BATON ROUGE — A state trooper has been indicted in three instances of domestic violence. In two of those cases, he is accused of official misconduct and obstructing justice.
The Louisiana Attorney General’s Office has asked that James Jefferson III’s bond be revoked because he was also indicted on five counts of violating a protective order issued after his March 2026 arrest in those crimes. Those protective order violations also violated his bond conditions and should lead to his bond being revoked, the attorney general’s office motion said.
Jefferson, 41, was indicted Wednesday on two counts each of domestic abuse battery with child endangerment, obstruction of justice and malfeasance in office and one count each of domestic abuse battery by strangulation and domestic abuse battery with a dangerous weapon with serious bodily injury, according to court records.
Jefferson was initially arrested Feb. 5, 2025, after Baton Rouge Police officers were called to his home about a fight between Jefferson and his wife. The person who called police said Jefferson and his wife were arguing about her getting into his truck. The witness heard the wife call for help and said Jefferson had pushed his wife to the ground, police said at the time.
Police found surveillance video showing the couple arguing near the truck. It captured sounds of a struggle, with the woman saying “he’s punching me” and “don’t throw me to the ground,” police records show. A child was in the back seat of the truck at the time of the incident.
Court records indicate that Jefferson’s wife asked that charges be dropped in that incident. They were “but it was determined that the information available at the time of the prosecutorial decision did not include all relevant facts later developed during this investigation,” an arrest warrant said.
Among the things prosecutors had not seen at that time were text messages sent from Jefferson to his wife. While police were still at the scene of the February fight, investigators said they later found a text allegedly instructing her to “Hurry tell them u mentally off. . . U had episode.” A couple of weeks later just before his wife was scheduled to meet with state police investigators to discuss what happened, Jefferson asked her to “Meet me on Florida Watch body cam right quick,” the warrant said.
That’s what led investigators to charge him again with those crimes, the warrant said.
The indictment charges Jefferson with domestic abuse battery with child endangerment, obstruction of justice and malfeasance in office in the February incident. The obstruction charge deals with Jefferson allegedly trying to prevent someone from testifying or trying to get someone to provide false information. The malfeasance charge results from the alleged obstruction being in violation of his oath of office and duties as a law enforcement officer.
The domestic abuse battery by strangulation charge is connected to an incident on March 23, 2025, according to the indictment. Investigators discovered video that showed Jefferson’s wife trying to leave the house that day. Jefferson is accused of grabbing her wrist and forearm to try to direct her back into the house, the warrant said.
“During the interaction, James Jefferson III’s hand is observed positioned around the throat area” of his wife, the warrant said.
The remaining charges are tied to what police were initially told was a vehicle wreck on Nov. 1. Investigators say that on that day, Jefferson deliberately drove his vehicle at his wife and pinned her between his vehicle and another, which caused her to lose consciousness and required her to get medical treatment for injuries to her pelvis, hip and chest.
It was initially reported to Baton Rouge Police as a traffic accident, and Jefferson’s wife got ticketed for simple obstruction of a highway and leaving a vehicle unattended, the warrant said.
Recorded phone conversations obtained later in the investigation showed Jefferson discussing what happened, the warrant said.
“But we ain’t talking about truth. We’re talking about the crash report,” the warrant quoted Jefferson as saying.
The November incident happened near the family’s home, but a home security system that should have captured video of what happened was deactivated or had recorded video removed afterward, the warrant said.
State Police Lt. Kate Stegall said on Thursday that Jefferson remains on administrative leave in the wake of the arrests.
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