Public finally gets to see Mardis shooting video

   Almost a year after  the tragic shooting death of an innocent child by Marksville City Marshal deputies, a judge ordered the video that led to the officers’ arrest only three days after the shooting to be made available to the public.

   Within an hour after 12th Judicial District Judge Billy Bennett issued that ruling following a hearing this past Wednesday, news agencies around the state and nation began airing parts of the 14- minute video.

   The events of Nov. 3, 2015 were captured on the body camera of Marksville police officer Lt. Kenneth Parnell III, who had joined the pursuit of Chris Few for an apparent traffic violation. The chase ended at the dead end at Martin Luther King and Taensas streets, in front of the entrance to the Marksville Historic Site museum and park.

   Investigators said 18 shots were fired into Few’s vehicle -- 14 by Derrick Stafford and four by Norris Greenhouse Jr. The hail of bullets left 6-year-old Jeremy Mardis dead and Few critically wounded.

   The Attorney Generals’s Office said three of the four bullets that struck the child came from Stafford’s pistol. In its motions, it states that only Stafford and Greenhouse fired during the incident.

   Both men were moonlighting for the Ward 2/Marksville City Marshal’s Office. Stafford was also a full-time shift lieutenant for Marksville Police Department and a part-time deputy with the Alexandria City Marshal’s Office. Greenhouse was a full-time deputy for the Alexandria City Marshal and a reserve officer for MPD.

 

   Bennett issued his ruling on the video after hearing several motions filed by prosecutors and defense attorneys in the cases. Both Stafford and Greenhouse are charged with 2nd-degree murder and attempted 2nd-degree murder. 

    Bennett also ruled Wednesday that the two men would be tried separately, denying the Attorney General’s Office request that trials be combined.

   Bennett noted that state law requires all sides in a case to agree to consolidate trials. Greenhouse’s attorney, George Higgins III, objected.Stafford’s trial is set for Nov. 28 and Greenhouse’s is March 13, 2017.

  The 14-minute video -- which State Police Superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson called the “most disturbing thing” he’d ever seen -- shows the officers shooting at Few’s stopped vehicle. The officers had their weapons drawn and were standing facing the driver’s side of the car when they began firing. Few had his hands in the air as the shooting began. 

   Most news stations only aired the first minute of the video, which showed the officers shooting at the car.

   The last part of the video shows the officer approaching the vehicle and attempting to help the victims and the two defendants’ surprise that a child was in the car.

 

   In another major ruling in the case, Bennett said prosecutors can use evidence of prior “bad acts” by the defendants during their trials.

  With that green light, the Attorney General is expected to  present testimony and evidence about past acts the defendants have done that are not directly related to the charges against them in this case. The intent is to show a “pattern of behavior” by a defendant.

  The AG argues in its motion that Stafford’s “bad acts” include using a stun gun on a handcuffed man without warning and on a young mother who was already secured in a police car during separate 2011 arrests. It also states Stafford broke a 16-year-old girl’s arm while breaking up a fight on a school bus in 2012.

   “Stafford, as evidenced by both the charged offense and other bad acts the state seeks to introduce, is motivated to use excessive violent force against individuals he interacts with during the course and scope of employment with the law enforcement agency he works for,” prosecutors wrote in the motion.