Photograph: Flora Coleman, in chair, mother of the victim with John Coleman, Donald Broussard and Dayna Broussard.(Photograph by Bobby Ardoin)
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer
Flora Coleman cried softly and quietly wiped her tears with a tissue Tuesday afternoon as a trial jury delivered three guilty verdicts against a former Opelousas police officer accused of attacking her son nearly three years ago in a hospital emergency room.
Coleman sat in her wheelchair in the courtroom as jurors took three and a half hours to convict Tyron Andrepont, 50, on triple counts of malfeasance in office by a police officer.
At the start of trial testimony Monday morning, Andrepont, according to a bill of information filed in 2020, by the St. Landry Parish District Attorney’s Office, faced five counts of malfeasance in connection with the 2019 beating of Jonah Coleman, who at the time of incident, was restrained in his bed while undergoing treatment at Opelousas General Hospital.
Andrepont, who resigned as an officer in 2020, was also found innocent on one malfeasance charge, while the six-person jury failed to make a decision on a fifth charge of malfeasance.
Following the verdict Andrepont, who chose not to testify, left the courtroom in order to confer in front of the Delta Grand with defense attorney Kevin Stockstill. Lead prosecutor Katie Ryan was not available for comment afterward.
Flora Coleman, who also testified during the trial, told reporters that she feels Andrepont should never be allowed to work “as a policeman anywhere else.”
Coleman, during the post-verdict interview, added that she still believes, “There are some good police officers out there who show respect for life and respect people of color.”
Stockstill said after the trial that he believes Andrepont has no intention of ever working again in law enforcement.
Retired State District Court Judge Ronnie Cox, who presided over the two-day trial, did not set a sentencing date for Andrepont. However Cox did order a pre-sentence investigation in the case.
In an interview Ryan said the sentencing range is zero to five years on each count of malfeasance.
Ryan added that State District Court Judge Gerard Caswell was scheduled to conduct the trial, but Caswell, she said, became sick prior to jury selection.
“I still wanted to move forward with the trial, so the Supreme Court appointed Judge Cox to hear the case,” Ryan said during the interview.
Ryan said the six-person jury was used since the criminal penalty for malfeasance in the case can be served with or without hard labor.
Flora Coleman said that she became troubled after viewing a prosecutors’ courtroom video presentation of the incident involving Andrepont and her son.
Coleman said during the trial, she witnessed parts of the video that she had never seen before.
Andrepont, who worked as a municipal officer for 17 years, was later fired by the Opelousas Board of Aldermen.
