretty simple.

403
00:18:52.650 --> 00:18:55.670
The victim did their job by coming forward. The police

404
00:18:55.690 --> 00:18:58.430
did their job by investigating the case and making an arrest.

405
00:18:59.079 --> 00:19:01.519
Our office did our job by securing the conviction and

406
00:19:01.559 --> 00:19:05.400
getting the order. It's time for DOC to do their job,

407
00:19:05.819 --> 00:19:09.759
fulfill that order, and perform the castration. 100%. No need

408
00:19:09.779 --> 00:19:10.039
to wait.

409
00:19:10.039 --> 00:19:17.829
100% agree on that. Now, you're running for a DA, obviously,

410
00:19:17.950 --> 00:19:20.230
in an office that you've been involved in pretty much

411
00:19:20.250 --> 00:19:24.029
your whole career. I'm going to ask you kind of

412
00:19:24.069 --> 00:19:27.069
a question, maybe a tough question, maybe it's an easy

413
00:19:27.109 --> 00:19:33.170
question for you, but what would you change maybe about

414
00:19:33.359 --> 00:19:37.180
the current DA's office there? Having worked in it for

415
00:19:37.240 --> 00:19:39.259
so long, I know one of the things that you

416
00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:43.259
talked about was starting an in-house investigation unit. So maybe

417
00:19:43.640 --> 00:19:44.769
let's talk about that first.

418
00:19:44.809 --> 00:19:47.529
Yeah. So, yeah, you're right. Being there for 13 years,

419
00:19:47.690 --> 00:19:49.430
I think we have a good office. I think we

420
00:19:49.450 --> 00:19:49.970
have a successful office.

421
00:19:50.279 --> 00:19:50.559
Office.

422
00:19:50.619 --> 00:19:52.740
I think we do things the right way, but just

423
00:19:52.799 --> 00:19:55.779
like anything else in anybody's life, there's room for improvement.

424
00:19:56.500 --> 00:20:00.380
And one of the biggest things is that in-house investigations department,

425
00:20:00.740 --> 00:20:03.849
because DA offices across our state have that. Yeah. They

426
00:20:03.869 --> 00:20:06.309
have real investigators that go out to crime scenes and

427
00:20:06.630 --> 00:20:09.400
assist the police and They track down witnesses and get

428
00:20:09.460 --> 00:20:12.529
witness statements that we don't have. And we've just, in

429
00:20:12.569 --> 00:20:14.970
my tenure here, have never had that. And I think

430
00:20:15.009 --> 00:20:15.970
that's so important.

431
00:20:16.529 --> 00:20:17.130
I do too.

432
00:20:17.230 --> 00:20:20.369
You know, it enables us to get involved early. It

433
00:20:20.410 --> 00:20:22.650
enables us to get all the facts that we need.

434
00:20:22.690 --> 00:20:24.950
Because a lot of times, you know, law enforcement does

435
00:20:24.970 --> 00:20:28.349
their job. But sometimes on our end, when we put

436
00:20:28.369 --> 00:20:30.269
a fresh set of eyes on it, we realize, hey,

437
00:20:30.309 --> 00:20:32.130
we still need this. We need this. And we have

438
00:20:32.150 --> 00:20:35.569
to send what's called an additional request for information. Yeah.

439
00:20:35.789 --> 00:20:37.730
And we email it to them or fax it to them.

440
00:20:38.299 --> 00:20:40.019
And then we have to wait on it. Yeah. So

441
00:20:40.059 --> 00:20:41.839
instead of doing that, we can get our guys on

442
00:20:41.859 --> 00:20:44.680
there the night of, you know, or the next day

443
00:20:45.200 --> 00:20:47.420
and make sure we get it. It also enables us

444
00:20:47.460 --> 00:20:51.069
to have real immediate face-to-face contact with the victim or

445
00:20:51.089 --> 00:20:53.470
the victim's family. Yeah. So they don't just get a

446
00:20:53.509 --> 00:20:55.609
letter in the mail. It's not just a phone call,

447
00:20:55.970 --> 00:20:59.089
but Hey, here I'm Brad. Here I am. We're here

448
00:20:59.150 --> 00:21:01.890
for you. I'm here to answer your questions, you know,

449
00:21:01.910 --> 00:21:03.190
and that means a lot to the victim.

450
00:21:03.779 --> 00:21:07.299
I would agree. And you know, another added bonus to

451
00:21:07.339 --> 00:21:12.900
that is it, The police, the sheriff's office, your city municipalities,

452
00:21:12.940 --> 00:21:16.039
those sorts of people, they have to have probable cause

453
00:21:16.079 --> 00:21:19.880
to make an arrest. But a district attorney's office is

454
00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:23.660
going to know the difference between probable cause and beyond

455
00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:28.000
a reasonable doubt. So it's really just another weapon there,

456
00:21:28.099 --> 00:21:31.410
if you will, to say, oh, here's some evidence that

457
00:21:31.430 --> 00:21:34.170
we really need. You know, here's something. It's just another

458
00:21:34.210 --> 00:21:37.440
set of eyes. But you're looking at it from the

459
00:21:37.480 --> 00:21:40.559
perspective of what do we need to get a conviction,

460
00:21:41.140 --> 00:21:43.420
where the police will look at it as what do

461
00:21:43.460 --> 00:21:45.500
we need to make an arrest, which is a much

462
00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:51.190
lower burden. So I think that's a great idea. And

463
00:21:51.230 --> 00:21:55.329
I find it interesting that through my research, you're actually post-certified.

464
00:21:55.349 --> 00:21:56.829
That's right. So I found out.

465
00:21:56.849 --> 00:21:57.589
I had no idea.

466
00:21:57.609 --> 00:21:59.890
Yeah, about 12 years ago, I found out that DAs

467
00:21:59.930 --> 00:22:02.859
can get post-certified. So again, I went to my boss

468
00:22:02.920 --> 00:22:04.240
and I said, do you mind if I do this?

469
00:22:04.359 --> 00:22:08.000
He didn't tell me no. That's all I needed to hear.

470
00:22:08.240 --> 00:22:10.299
So I went and did it. And the reason I

471
00:22:10.359 --> 00:22:13.039
did it is because, you know, being from Tanchabahoa Parish,

472
00:22:13.079 --> 00:22:15.640
living there my whole life, I was with our office

473
00:22:15.700 --> 00:22:19.940
in Ameet for about two months. And that's whenever, that

474
00:22:19.960 --> 00:22:22.849
was the year we created the two family courts. And

475
00:22:22.910 --> 00:22:25.690
so we had to, because the divisions changed in the

476
00:22:25.730 --> 00:22:28.890
criminal court, Scott moved some people around. Yeah. And so

477
00:22:28.950 --> 00:22:31.869
I got moved to Livingston. And I'll be honest, I said, man,

478
00:22:31.890 --> 00:22:33.970
I don't, I would read a report and not know

479
00:22:33.990 --> 00:22:36.450
where the street was. Yeah. You know, I was Google

480
00:22:36.490 --> 00:22:38.069
mapping every day trying to figure it out. So I

481
00:22:38.109 --> 00:22:40.410
got to figure out a way to not only build

482
00:22:40.430 --> 00:22:43.690
a relationship with law enforcement here, but really learn all

483
00:22:43.730 --> 00:22:45.970
these back roads that I've never, I haven't really traveled

484
00:22:45.990 --> 00:22:46.410
that often.

485
00:22:46.630 --> 00:22:46.829
Yeah.

486
00:22:47.180 --> 00:22:49.539
And so once I became post-certified, I was able to

487
00:22:49.579 --> 00:22:52.039
go out on the street and ride with criminal patrol

488
00:22:52.079 --> 00:22:54.960
on nights and weekends, go out with the SWAT team

489
00:22:55.549 --> 00:22:57.589
and really see firsthand what they do. And let me

490
00:22:57.609 --> 00:23:00.490
tell you something, all these people out there behind their

491
00:23:00.529 --> 00:23:03.490
keyboards that want to talk bad about the police and

492
00:23:03.529 --> 00:23:06.750
what they do in certain situations, go ride one night.

493
00:23:07.089 --> 00:23:07.589
That's right.

494
00:23:07.769 --> 00:23:10.130
You go ride one night and you see how you

495
00:23:10.190 --> 00:23:12.710
feel whenever a car gets pulled over and you walk

496
00:23:12.779 --> 00:23:14.559
up to it and you can't see who's inside because

497
00:23:14.599 --> 00:23:16.660
the windows are blacked out. And by the time you

498
00:23:16.680 --> 00:23:18.539
get next to it, there's six people in the car.

499
00:23:18.920 --> 00:23:21.569
And they're all digging under the seat and digging behind them.

500
00:23:22.240 --> 00:23:23.549
You don't know if they have a weapon or not.

501
00:23:23.589 --> 00:23:27.390
That's a scary feeling. It was eye-opening. But it helped

502
00:23:27.410 --> 00:23:31.109
me because, for one, I can read a police report

503
00:23:31.150 --> 00:23:33.410
in five minutes. Those guys were out there five or

504
00:23:33.450 --> 00:23:36.779
six hours doing that search, working on that case. And

505
00:23:36.819 --> 00:23:40.460
so it helped me become a better prosecutor. And, you know,

506
00:23:40.529 --> 00:23:42.289
and it used to be years ago, all we had

507
00:23:42.309 --> 00:23:44.690
to do was prove the defendant did what we said

508
00:23:44.730 --> 00:23:47.609
he did. Well, in today's world, we also have to

509
00:23:47.650 --> 00:23:50.230
prove the police didn't do anything wrong. Right. You know,

510
00:23:50.269 --> 00:23:52.150
and so being out there with them on a pretty

511
00:23:52.210 --> 00:23:55.609
regular basis for the last 12 or so years, I

512
00:23:55.630 --> 00:23:59.210
can help defend the police whenever they didn't do anything wrong.

513
00:23:59.690 --> 00:24:01.240
And if they did, I can say, hey, man, you

514
00:24:01.259 --> 00:24:02.680
really did mess this up. This is the way it

515
00:24:02.700 --> 00:24:05.819
should have went. Yeah. You know, and so it also

516
00:24:05.859 --> 00:24:07.420
kind of keeps the police accountable.

517
00:24:07.640 --> 00:24:07.839
Sure.

518
00:24:08.099 --> 00:24:11.529
You know. Because just like any other profession, every profession

519
00:24:11.549 --> 00:24:12.829
is going to have a bad egg here and there.

520
00:24:13.109 --> 00:24:13.990
Every profession.

521
00:24:14.029 --> 00:24:14.289
You know.

522
00:24:14.690 --> 00:24:19.559
Yeah, I agree. And it also, to me, strengthens the

523
00:24:19.579 --> 00:24:22.359
relationship between the police department and the DA. Because you

524
00:24:22.420 --> 00:24:24.859
have to have a strong relationship. You have to, you know,

525
00:24:24.900 --> 00:24:28.069
you all should be pulling in the same direction, which is.

526
00:24:29.329 --> 00:24:32.009
you know, it's a step process. The person gets arrested.

527
00:24:32.069 --> 00:24:34.410
The sheriff's department handles that. They turn over the evidence

528
00:24:34.450 --> 00:24:37.230
to you. You prosecute the case. The person goes to jail.

529
00:24:37.670 --> 00:24:42.839
You don't want those directions to be two different directions.

530
00:24:43.920 --> 00:24:46.839
That's a horrible thing in the justice system when that occurs.

531
00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:49.799
The last thing you need is any animosity between law

532
00:24:49.819 --> 00:24:52.500
enforcement and your district attorney's office. Because we are on

533
00:24:52.539 --> 00:24:54.759
the same team. We're working towards the same goal. Like

534
00:24:54.779 --> 00:24:57.390
you said, we need to pull the same direction. And

535
00:24:57.509 --> 00:25:01.049
over the last 13 years, I've developed a wonderful relationship

536
00:25:01.509 --> 00:25:04.509
with all of our law enforcement agencies and all their employees.

537
00:25:04.869 --> 00:25:06.970
I mean, we work hand in hand on a daily basis.

538
00:25:07.930 --> 00:25:11.119
And that really helps with the prosecution of a case.

539
00:25:11.779 --> 00:25:14.579
Communication is key between law enforcement and our office.

540
00:25:14.819 --> 00:25:17.680
Yeah. I also want to talk about, and I agree

541
00:25:17.720 --> 00:25:22.230
with all that. I also want to talk about something that,

542
00:25:22.529 --> 00:25:29.549
speaking of social media, recently some things have come out

543
00:25:30.089 --> 00:25:34.289
and it involves a check. And so I feel like

544
00:25:34.329 --> 00:25:36.829
I would be doing the listeners a disservice if I

545
00:25:36.869 --> 00:25:41.869
didn't give you an opportunity to address it. You're a

546
00:25:41.869 --> 00:25:44.390
hard worker. We've already talked about that. You, you know,

547
00:25:44.430 --> 00:25:48.759
you work through law school, you, you work as a

548
00:25:48.880 --> 00:25:52.700
lawyer in many different capacities, not just the DA's office,

549
00:25:54.500 --> 00:25:58.539
So you're a city prosecutor in Denham Springs and French Settlement.

550
00:25:59.400 --> 00:26:02.160
And you also worked part-time at the Moody Law Firm.

551
00:26:02.940 --> 00:26:08.440
And that has been a law firm that was compensated

552
00:26:08.480 --> 00:26:12.930
by Livingston Parish for certain work. And Sherman Mack had

553
00:26:12.970 --> 00:26:16.730
a mailer that went out, and that mailer accused you

554
00:26:16.769 --> 00:26:21.509
of double-dipping. And basically, the gist of it was you

555
00:26:21.529 --> 00:26:24.259
were– You were working at the DA's office and you

556
00:26:24.299 --> 00:26:29.200
were also working on deer run stuff for that case

557
00:26:29.700 --> 00:26:34.539
outside of your ADA role. So would you respond to that?

558
00:26:35.019 --> 00:26:39.980
Yeah, I would love to. I find it very unfortunate

559
00:26:40.700 --> 00:26:45.259
and dissatisfying that my opponent would choose to mislead the

560
00:26:45.319 --> 00:26:50.480
public and underestimate their intelligence with that ad that was

561
00:26:50.569 --> 00:26:54.269
simply not true. I will tell you, I have never

562
00:26:55.230 --> 00:26:58.309
touched the deer run file. And everybody on that council

563
00:26:58.349 --> 00:27:01.450
knows that. I never billed a single hour on that case.

564
00:27:01.829 --> 00:27:04.029
That was not my role. That was not my job.

565
00:27:04.569 --> 00:27:07.789
My job would perish government. I attend their council meetings.

566
00:27:08.230 --> 00:27:11.710
I answer daily phone calls and emails, help them draft ordinances,

567
00:27:12.289 --> 00:27:16.130
day-to-day problems. Yeah. Right? When it came down to lawsuits.

568
00:27:16.349 --> 00:27:17.069
Like an advisor.

569
00:27:17.329 --> 00:27:17.690
Pretty much.

570
00:27:17.730 --> 00:27:18.009
For them.

571
00:27:18.289 --> 00:27:21.450
Yeah. The deer run case, never touched it. And they

572
00:27:21.490 --> 00:27:24.400
know that. As far as it's considered double dipping, I

573
00:27:24.420 --> 00:27:26.960
have never been paid for the same job twice. Yeah.

574
00:27:27.049 --> 00:27:29.349
But I've always had more than one job. Since I

575
00:27:29.390 --> 00:27:32.410
was 15, 16 years old, I've always had more than

576
00:27:32.490 --> 00:27:34.650
one job. I grew up down Old Baton Rouge Highway,

577
00:27:35.029 --> 00:27:37.849
and I would bag groceries at Albertsons and wash dishes

578
00:27:37.910 --> 00:27:40.769
at the Peppertree. The Peppertree would take you back a

579
00:27:40.809 --> 00:27:44.130
few years. Oh, yeah. That's just how I've always been.

580
00:27:44.170 --> 00:27:46.039
When I was in college at Southeastern, I would go

581
00:27:46.079 --> 00:27:50.460
to school on Tuesday and Thursday. I would work construction Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

582
00:27:50.980 --> 00:27:53.259
And I would cook steaks at the Caboose in Independence

583
00:27:53.720 --> 00:27:54.920
Friday night and Saturday night.

584
00:27:54.940 --> 00:27:55.539
Great steaks.

585
00:27:55.779 --> 00:27:56.480
Great steaks, yeah.

586
00:27:56.660 --> 00:27:57.779
I remember the Caboose.

587
00:27:58.039 --> 00:28:00.140
That's just how I've always been. I didn't grow up rich.

588
00:28:00.609 --> 00:28:02.589
I grew up saying, you know, there were some things

589
00:28:02.630 --> 00:28:05.769
I was taught as a young person. There's two things

590
00:28:05.789 --> 00:28:08.269
that nobody could ever take away from you. And that's

591
00:28:08.289 --> 00:28:11.150
your word and your work ethic, as long as you

592
00:28:11.190 --> 00:28:14.279
keep both of them yourself. Yeah. And I've lived by

593
00:28:14.319 --> 00:28:17.319
that my entire life. And so, yeah, I've always worked

594
00:28:17.359 --> 00:28:20.619
more than one job. But it's not double dipping just

595
00:28:20.660 --> 00:28:22.660
because you have more than one job. No.

596
00:28:22.700 --> 00:28:26.440
Well, it appears to me they're separate, one from the other.

597
00:28:27.009 --> 00:28:31.569
And if you're hired on a part-time basis to represent

598
00:28:31.609 --> 00:28:33.930
the parish inside the council in case they have questions

599
00:28:34.009 --> 00:28:37.390
and you're advising them during these meetings, things of that nature,

600
00:28:37.849 --> 00:28:40.130
or outside of the meetings when they're calling you, that

601
00:28:40.170 --> 00:28:42.930
has nothing to do with your work prosecuting cases for

602
00:28:42.970 --> 00:28:44.230
the district attorney's office.

603
00:28:44.309 --> 00:28:44.789
Not at all.

604
00:28:44.970 --> 00:28:47.400
Totally separate from each other. You don't have to do the...

605
00:28:48.950 --> 00:28:52.890
the one, the parish council side of what you were doing,

606
00:28:52.950 --> 00:28:55.490
you chose to do that and it wasn't for free.

607
00:28:55.670 --> 00:28:56.410
I wouldn't imagine.

608
00:28:56.430 --> 00:28:58.809
No, I mean, look, some things we, some things I

609
00:28:58.849 --> 00:29:01.670
have done for free. Yeah. Um, a lot of things, um,

610
00:29:02.009 --> 00:29:03.970
because I just felt like, Hey, it needed to get done.

611
00:29:04.009 --> 00:29:06.029
They need me to assist them on something, not a problem,

612
00:29:06.390 --> 00:29:09.750
you know, not only for government entities, but just people

613
00:29:09.809 --> 00:29:12.359
in general, right? Sure. People call you up. They need

614
00:29:12.380 --> 00:29:13.950
some advice. I need you to help you do something

615
00:29:13.990 --> 00:29:16.859
pro bono work. Hey, why not? Yeah. If I'm an inability,

616
00:29:16.900 --> 00:29:19.339
if I'm in a position to help somebody, I'm going

617
00:29:19.380 --> 00:29:20.519
to help them. That's just how I am.

618
00:29:20.720 --> 00:29:21.579
Yeah.

619
00:29:21.880 --> 00:29:24.700
What they really ought to be looking into is the

620
00:29:24.740 --> 00:29:28.670
fact that that deer run case, you know, they weren't satisfied,

621
00:29:28.690 --> 00:29:31.950
the counsel. They went and hired another law firm to

622
00:29:31.950 --> 00:29:35.720
handle the case and spent even more money with them

623
00:29:35.720 --> 00:29:39.910
just to get the same result. Yeah. Um, and I just, I,

624
00:29:40.190 --> 00:29:45.039
I was really upset because they were accusing Chris Moody of,

625
00:29:45.259 --> 00:29:49.380
of doing things he shouldn't be doing and, and, you know,

626
00:29:49.539 --> 00:29:52.420
overbilling the parish. Chris Moody died a year ago this month.

627
00:29:53.039 --> 00:29:55.720
He's not even here to defend himself. Yeah. And, and

628
00:29:55.759 --> 00:29:57.839
that was, he was a mentor of mine. He was

629
00:29:57.859 --> 00:30:02.049
a good friend. Um, a pillar in the legal community, man,

630
00:30:02.069 --> 00:30:05.369
an upstanding guy. And for them to try to disparage

631
00:30:05.410 --> 00:30:08.609
his name over a political race was very upsetting to me. Yeah.

632
00:30:08.670 --> 00:30:09.349
Very upsetting.

633
00:30:11.190 --> 00:30:13.730
And just one more point on that, and then I'll

634
00:30:13.779 --> 00:30:16.819
move on and see if I can get you to

635
00:30:16.900 --> 00:30:20.799
answer this question. Scott, so Scott Perilou obviously endorsed you.

636
00:30:20.839 --> 00:30:26.359
That's no secret. His office at some point after this

637
00:30:26.480 --> 00:30:30.440
check came out, had announced they were going to look into,

638
00:30:30.519 --> 00:30:36.029
if anything, criminal occurred with Councilwoman Erin Sandifer. Parish President DeLatt,

639
00:30:36.109 --> 00:30:39.130
he did look into it and he did pass it on.

640
00:30:39.869 --> 00:30:42.569
He said, you know, his office didn't see any criminal

641
00:30:42.630 --> 00:30:46.309
intent on Erin Sandifer's part, but he did pass it

642
00:30:46.470 --> 00:30:49.430
on to the district attorney's office and say, hey, will

643
00:30:49.470 --> 00:30:51.690
you look at this? Is that correct and accurate?

644
00:30:51.950 --> 00:30:52.910
That is accurate. Yes.

645
00:30:53.609 --> 00:30:57.970
So my question is, assuming that this is still pending

646
00:30:58.349 --> 00:31:02.220
and assuming you are elected DA, would you then take

647
00:31:02.299 --> 00:31:05.519
this case, recuse yourself from it and move it to

648
00:31:05.559 --> 00:31:09.059
the or ask the attorney general's office to look into

649
00:31:09.140 --> 00:31:12.700
it because of your, you know, your involvement?

650
00:31:13.109 --> 00:31:15.390
Yeah. So, you know, if I become the next district

651
00:31:15.430 --> 00:31:18.150
attorney here and this case is still not resolved, I

652
00:31:18.190 --> 00:31:20.730
would definitely send it to the attorney general for further review.

653
00:31:21.180 --> 00:31:22.880
I don't think it would be appropriate for me to

654
00:31:22.920 --> 00:31:25.950
be working on it because I'm just, I'm too connected

655
00:31:25.990 --> 00:31:28.849
to it. Right. Right. Um, and you had, it was

656
00:31:28.869 --> 00:31:31.829
good to point out that Randy DeLatt and parish government

657
00:31:32.089 --> 00:31:34.730
requested Scott Paraloo to look into it. Yeah. You know,

658
00:31:34.750 --> 00:31:37.769
and yeah, Scott has endorsed me and whether you love

659
00:31:37.809 --> 00:31:40.809
Scott or hate Scott, I've worked for that man for

660
00:31:40.809 --> 00:31:44.299
13 years. Exactly. He's seen me as a prosecutor, as

661
00:31:44.339 --> 00:31:46.759
an assistant DA and how I handle myself and how

662
00:31:46.799 --> 00:31:49.670
I handle my files. If he wouldn't endorse me, what

663
00:31:49.690 --> 00:31:53.109
would that say about me as a prosecutor? Right. You know? Um,

664
00:31:53.450 --> 00:31:55.339
and I also think it's important to note that Randy

665
00:31:55.359 --> 00:31:58.619
Dillette endorsed Sherman Mack. Yeah. But he still had no

666
00:31:58.660 --> 00:32:02.079
problem sending it to Scott Perry lose office. Right. You know, um,

667
00:32:03.480 --> 00:32:06.019
I have my own personal opinions about how all this happened.

668
00:32:06.460 --> 00:32:08.680
I know that Ms. Santa for claims that she was

669
00:32:08.740 --> 00:32:12.079
worried about, you know, some type of wrongful action on

670
00:32:12.140 --> 00:32:16.059
my part, but I did something unethical and my, my,

671
00:32:16.559 --> 00:32:18.700
response to that is if she really believed that, why

672
00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:21.180
would you give it to my political opponent instead of

673
00:32:21.220 --> 00:32:24.480
calling the ethics board, the bar association, you know, the,

674
00:32:24.700 --> 00:32:27.230
the attorney general, there's plenty of other things you could

675
00:32:27.269 --> 00:32:29.869
do if you really thought an investigation was needed. But

676
00:32:29.910 --> 00:32:32.650
the truth of the matter is she knows I never

677
00:32:32.730 --> 00:32:35.190
worked on that deer run case. I never build a

678
00:32:35.230 --> 00:32:38.589
single file, but she gave it to my political opponent

679
00:32:38.750 --> 00:32:40.279
for that reason. That reason only.

680
00:32:40.519 --> 00:32:40.730
Yeah.

681
00:32:41.180 --> 00:32:41.380
Yeah.

682
00:32:41.940 --> 00:32:44.140
Well, there you have it. Yeah. Thank you very much

683
00:32:44.180 --> 00:32:48.160
for that. Appreciate you answering that question. Perilou, Scott Perilou,

684
00:32:48.779 --> 00:32:51.579
has been district attorney forever. 30 years.

685
00:32:51.579 --> 00:32:52.059
30 years.

686
00:32:52.099 --> 00:32:55.400
Shows a lot of confidence. I mean, how often do

687
00:32:55.420 --> 00:32:56.619
you run for? Every four years?

688
00:32:56.660 --> 00:32:57.059
Every six.

689
00:32:57.180 --> 00:33:01.380
Every six years. So he has the confidence of the

690
00:33:01.420 --> 00:33:05.549
majority of the voters for 30 years. And you're coming

691
00:33:05.650 --> 00:33:09.309
in now. And should you be elected? It's kind of

692
00:33:09.349 --> 00:33:12.970
new blood in there. And, you know, there's... I would

693
00:33:13.210 --> 00:33:16.789
assume that having worked for them for 13 years, there's

694
00:33:16.809 --> 00:33:20.799
a lot of processes that are great and that you're

695
00:33:20.819 --> 00:33:24.539
not going to change. And look, I'll go on record

696
00:33:24.599 --> 00:33:29.740
and say, I don't think we have this horrible crime issue.

697
00:33:29.839 --> 00:33:31.579
I feel safe in Livingston Parish.

698
00:33:32.380 --> 00:33:32.680
I do.

699
00:33:33.039 --> 00:33:35.000
And I think that is a credit to the district

700
00:33:35.039 --> 00:33:39.369
attorney's office and the sheriff's office and all these municipalities,

701
00:33:39.450 --> 00:33:44.450
city municipalities that police our area. So I am happy

702
00:33:44.509 --> 00:33:48.089
with the results I've seen. And I'm sure that you

703
00:33:48.130 --> 00:33:50.529
see a winning system there. But is there anything you

704
00:33:50.569 --> 00:33:54.589
would maybe change, something that you would or add to

705
00:33:54.630 --> 00:33:57.190
that office outside of what we've already talked about?

706
00:33:57.339 --> 00:33:59.599
It's like anything else in life. Even though something's good,

707
00:33:59.640 --> 00:34:02.400
there's always room for improvement in every area of every

708
00:34:02.440 --> 00:34:06.380
single person's life, right? Besides the investigations unit, one of

709
00:34:06.400 --> 00:34:07.619
the things I want to do is I want to

710
00:34:07.680 --> 00:34:11.340
broaden our ability to get people into drug court. Our

711
00:34:11.380 --> 00:34:15.099
drug court program is very successful. It's an 18-month program,

712
00:34:15.139 --> 00:34:18.030
so it's not easy. It's hard. But when an individual

713
00:34:18.090 --> 00:34:20.849
has a drug problem, they admit it, and they know

714
00:34:21.349 --> 00:34:23.849
they need help and they actually want it, I want

715
00:34:23.889 --> 00:34:26.969
to get them in the drug court if they're acceptable

716
00:34:27.030 --> 00:34:30.670
to turn them around because it makes my heart happy

717
00:34:30.710 --> 00:34:32.889
to know that I'm able to add to the productive

718
00:34:32.909 --> 00:34:36.469
members of society. The problem with this is one of

719
00:34:36.489 --> 00:34:38.769
the requirements to get into drug court is you have

720
00:34:38.809 --> 00:34:42.789
to have reliable transportation. Well, a lot of addicts, people

721
00:34:42.809 --> 00:34:46.030
that battle addiction, don't have their own cars because of

722
00:34:46.070 --> 00:34:48.780
their addiction. Yeah. For the past year or so, I've

723
00:34:48.820 --> 00:34:51.719
served as president of the Council on Aging in Tangibahoa Parish.

724
00:34:52.280 --> 00:34:54.880
And we have a bus system. Yeah. And Livingston Parish

725
00:34:54.900 --> 00:34:57.059
has one as well. And I don't know what the

726
00:34:57.099 --> 00:35:00.059
cost is in Livingston, but in Tangi, it's $ 5 per

727
00:35:00.099 --> 00:35:03.199
fare per trip. So I'd like to have some kind

728
00:35:03.239 --> 00:35:06.610
of intergovernmental agreement where we have designated pickup and drop-off

729
00:35:06.650 --> 00:35:09.269
locations to say, look, if you don't have a car...

730
00:35:09.679 --> 00:35:11.719
can you get to this spot by this time and

731
00:35:11.739 --> 00:35:14.599
pay $ 5, we'll get you to drug court. And that

732
00:35:14.619 --> 00:35:18.579
will get people the help they need. I also just

733
00:35:18.639 --> 00:35:22.659
recently was speaking with some groups, and we have victims

734
00:35:22.699 --> 00:35:26.190
assistance coordinators, right? They help us communicate with our victims

735
00:35:26.250 --> 00:35:28.929
and walk them through the process and take their phone calls,

736
00:35:28.949 --> 00:35:31.170
and they do a great job. They also assist them

737
00:35:31.210 --> 00:35:34.610
in getting the resources they need, like counseling. I'd like

738
00:35:34.650 --> 00:35:37.349
to be able to have some type of in-house counseling

739
00:35:37.389 --> 00:35:40.079
as well, you know, partner up with some counseling groups

740
00:35:40.519 --> 00:35:42.199
because a lot of the barrier for a lot of

741
00:35:42.239 --> 00:35:46.130
these people, uh, the victims to get counseling is insurance. Yeah.

742
00:35:46.230 --> 00:35:48.090
You know, they, they either don't have insurance or they

743
00:35:48.110 --> 00:35:50.829
can't find somebody that takes their insurance. Well, if we

744
00:35:50.849 --> 00:35:53.590
can get some grant money and give them free counseling

745
00:35:53.670 --> 00:35:56.210
when they go through a traumatic event, that would be

746
00:35:56.329 --> 00:35:59.989
so beneficial for these people. Yeah. You know, um, another

747
00:36:00.030 --> 00:36:02.179
thing I want to change on certain violent offenses and

748
00:36:02.199 --> 00:36:06.880
sex offenses is a, a, a mandatory minimum. You know,

749
00:36:07.079 --> 00:36:10.389
I'd like to say across the board, obviously, every case

750
00:36:10.449 --> 00:36:12.550
is different. So you're going to have the occasional outlier.

751
00:36:13.269 --> 00:36:16.349
But in our legislature, a lot of the crimes do

752
00:36:16.389 --> 00:36:19.820
have mandatory minimums. But quite frankly, I don't think some

753
00:36:19.860 --> 00:36:22.840
of them are enough. Yeah. You know, these ICAT cases, right?

754
00:36:23.179 --> 00:36:25.679
Calvin Bowden, his career in Livingston. There's tons of them.

755
00:36:25.760 --> 00:36:26.659
Wonderful job.

756
00:36:27.019 --> 00:36:31.719
You know, the minimum is zero years. No. Yeah. That's crazy.

757
00:36:31.900 --> 00:36:35.190
Zero to 10. Yeah. Well, I think five is a

758
00:36:35.210 --> 00:36:38.400
good floor. Yeah. I think the mandatory minimum should be

759
00:36:38.440 --> 00:36:41.619
five years in prison. That's a law that I've never

760
00:36:41.840 --> 00:36:45.309
quite understood. You know, the minimum for that is so

761
00:36:45.409 --> 00:36:48.750
low to where if you get caught downloading child pornography,

762
00:36:48.849 --> 00:36:52.710
you're looking at a higher sentence. But if you're actually

763
00:36:52.789 --> 00:36:55.699
talking to a child, choose to get into your vehicle

764
00:36:55.739 --> 00:36:58.820
to go meet a child to have sex with them

765
00:36:58.860 --> 00:37:01.980
or do something inappropriate, the minimum is less somehow.

766
00:37:02.099 --> 00:37:03.380
Yeah, that doesn't make sense.

767
00:37:03.440 --> 00:37:06.590
Right. Um, so I think we need to enforce our

768
00:37:06.650 --> 00:37:09.769
own minimum standards here to hold these people accountable. And

769
00:37:09.789 --> 00:37:11.690
that's something I've done in my division.

770
00:37:12.090 --> 00:37:14.780
Yeah. I, uh, I think that's a great, a great idea.

771
00:37:14.840 --> 00:37:16.980
And you bring up ICAC, what a, what a wonderful

772
00:37:17.119 --> 00:37:20.800
program and task force throughout the state of Louisiana and

773
00:37:20.840 --> 00:37:26.980
has really changed the face of, uh, uh, Combating technology,

774
00:37:27.440 --> 00:37:29.860
which is technology. Look, you got to you got to

775
00:37:29.889 --> 00:37:32.969
be a chameleon because technology changes and you've got to

776
00:37:33.030 --> 00:37:35.869
change with it. And the way that they are getting

777
00:37:35.969 --> 00:37:39.380
to our children now has completely it is no longer

778
00:37:39.420 --> 00:37:41.639
the white van that drives down the road and says

779
00:37:41.659 --> 00:37:45.889
you want some candy. It is now all done online

780
00:37:45.949 --> 00:37:49.309
and through these applications. And the bad thing about that

781
00:37:49.369 --> 00:37:50.909
is parents have no idea.

782
00:37:51.349 --> 00:37:53.849
They have no idea their child is essentially holding the

783
00:37:53.869 --> 00:37:54.469
white van.

784
00:37:54.789 --> 00:37:56.550
Yes, that's exactly right.

785
00:37:56.570 --> 00:37:59.900
That's the problem. I tell all my friends, I tell everybody,

786
00:37:59.940 --> 00:38:02.579
you've got to watch your kids with these devices. My

787
00:38:02.599 --> 00:38:05.260
daughter is 12. She's my oldest one. And she wanted

788
00:38:05.300 --> 00:38:07.199
a phone for her birthday. She just turned 12 a

789
00:38:07.199 --> 00:38:10.670
couple weeks ago. I said, absolutely not. You don't need one.

790
00:38:11.269 --> 00:38:13.289
And people think I'm joking and I'm really not. When

791
00:38:13.329 --> 00:38:15.309
the time comes that she does need a phone as

792
00:38:15.329 --> 00:38:18.329
she gets older, she's getting a flip phone. Yeah. You know,

793
00:38:18.369 --> 00:38:19.929
the only reason she needs it is to call.

794
00:38:19.949 --> 00:38:20.469
Make calls.

795
00:38:20.550 --> 00:38:23.050
Yeah. Make calls when you need help. That's right. You

796
00:38:23.090 --> 00:38:27.840
don't need Instagram. You don't need Snapchat. Those are not necessities. Yeah.

797
00:38:28.320 --> 00:38:31.539
I feel for parents that have young kids these days

798
00:38:32.599 --> 00:38:35.340
and have to consider that because I've always told people

799
00:38:35.500 --> 00:38:37.940
when you hand a phone to a child, your mental

800
00:38:38.000 --> 00:38:42.010
process as a parent is, I'm allowing my child access

801
00:38:42.110 --> 00:38:45.489
to the world and to me. But really what you're

802
00:38:45.510 --> 00:38:48.309
doing is you're allowing everybody to have access to your

803
00:38:48.349 --> 00:38:49.449
child at the same time.

804
00:38:49.489 --> 00:38:49.889
It is scary.

805
00:38:49.969 --> 00:38:50.949
And that's how you have to.

806
00:38:50.989 --> 00:38:51.150
Yeah.

807
00:38:51.170 --> 00:38:52.699
And you see it a lot more than I mean,

808
00:38:52.760 --> 00:38:56.260
you see the the really the the nuts and bolts

809
00:38:56.320 --> 00:39:00.300
of all of this. And so I appreciate all that

810
00:39:00.320 --> 00:39:04.719
you've done in that area to help with that. Let

811
00:39:04.760 --> 00:39:09.010
me ask you. this kind of final question, you're, you're coming,

812
00:39:09.570 --> 00:39:12.289
you're coming in on the, you know, the end of

813
00:39:12.309 --> 00:39:15.289
this race and it has been a long race. I'm,

814
00:39:15.590 --> 00:39:18.190
I mean, you announced pretty, pretty early.

815
00:39:18.389 --> 00:39:19.429
I mean, a year ago. Yeah.

816
00:39:19.570 --> 00:39:22.039
It's been a year and you have been blowing and

817
00:39:22.079 --> 00:39:27.199
going ever since you're everywhere. And, you know, you got

818
00:39:27.219 --> 00:39:29.239
to have a family to support you, right? And stuff

819
00:39:29.280 --> 00:39:31.980
like that. A lot of sacrifice goes in. It's not

820
00:39:32.059 --> 00:39:36.440
just the candidate. No, it's definitely not. Especially you with kids. And,

821
00:39:36.659 --> 00:39:38.750
you know, your wife probably deserves a medal.

822
00:39:38.909 --> 00:39:39.289
She does.

823
00:39:39.309 --> 00:39:41.150
She certainly does.

824
00:39:41.750 --> 00:39:44.030
You know, my wife is an elementary school teacher.

825
00:39:44.170 --> 00:39:44.429
Yeah.

826
00:39:44.469 --> 00:39:46.989
So she's working throughout this process. We have three kids.

827
00:39:47.369 --> 00:39:49.590
you know, that do dance and baseball and football and

828
00:39:49.650 --> 00:39:51.829
all the things. Yeah. And so she works all day

829
00:39:51.889 --> 00:39:54.289
and then has to drive them around all evening, back

830
00:39:54.329 --> 00:39:57.460
and forth, back and forth, picking them up. A couple

831
00:39:57.480 --> 00:39:59.780
of weeks ago, I think I went 72 hours without

832
00:39:59.820 --> 00:40:02.500
even seeing my children. Yeah. You know, and that's been

833
00:40:02.519 --> 00:40:05.800
the hardest part. My youngest son taught himself how to

834
00:40:05.860 --> 00:40:07.610
ride a bike two weekends ago.

835
00:40:07.820 --> 00:40:08.110
Wow.

836
00:40:08.260 --> 00:40:10.429
And while I'm very proud of him for being independent,

837
00:40:10.469 --> 00:40:12.909
I was like, that's my job. Yeah. You know, as

838
00:40:12.949 --> 00:40:14.969
your father, that's my job. And I've never had that

839
00:40:15.030 --> 00:40:20.590
opportunity again. Yeah. So that hurts. But it's sacrifices that

840
00:40:20.630 --> 00:40:23.650
you have to make. I'm blessed to have a wife

841
00:40:23.690 --> 00:40:28.000
that understands that, that supports me, and is there to help.

842
00:40:28.059 --> 00:40:30.929
And every day she'll text me. You know, 28 days left.

843
00:40:31.429 --> 00:40:33.809
Keep it up. 27 days left. Keep pushing.

844
00:40:34.110 --> 00:40:34.630
I love that.

845
00:40:34.909 --> 00:40:37.550
I love her for it. And sometimes I jokingly remind her,

846
00:40:37.590 --> 00:40:39.340
I'm like, don't forget, you're the one that told me

847
00:40:39.360 --> 00:40:40.239
to go to law school.

848
00:40:40.719 --> 00:40:42.139
I was thinking that in my mind. I'm like, it's

849
00:40:42.159 --> 00:40:44.539
her idea.

850
00:40:44.840 --> 00:40:46.519
Of course, I don't think she ever saw this coming.

851
00:40:46.619 --> 00:40:49.840
I know I didn't. Yeah. You know, and that's the

852
00:40:49.880 --> 00:40:53.679
crazy thing. It's something that I never imagined I would

853
00:40:53.760 --> 00:40:56.599
ever be doing. And now that I'm doing it, I

854
00:40:56.699 --> 00:40:58.300
can't imagine doing anything else.

855
00:40:58.719 --> 00:40:58.920
Yeah.

856
00:40:59.179 --> 00:41:02.610
It's the strangest feeling, but I love it.

857
00:41:02.809 --> 00:41:05.070
Yeah. Yeah, you can tell. You can tell when you

858
00:41:05.090 --> 00:41:07.989
sit down and talk to you. And just a reminder

859
00:41:08.010 --> 00:41:11.070
for everybody out there, November 3rd is the election. It's

860
00:41:11.090 --> 00:41:14.530
on a Tuesday this year. So actually, the word on

861
00:41:14.550 --> 00:41:16.469
the street is it's going to be a small turnout

862
00:41:16.489 --> 00:41:19.300
because people work that day and they're not going to

863
00:41:19.360 --> 00:41:20.780
have time to make it to the polls or they're

864
00:41:20.800 --> 00:41:23.219
not going to feel like it. I say let's reverse

865
00:41:23.260 --> 00:41:26.719
that trend and everybody get out there. Whoever you're voting for,

866
00:41:26.820 --> 00:41:30.780
your voice being heard is important. This race, for me personally,

867
00:41:30.940 --> 00:41:34.380
I feel like is the most important race on the

868
00:41:34.579 --> 00:41:38.579
ballot this year. Now, I have some reasons for that.

869
00:41:38.619 --> 00:41:43.300
I mean, I'm deep into crime, y'all. Y'all know that,

870
00:41:43.400 --> 00:41:48.079
criminal cases and stuff. And so I pay very special

871
00:41:48.159 --> 00:41:51.380
attention to these types of races. But We've got a

872
00:41:51.420 --> 00:41:53.940
lot of other races on that card as well. Card

873
00:41:54.019 --> 00:41:56.150
like it's a fight card on that card as well.

874
00:41:56.190 --> 00:41:58.809
We've got we've got a lot on that ballot that

875
00:41:59.190 --> 00:42:02.909
are important. I mean, you've got a United States representative

876
00:42:04.110 --> 00:42:06.909
on that ballot race. You also have a lot of

877
00:42:07.019 --> 00:42:10.420
other other the city of Denham Springs mayor is on

878
00:42:10.460 --> 00:42:14.460
that race as as well as many others. So please

879
00:42:14.559 --> 00:42:19.239
go out and vote October 20th through 27th, early voting. So, hey,

880
00:42:19.619 --> 00:42:21.570
you don't have to vote on Tuesday. You can go

881
00:42:22.170 --> 00:42:24.889
anytime between October 20th and 27th.

882
00:42:25.369 --> 00:42:27.769
Let your voice be heard. That's what I tell people, man.

883
00:42:27.829 --> 00:42:30.510
You know, early voting is so easy, the 20th through

884
00:42:30.570 --> 00:42:30.780
the 27th.

885
00:42:31.050 --> 00:42:32.590
No line. There's no line.

886
00:42:32.630 --> 00:42:35.860
You're in and out of there. Yeah. And I talk

887
00:42:35.880 --> 00:42:37.340
to people and they're like, oh, I only vote when

888
00:42:37.360 --> 00:42:41.659
it's a presidential election. Let me tell you, your local elections...

889
00:42:41.840 --> 00:42:45.840
affect your day-to-day life so much more than anything that

890
00:42:45.880 --> 00:42:49.179
happens in Washington, D.C. I know it's important up there.

891
00:42:49.340 --> 00:42:49.900
Don't get me wrong.

892
00:42:49.940 --> 00:42:50.099
Yeah.

893
00:42:50.360 --> 00:42:53.219
But your day-to-day life, your public safety, you know, your

894
00:42:53.260 --> 00:42:56.889
kids' schools, all of that is so localized.

895
00:42:57.010 --> 00:42:57.320
Yes.

896
00:42:57.510 --> 00:43:00.150
And it's those people that really make the difference. And

897
00:43:00.190 --> 00:43:02.690
if you don't get out there and let your voice

898
00:43:02.730 --> 00:43:04.690
be heard and cast your vote, no matter who you're

899
00:43:04.730 --> 00:43:08.369
voting for. Yeah. you're essentially giving your voice to somebody else.

900
00:43:08.730 --> 00:43:10.550
That's right. I agree with that. And a lot of

901
00:43:10.590 --> 00:43:13.980
people sacrificed for the rights that we have to vote.

902
00:43:14.039 --> 00:43:16.099
And I know that's kind of a, you know, a

903
00:43:16.639 --> 00:43:19.619
phrase that everybody says, but y'all, it's true. I mean,

904
00:43:19.760 --> 00:43:22.349
people have died for your right to vote. So go

905
00:43:22.409 --> 00:43:24.769
out there and exercise it and let your voice be heard.

906
00:43:24.809 --> 00:43:28.889
I hope This podcast helped you learn more about Brad

907
00:43:28.969 --> 00:43:32.329
and his message and what he would like to do

908
00:43:32.469 --> 00:43:35.030
should he be elected. Any final thoughts before we get

909
00:43:35.090 --> 00:43:35.429
out of here?

910
00:43:35.670 --> 00:43:37.989
No, look, I've been very excited about doing this. I've

911
00:43:38.010 --> 00:43:40.730
been doing this job for 13 years. For 13 years,

912
00:43:40.789 --> 00:43:44.050
I've been in the trenches, in the courtroom, fighting for victims,

913
00:43:44.449 --> 00:43:47.110
fighting to keep our community safe. It is a job

914
00:43:47.150 --> 00:43:49.610
that I truly love. This is not about a title.

915
00:43:50.010 --> 00:43:54.269
This is not about power. This is about passion. that

916
00:43:54.309 --> 00:43:56.590
I have for our community and for the impact that

917
00:43:56.610 --> 00:43:58.800
we have on people's lives. And I just want to

918
00:43:58.820 --> 00:44:00.320
continue to do the job that I love.

919
00:44:00.719 --> 00:44:04.519
Very good. I am Jim Chapman reminding you, love your community,

920
00:44:04.719 --> 00:44:07.300
support local business, and keep leading. Thank you.