D.A. makes “effort to protect our legal procedure”

On Friday, Evangeline Parish District Attorney Trent Brignac released a statement in response to allegations made by DeJuan Guillory’s family that his office is “doing all they can to avoid us.”
Guillory was involved in an incident in July of 2017 where an Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Deputy shot and killed the Mamou man after an altercation ensued between the two during a routine traffic stop in the Lanse Meg area.
During a vigil held at the Evangeline Parish Courthouse on Wednesday, December 6, 2017, Guillory’s mother, Monica Fontenot, alleged that the D.A. cancelled an appointment with the Guillory family that had been set for that day. According to Fontenot, the D.A. was going to “release the information from the investigation” into her son’s death.
However, in a statement from Brignac, he shared that the meeting “was never cancelled,” but instead was “simply rescheduled.”
In the D.A.’s release, it states, “The District Attorney’s Office is ethically limited to what information can be released to the public in a pending matter. The purpose of this is to avoid possibly influencing or prejudicing a potential jury.”
Brignac’s statement went on to read, “With regard to the death of Dejuan Guillory, after reviewing the State Police investigation, we contacted the family through their attorney and extended the courtesy of meeting privately in an effort to provide some information to them before it is made public. This meeting was never cancelled, simply rescheduled from Wednesday to the following Monday. Recent events have raised concern that any information provided may be made public before the legal process can take its course. Consequently, in an effort to respect and protect our legal procedure and our ethical obligations there will be no meeting on Monday.”
The state police’s investigation into the deputy-involved shooting was completed last month, and it was at that time that the D.A.’s Office received the investigative file.
The next step in the legal process will require the D.A.’s Office to present its evidence in this matter to a grand jury. The law mandates that all grand jury proceedings are to remain secretive.
The grand jury will be tasked with determining whether or not the deputy involved in the shooting is indicted on criminal charges.