WATCH LIVE: Kavanaugh, Ford testify about sexual assault allegation
Former sheriff’s sergeant sentenced to prison for assaulting detainee on video
After pleading guilty to assaulting a pre-trial detainee at the Iberia Parish Jail, David Prejean, a former Sergeant in the K-9 Unit of the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office (IPSO), was sentenced Monday to serve 30 months in federal prison followed by one year of supervised release. In addition to writing a false report after the incident to justify the assault, Prejean was caught on surveillance video repeatedly striking the compliant detainee while ordering his police dog to bite him for no apparent reason.
On December 6, 2012, Prejean was called to the Iberia Parish Jail to assist with a shakedown with his police dog. According to Prejean, a pre-trial detainee named Marcus Robicheaux looked at the sergeant after he had been ordered not to.
Represented by attorney Michael Avenatti, a third woman, Julie Swetnick, came forward publicly on Wednesday to accuse Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of gross sexual misconduct when he was a young man.
In her sworn statement, Swetnick says that she “fully understands the seriousness” of her accusations and charges that she was “gang raped” when she was a high school student at a party and that Kavanaugh, and his friend Mark Judge, were both “present.”
The 7 senators who will decide Kavanaugh’s fate
Which senators are “key”? I’d suggest seven (in three groups):
- Three Senate Democrats, Indiana’s Joe Donnelly, North Dakota’s Heidi Heitkamp and West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, voted for Trump’s first Supreme Court pick, Neil Gorsuch; have been noncommittal about Kavanaugh; and, perhaps most importantly, are up for re-election about six weeks from now in states where Trump won easily and is expected to campaign heavily for their opponents. If they vote against Kavanaugh, you can bet Trump will mention that when he stops by their states.
- Two Republicans, Tennessee’s Bob Corker and Arizona’s Jeff Flake, have publicly said that their party should take seriously Ford’s accusations. And crucially, both are retiring, so they can afford to oppose Kavanaugh without worrying about the backlash from conservatives.
- Two other Senate Republicans, Maine’s Susan Collins and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, occasionally vote against major GOP priorities, such as repealing Obamacare – and they too have not said whether they will back Kavanaugh.
COMMENTS