Recusal hearing still pending as well as defense motions
Published 6:00 pm Thursday, April 26, 2018
The first-degree murder trial of Kevin Daigle is back on track after the Supreme Court lifted a stay on Wednesday that had temporarily halted any forthcoming proceedings in the case.
Daigle is accused in the shooting death of Steven Vincent, a Louisiana state trooper, in 2015.
There is a recusal hearing still pending in the case, as well as several motions by the defense.
Motions had been expected to be heard by Judge Guy Bradberry on Monday, but the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal put the hearing on hold after Daigle’s defense attorneys filed a document with the 3rd Circuit earlier that day. The Louisiana Supreme Court issued a stay Tuesday halting anything from proceeding.
The document, nearly 400 pages, focused on a decision by Judge Clayton Davis last week not to recuse Bradberry from the Daigle case.
Daigle’s defense team said it wanted Bradberry removed from overseeing the trial because Bradberry and Vincent’s wife, Katherine Vincent, were friends on Facebook.
Prosecutors said although Vincent and Bradberry were Facebook friends and acquainted through Vincent’s former employment as a supervisor with the juvenile probation system, they are not close friends.
In response to the recusal motion by the defense, prosecutors said, in part, that “Judge Bradberry and Katherine Vincent have never been alone together in a courtroom, car, or elsewhere; they have never had dinner or lunch together, or ever socialized; Bradberry is friends with other people in the legal community, and was especially cautious not to do anything on social media associated with this case when he became assigned to it.”
Monday’s hearing had also been scheduled to consider seven other defense motions that have been filed and are still pending, including one to limit law enforcement presence in the courtroom and another to continue the trial court proceedings.
Defense motions appeared to indicate that Daigle may suggest at trial that he was so inebriated at the time of Vincent’s shooting and he should not be found guilty.
Although a recusal hearing is pending and several defense motions are still on the table, jury selection is tentatively scheduled to begin Monday in Benton in Bossier Parish. Once a jury is selected, jurors will be brought here for the trial.
The trial is expected to take place in Courtroom A in the old Calcasieu Courthouse to provide more seating.
If found guilty, Daigle would face the death penalty.
