Ex-Grand Isle officer cleared of murder charge

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A Grand Isle police officer accused of shooting and killing another man was cleared of the charge Tuesday.

State District Judge Henry Sullivan acquitted former police Sgt. Keeland Cheramie of second-degree murder in the June 2, 2003, death of Bret Lemoine, 33, of Harvey. Cheramie, who was indicted in July 2004, had waived his right to a jury trial.

Cheramie, 27, shot Lemoine in Grand Isle, on the street next to where his parents lived at the time.

Cheramie said he fired on Lemoine’s pickup truck only after Lemoine drove it toward him at the end of a chase that began on Louisiana 1. Cheramie was parked there in his police car and said he saw Lemoine speeding at about twice the legal speed limit.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office cleared the shooting as self-defense.

At trial, prosecutors with the state attorney general’s office presented testimony and evidence gathered by the Sheriff’s Office that they contend showed Cheramie fired on Lemoine’s truck from the side.

They argued that the officer was not defending himself when he unloaded nine rounds from his Glock .40-caliber service pistol. Seven of the nine shots, including the fatal third one, were fired as the truck was passing and past Cheramie, according to a Sheriff’s Office shooting reconstruction.

However, the Sheriff’s Office says other factors played into the shooting.

Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul Connick Jr. recused his office from the case, which caused the attorney general’s office to investigate the shooting, present the case to the grand jury and prosecute Cheramie.