BATON ROUGE — The state Supreme Court has rejected efforts of three indicted former Baton Rouge Police officers to have evidence suppressed in the criminal case against them.
Todd Thomas, Douglas Chutz and Troy Lawrence Sr. were indicted on malfeasance in office and related charges after Thomas allegedly beat a man in September 2020 and the other officers are accused of helping to cover it up. They were part of the BRPD Street Crimes Unit at the time, and Lawrence was a lieutenant when the alleged crimes took place.
MORE: BRPD fires three indicted officers, fourth officer resigns over alleged misconduct
After they discovered that the beating was inadvertently recorded on another officer’s body camera, the officers allegedly conspired to get rid of that camera without allowing its video to be uploaded to the department’s servers.
They were fired from BRPD in September 2024.
In January 2025, the officers asked the court to throw out a recording from Chutz’s body camera that documented an alleged conversation between Chutz and Thomas about getting rid of evidence to cover up the crime. They claim they were not aware the camera was recording. The body camera was in Chutz’s trunk and recorded the conversation when he opened it while he was talking to Thomas, according to court records.
Judge Colette Greggs denied their motion to have the evidence thrown out in July 2025. The First Circuit Court of Appeal denied the former officers’ appeal in February. The Supreme Court’s refusal to examine the case means that the evidence can be used against them in court.
A status conference in the case is set for June 25.
UWK has reached out to the lawyers for the former officers, but as of publication, they have not responded.
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- Fourth BRPD officer arrested, accused of malfeasance in office
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