Two white men accused of yelling racial slurs and firing a shotgun in the direction of two black city-parish workers in 2007 avoided prison time Wednesday after pleading guilty to reduced charges.
The defendants were placed on probation, fined and ordered to apologize to the workers.

Eric Arnaud, 22, 11212 Amite River Road, pleaded guilty to illegal use of a weapon. Christopher Roussel, 17, 11120 Amite River Road, pleaded guilty to attempted illegal use of a weapon.

Both men were originally booked on attempted murder and hate crimes.
They could have received up to two years in prison on the weapons charges. Had they been prosecuted and convicted in the more serious charges, they could have received up to 50 years on attempted murder and up to five years on the hate-crime counts.

Under Louisiana law, prosecutors would have had to prove Arnaud and Roussel intended to kill the men specifically because of their race in order to satisfy the hate-crime charge.

State District Judge Chip Moore sentenced Arnaud to a two-year suspended prison term and ordered him to pay a $300 fine. Moore sentenced Roussel to a one-year suspended prison term and ordered him to pay a $150 fine.
Both men also must complete two years of supervised probation, anger management classes, 100 hours of community service and write letters of apology to the two Department of Public Works employees.
Moore said he will personally review the apology letters to ensure they are satisfactory.

“Sometimes my definition of an apology might be different from yours,” Moore said to Arnaud and Roussel at sentencing.
Moore ordered the men back to court July 11 to gauge if they are meeting the conditions of their sentences.

Standing before the judge, Arnaud and Roussel stared at the ground, while Prosecutor Charles Gray read the allegations to which Arnaud and Roussel pleaded guilty.

The two DPW employees were cutting grass along Kendalwood Road on Aug. 23, 2007, when Arnaud and Roussel drove up in a black pickup.
Roussel hurled racial slurs at the two men while questioning what the men were doing in the area, Gray said.

Arnaud and Roussel then went into a nearby house and returned about a minute later with Arnaud brandishing a shotgun. Arnaud pointed the gun in the direction of the DPW employees and fired several shots, Gray said.
As the DPW employees fled, they saw and heard buckshot hitting nearby tree limbs, Gray said.

After the sentencing, Gray declined to discuss in detail the reasons for reducing the charges. But Gray said Arnaud and Roussel were “charged appropriately based on the facts.”

Outside the courtroom, Roussel’s attorney, Andrew Jackson Hodges IV, said his client admitted yelling racial slurs at the DPW employees, but did not know Arnaud was going to shoot at the men.

“Yelling racial slurs at people is ignorant but does not rise to the level of being a hate crime,” Hodges said. “It’s distasteful but it is free speech.”
After the sentencing, Roussel said he has been hurt by media coverage that has portrayed him as prejudice.

“Everybody was trying to put me out as some kind of skinhead or racist,” he said. “This happened eight months ago. I’ve put it behind me.”
Arnaud’s attorney, Edselle Cunningham Sr., said his client’s actions amounted to poor judgment and not a hate crime because he believes Arnaud did not intend to kill anyone.

“It’s kind of hard to miss someone with a shotgun,” Cunningham said.
Arnaud declined to comment after the sentencing.
Presumably, Arnaud and Roussel will escape jail time if they stay out of trouble for the next two years, but there is a chance they could still face federal charges.

U.S. Attorney David Dugas declined Wednesday evening to comment on the specifics of the case, but said his office can bring federal charges against state court defendants if their crimes amount to federal violations or if a defendant’s sentence does not satisfy federal interests.

While it is unclear whether Arnaud and Roussel’s actions have caught the attention of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, their actions have prompted changes within the Department of Public Works.

DPW Director Peter Newkirk said the department, after the shooting incident, now tends to err on the side of caution and frequently requests that law enforcement officers accompany department employees while working in certain areas.

“It’s sad to say, but in certain areas, people just don’t like us,” he said.
As for the DPW employees victimized by Arnaud and Roussel, Newkirk said the two men took a few weeks off after the shooting, but continue to work for the department.

“I’m just feel so sorry for those guys to have had to go through something like that.

Source: The Advocate, KORAN ADDO