re: Former Louisiana House Speaker Clay Schexnayder indicted for theft of rare state artifact

quote:

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He’s not disputing that it was last seen at his Gonzales office. He’s also saying it was given to him to display at that office, but that has been refuted. It also wasn’t on the list of government property that he had in his office so that means it shouldn’t have even been there.

So: it’s a big arse board - not something that can simply be misplaced. He agrees it was in the office “when he moved out.” He didn’t notify the state that he had the government property at the location. The property manager says nothing was in there and they aren’t in possession of it.

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Sounds like a slam-dunk case of "someone should've kept better track of this property" but I'm not quite sure how that leads to "and because of that, we're going to convict you of felony theft and send you to prison!"

Even if you choose the property manager's word over his, all that proves is that it wasn't there when Schexnayder moved out. It doesn't prove Schexnayder is the one who stole it. Or that it was stolen at all, rather than lost, or just thrown in the trash by some idiot.

I'd hope before they charge someone with stealing something valuable they have better evidence than this. And maybe they do. Then again, look at the LSU coach firing fiasco. The state seems determined to do everything in the dumbest way possible.