Louisiana sheriff retires after pleading guilty to beating podcaster who often criticized him
Randy Smith’s resignation was part of plea deal after attack on podcaster Bobby Couvillion at a Madisonville restaurant
A suburban New Orleans sheriff who had held one of his community’s most prominent political offices for a decade has retired shortly after pleading guilty to battering a podcaster who often criticized him.
Randy Smith, 61, also agreed to serve more than a year of probation after admitting to a late May beating at a steakhouse where he had bought 18 alcoholic beverages on his tab on a Friday afternoon – which all but halted his four-decade policing career.
Smith had been sworn in as the elected sheriff of St Tammany parish, Louisiana, on 1 July 2016, succeeding a predecessor who eventually pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges and was separately convicted of serial child sexual molestation.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/25/louisiana-sheriff-podcaster-batteryOpen linkView original on lemmy.world
He put a guy in the hospital and he's still on the streets? Guess they don't have enough room for pedos and folks who violently assault people when they have to detain all those concerning immigrant children.
stay safe fellow sane folk. we don't wear red cult outfits.
Louisiana, ladies and gents.
Red voters love them some child rapists.
Absent that they can settle for some good ole corruption fueled alcoholics.
What a fucking pussy. Sheriffs are the most corrupt arm of law enforcement. Every sheriff can suck my dick.
What exactly is a sheriff? We don't have them here. Are they like State police?
They are like county level executive branch. Which is the level below state. In the case of Louisiana it's parish instead of county. They basically have really high levels of authority in their jurisdiction. And it's usually an elected position.
Kinda, but they're at the county/parish level
he announced intention to kill the man, and he's not on trial for attempted murder. cool.
There's simply no way to know his intentions.
Implying the guy's cowardly for talking "behind a computer screen" (as though that's not how most communication works in 2026) but also literally attacking the dude from behind. Whats a sensitive, hypocritical little bitch.
But he did get special treatment.
Oh, that?! That's just the gaslighting, lol. Hey look over here, a shiny penny!!
Oh nice. He gets to retire with no real consequences.
Probably even still gets to keep his pension.
And get a new job in the neighboring county.
Louisiana taking ACAB to the next level
I wonder, if I attacked someone, unprovoked, while saying “You’re a dead motherfucker”, would I too get probation? Doubt.
I hope the podcaster just completely leans in on it now. He can just keep rehashing it all, knowing that Sherrif Snowflake is hate-listening to it.
He’s just asking questions, right? Isn’t that the thing that the fascists always say? What?? I’m just asking questions! Can a bird be a fly? Yes or no! Just asking questions!
Knowing cops, he'll continue to have his buddies on the force harass him. If he doesn't continue to do it himself.
He should have volunteered to go to jail for assault and drunk and disorderly conduct - the law should apply to the "enforcer" - things might be a little less "jimmie and crowie" in the US if that happened
Judges and cops caught breaking the law should have the punishment doubled. The people we trust to enforce the law should be held to a higher standard.
This 1,000%.
Does that mean that if someone beats up the ex-sheriff now they will also get to retire as a "punishment"?
Does he still get his full pension? If so, definitely not a punishment to be forced to retire for being a fucking coward and assaulting someone when their back is turned.
Sounds more like a reward than a punishment.
He shouldn't be able to retire to a peaceful life. He should be ruined.
Things like this feed the idea that the justice system won't produce justice, so if you want it you better get it yourself.
You say that as though the "idea" isn't true.
Many people still do not believe it, though. Especially white people.
You're not wrong, but that's definitely changing.
Wow, sounds like the people who hold that office have historically been class acts! Jeeeez. (Also on first reading, I didn’t catch the last line was about his predecessor and was trying to figure out why that lede was so buried.)
Targeted political violence? A-ok
Well that's just Louisiana.
Moved to the south in 1986. After a while you figure out the lay of the land.
Kentucky wasn't that bad, very horse oriented.
Alabama, don't leave the city or you will hear banjos.
Louisiana and Mississippi you really need to watch what you say if you want to stay alive. If this happened in Mississippi that guy would be dead, and the body buried in the swamp.
Tennessee very tourist oriented, but stick to Nashville, Gatlinburg and the Parks.
Florida, if anything, the Florida man reputation is under exaggeration. These people are really into self harm.
Tennessee has a bigger Nazi problem.
Louisiana is ran like a third world country. Private schools are used for regular kids rather than bad kids because the school systems are horrific. Government is corrupt and everything is a scam.
Alabama still has slavery and should be avoided except for Huntsville and Birmingham. Probably just don't go at all.
Unless you're paying to live in Southern California, all warm states in the US are inhabited by illiterate fascists. Maybe New Mexico gets a pass.