Another parish preparing to bring Brandon Lavergne in to answer charges. Last week, we told you about a domestic violence allegation that never saw the inside of a courtroom in St. Landry Parish. It happened in Feburary 2000. According to a police affidavit, Lavergne's ex-wife claimed Lavergne confronted her at Doctor's Hospital in Opelousas where she worked. After arguing over property in their divorce case, she says Lavergne became violent, striking her in the face, choking her and pushing her to the ground. Now, Lavergne could be headed to St. Landry to face a judge there, before his two murder trials in Lafayette and Acadia get underway.
More than a decade after the alleged attack a warrant is still outstanding for Brandon Scott Lavergne. The Opelousas Deputy Clerk of Court saying Lavergne's ex-wife will have her day in court.
"The warrant is still active for simple battery that was filed February 8 of 2000," said Lisa Boudreaux, Opelousas Deputy Clerk of Court. "The next step is for the judge to sign the transportation order to have him transferred over here for prosecution."
Lavergne was arrested on the warrant for simple battery on February 9, 2000. He was then released 12 hours later to Fort Polk where he was stationed at the time. The next day, he was booked into jail in Evangeline Parish in connection with an aggravated oral sexual battery charge. He would end up serving eight years. At that point there was no hold put on Lavergne, or record filed indicating his arrest for the domestic violence in Opelousas. The clerk say, because it happened after hours.
"There was no time for him to come before the judge," said Boudreaux.
In other cases, typically a hold is put on an inmate so the jail knows not to release him until all charges have been addressed in court. Or the court is told about the warrant being cleared so they can schedule a court date. We may never know what happened. The records given to the clerk about who was being booked into jail back in 2000 have been destroyed. It's unclear whether it's the police department who never told them, or the clerk who never booked a court date after the warrant was cleared. Now it's in the hands of the St Landry Parish District Attorney Earl Taylor to see if he wants to pursue the 12 year old case. Taylor says he will wait to see if the warrant is still valid and what the judge decides. Only then will be make a decision whether to prosecute Lavergne.