After a day of testimony, a district judge has dismissed a request from Lafayette Mayor President Josh Guillory to order one of his opponents to stop calling him corrupt.
Both Guilllory and his opponent, Monique Blanco Boulet, testified during the hearing.
At issue is what Boulet meant when she used the word "corruption" in her ads and in public presentations.
Guillory is running for re-election. He faces Boulet and a third candidate Jan Swift in the October 14 primary.
Attorneys for Guillory filed the request last week. To read our story about it, click here.
Guillory first asked for a temporary restraining order, which the court denied. Today the court heard evidence and argument about his request that a permanent injunction to prevent Boulet from using the word.
Attorney James Gibson presented the case to the judge for Guillory, and Attorney Gary McGoffin presented the case for Boulet.
Gibson called Boulet to the stand and questioned her at length about a press release she sent out about her allegations of "corruption, waste and mismanagement" in Lafayette Consolidated Government.
Gibson then called Guillory, who testified that he hasn't committed any crimes, engaged in any corrupt practices or made any promises to his campaign supporters, other than promising them "good government."
Under questioning from McGoffin, he denied that he had received target letters from any federal or state agency, and said he was unaware of any federal or state investigations.
Judge Thomas Frederick halted some of the questioning, saying he didn't see the relevance. Throughout the day, Frederick stopped both attorneys as they went down paths he said "led to a rabbit hole" and tried to keep their focus on "what is happening now."
The bedrock of Guillory's case was his argument that when Boulet used the word "corrupt" she was referring to an illegal act. As support, his attorneys referred to a state statute that makes "corrupt influencing" a crime.
Boulet's argument was that she used the word "corrupt" in a broader sense, and wasn't accusing anyone of a specific crime.
When he ruled, Frederick talked about that, saying he was "going to go with the everyday, common sense definition of corruption."
He told a story about his senior year in high school, when he needed an elective and took freshman French. He said after a couple of weeks, the teacher banished him to the library because he was "corrupting" the freshmen. He said he knew what she meant, and she wasn't saying he was doing something illegal.
He also addressed the use of the "corrupt influencing" statute by the Guillory team.
"I spent a lot of my career in criminal law," Frederick said. "There is no crime of corruption."
Corrupt influencing was meant to address a "go-between" in a bribery scheme, he said.
In response to the dismissal, Guillory said, "Technically, on a civil matter, it didn't go our way. The judge said 'Oh, you know, you got freedom of speech,' and I respect that."
Guillory also released the following statement: "Today is a great day in Lafayette! The judge ruled you can say whatever you want in a political ad, but when put under oath, Monique Blanco admitted there was zero evidence of any crime and zero evidence of corruption by myself or my administration."
In response to the ruling, Boulet said, "Today was really for the voters. For freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom for the voters to have information...and I think it's a victory for all of us."
The bottom line, Frederick said Guillory's team did not present enough evidence to permit him to rule in their favor, and granted McGoffin's motion to dismiss - which McGoffin made before presenting any witnesses.
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