Cajun Conservatism was provided a copy of a Letter to the Editor from a constituent regarding candidate for New Iberia City Marshal, Brett Lang. We’ve included the letter in the post below and accompanying video that was taken at a recent town hall meeting conducted in New Iberia where all candidates for the position were questioned.
As most are aware, there is a runoff election in the City of New Iberia for the office of City Marshal. The election is to fill the remaining one year of a six-year term of the deceased Vic Delcambre, who held the position for almost 40 years.
The election is between Brett Lang, a former Sheriff’s Deputy with the Iberia Parish Sheriffs’ office, and Retired Army Major and former Director of Parks and Recreation for the City of New Iberia, Tony Migues. The race between the two has been largely quiet and both campaigns seem to have run respectable races for the most part. But, I thought it important to bring to light the contents of a Neighborhood Watch Forum I attended back in July. (see attached video)
The Forum was hosted by the Acadian Acres Neighborhood Watch Committee and contained candidates for most of the local races—Sheriff’s, State Rep, Clerk of Court-- each having a few minutes to talk about themselves and their plans for the office, and ending with a question and answer segment from the audience.
During the forum Marshal Candidate, Brett Lang was asked by a member of the audience about his service with the Iberia Sheriff’s Office, and particularly whether or not the rumors floating around about him being on the Brady List were true. For those who are not familiar with the Brady List, here is a brief explanation--The Brady List stems from the Brady Disclosure Doctrine, which states in order for a defendant’s rights to Due Process under the 5th amendment not to be violated, the prosecution must disclose any and all evidence that is favorable to the defendant. The Brady List is a list kept by District Attorneys in each of their respective Judicial Districts containing Law Enforcement Officers who are known to have lied, coerced, mislead or withheld information during their scope of duty as a police officer. The prosecution must subsequently make the defense aware if that particular officer played any part in the arrest investigation, handling of evidence etc. of the defendant’s case. This essentially means that any officer who is on the Brady List has no standing in court to defend their or any officer who may subsequently fall under their authority dealings with any particular criminal matter on any criminal case for the entirety of that officer’s career. The officer, for lack of a better term, is Impeached. Though there may be no legal charges against them, their word is tarnished.
As a former Police Officer, I know that a Law Enforcement Officer’s most important weapon is their word. With that being said, it is extremely concerning that Mr. Lang admitted to being on the Brady List. Mr. Lang also mentioned at the same meeting that he would have himself removed from the list, which, as far as I know, cannot be done, nor has he ever re-addressed being removed to by knowledge. I have attempted to contact the local media outlets on this issue several times, but have gotten no response.
I think this is a huge issue that people need to be made aware of, as it presents a huge liability not only for the Marshal’s Office, but for the City as whole. Mr. Migues would have been my second choice, but it is clear to me now that he is the absolute best choice and we need to make sure he is elected for the sake of liability and to save face value for Law Enforcement Officials near and far.
Jimmy Berard
