261
submitted 8 hours ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

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.

top 30 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 36 minutes ago

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.

[-] TotalCourage007@lemmy.world 1 points 19 minutes ago

stay safe fellow sane folk. we don't wear red cult outfits.

[-] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 36 points 5 hours ago

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.

Louisiana, ladies and gents.

[-] tempest@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 hour ago

Red voters love them some child rapists.

Absent that they can settle for some good ole corruption fueled alcoholics.

[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 21 points 5 hours ago

What a fucking pussy. Sheriffs are the most corrupt arm of law enforcement. Every sheriff can suck my dick.

[-] tempest@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 hour ago

What exactly is a sheriff? We don't have them here. Are they like State police?

[-] justaman123@lemmy.world 5 points 1 hour ago

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.

[-] Cort@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

Kinda, but they're at the county/parish level

[-] Overkrill 43 points 6 hours ago

he announced intention to kill the man, and he's not on trial for attempted murder. cool.

[-] Zombiepirate@lemmy.world 11 points 1 hour ago

Citing accounts from the victim and multiple eyewitnesses, Smith also reportedly punched and with his boots kicked a prone Couvillion in the face and body. “I’m going to kill you, you motherfucker,” Couvillion reported Smith saying. “You’re a dead motherfucker.”

There's simply no way to know his intentions.

[-] taco@anarchist.nexus 65 points 7 hours ago

I have ignored hundreds of personal attacks directed at me by an individual who hides behind a computer screen,” Smith’s apology said.

Smith was said to have approached Couvillion from behind while the latter man was seated on an elevated stool at the restaurant bar celebrating his 59th birthday with his wife. Smith then, without warning, placed Couvillion in a chokehold and slammed him to the ground backward

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.

[-] Zombiepirate@lemmy.world 58 points 7 hours ago

Sims told reporters on Wednesday that Smith’s guilty plea was an important public reminder that “everyone will be held accountable for their actions, regardless of your title”.

“We didn’t want to have special treatment of the sheriff,” Sims said. “We treat him like we treat every other citizen that commits an act like that.”

But he did get special treatment.

[-] frunch@lemmy.world 26 points 7 hours ago

Oh, that?! That's just the gaslighting, lol. Hey look over here, a shiny penny!!

[-] ProfThadBach@lemmy.world 90 points 8 hours ago

Oh nice. He gets to retire with no real consequences.

[-] aramis87@fedia.io 46 points 8 hours ago

Probably even still gets to keep his pension.

[-] Damn990099@lemmy.world 4 points 1 hour ago

And get a new job in the neighboring county.

[-] fpslem@lemmy.world 31 points 7 hours ago

Louisiana taking ACAB to the next level

[-] SayJess 16 points 7 hours ago

Citing accounts from the victim and multiple eyewitnesses, Smith also reportedly punched and with his boots kicked a prone Couvillion in the face and body. “I’m going to kill you, you motherfucker,” Couvillion reported Smith saying. “You’re a dead motherfucker.”

Beside interviewing bystanders and securing surveillance video, LBI agents wrote in a sworn statement that Couvillion had been taken to a hospital. Medical records showed he had sustained a concussion and two displaced front teeth, the agents said

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!

[-] prole 12 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

Knowing cops, he'll continue to have his buddies on the force harass him. If he doesn't continue to do it himself.

[-] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 10 points 6 hours ago

Does that mean that if someone beats up the ex-sheriff now they will also get to retire as a "punishment"?

[-] decapitae@sh.itjust.works 21 points 8 hours ago

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

[-] fishy@lemmy.today 16 points 5 hours ago

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.

[-] blattrules@lemmy.world 9 points 6 hours ago

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.

[-] some_designer_dude@lemmy.world 3 points 3 hours ago

Sounds more like a reward than a punishment.

[-] jtrek@startrek.website 7 points 7 hours ago

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.

[-] Triumph@fedia.io 3 points 5 hours ago

You say that as though the "idea" isn't true.

[-] Reyali@lemmy.world 11 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

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.)

[-] Ioughttamow@fedia.io 5 points 6 hours ago

Targeted political violence? A-ok

[-] bitteroldcoot@piefed.social 4 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

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.

[-] ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 28 minutes ago

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.

this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2026
261 points (100.0% liked)

News

38099 readers
1551 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious biased sources will be removed at the mods’ discretion. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted separately but not to the post body. Sources may be checked for reliability using Wikipedia, MBFC, AdFontes, GroundNews, etc.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source. Clickbait titles may be removed.


Posts which titles don’t match the source may be removed. If the site changed their headline, we may ask you to update the post title. Clickbait titles use hyperbolic language and do not accurately describe the article content. When necessary, post titles may be edited, clearly marked with [brackets], but may never be used to editorialize or comment on the content.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials, videos, blogs, press releases, or celebrity gossip will be allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis. Mods may use discretion to pre-approve videos or press releases from highly credible sources that provide unique, newsworthy content not available or possible in another format.


7. No duplicate posts.


If an article has already been posted, it will be removed. Different articles reporting on the same subject are permitted. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners or news aggregators.


All posts must link to original article sources. You may include archival links in the post description. News aggregators such as Yahoo, Google, Hacker News, etc. should be avoided in favor of the original source link. Newswire services such as AP, Reuters, or AFP, are frequently republished and may be shared from other credible sources.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS