Caddo District Attorney Charles Scott fired two longtime assistant district attorneys Tuesday – just days after a state inspector general’s report found an application used to acquire automatic weapons for Scott’s office contained false information, the men fired say.
Lea Hall said he and fellow prosecutor Hugo Holland were forced to resign about 2 p.m. Hall also said his efforts to refute the report and clear his name were stopped by Scott, who ordered Hall not continue his investigation.
The dismissal of Hall and Holland is the latest development in a continuing dispute over eight M16 rifles acquired by the district attorney’s office. The weapons, obtained from the Louisiana Federal Property Assistance Agency, were delivered Feb. 27 to the Caddo Courthouse. Shortly after, Caddo Sheriff Steve Prator asked the inspector general to investigate the gun acquisition made by the district attorney’s office.
Caddo ADAs react to firing over weapons flap
A major shake-up in the Caddo Parish District Attorney’s office: Several sources tell KSLA News 12 that two prosecutors involved in the acquisition of automatic weapons have been asked to resign.
Now-former ADAs Lea Hall and Hugo Holland confirm to KSLA News 12 that they were asked to resign by Caddo District Attorney, Charles Scott Tuesday afternoon. Hall says that he was made a political scapegoat. “[DA] Scott has crawfished from this situation since day one,” says Hall. “He has always said to the press that he never knew they were automatic weapons. He absolutely did. They were disclosed fully to him at the time the application was being sent up the chain for his approval.”
The prosecutors say they were called in to a meeting with Scott separately Tuesday afternoon where he asked for their resignations.
The resignations come on the heels of an investigation into the acquisition of eight automatic weapons, an ordeal that did not sit well with the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Recently, Louisiana’s Inspector General’s Office cleared the DA’s office of violations, but inspectors did criticize the handling of the request, which was handled by prosecutors Lea Hall and Hugo Holland.
In a letter by the Inspector General’s Office, made public by DA Scott, the inspector indicates that Hall and Holland made false statements regarding their reasons for wanting the automatic weapons. Hall maintains that the DA’s investigators need them for protection while carrying out investigations.
On Friday when Scott released the Inspector’s letter said he did sign the request forms, but did not realize that the weapons being requested were fully automatic.
UPDATE: Caddo assistant DAs forced to resign
Two of Caddo Parish’s top prosecutors have left the District Attorney’s office, given a choice to quit or be fired.
District Attorney Charles Scott told KTBS that he would not discuss personnel issues. However, one of the prosecutors, 13-year office veteran Lea Hall, said that he and Assistant District Attorney Hugo Holland were forced out Tuesday afternoon.
Their departures follow the Friday release of a state Inspector General’s report into the purchase of eight automatic weapons by the District Attorney’s Office. Hall believes Scott feared the political fallout from the event. He also said Scott was more knowledgeable than he has said about both the weapons purchase and the special investigations section that works closely with police in sometimes dangerous conditions.
Caddo Parish Steve Prator has been the most prominent critic of DA personnel having such heavy firepower. His complaint at not being informed about the of delivery of M16s earlier this year triggered the Inspector General’s investigation. He has since revoked sheriff’s commissions that had allowed some DA personnel to carry weapons and make arrests. The automatic weapons have been transferred to the Webster Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Hall believes Scott forced the senior prosecutors to resign “to appease the sheriff’’ because he believes he needs Prator’s support to get re-elected. Meanwhile, the sheriff is “beating (Scott) around the head, neck and shoulders every time he turns around.’’
Lincoln Parish News Online 
08/01/2012 at 7:29 am |
What in the world does the DA’s office need with automatic weapons? Heck, I’d be scared if the DA’s office in Lincoln parish had any sharp pencils.
08/01/2012 at 7:49 am |
Now that is funny.
08/01/2012 at 11:44 am |
It is absolutely absurd for law enforcement to possess automatic weapons. These weapons require a high degree of training and are intended for military operations involving intense firefighting situations. The purpose of automatic weapons in these situations is to create a wall of fire to suppress enemy return fire in a “spray and pray” pattern. Law enforcement operations are conducted amid innocent civilians surrounding the scene and automatic fire would endanger these citizens from stray rounds. The police are there to contain a situation, not escalate it through the use of automatic fire. The potential to hit innocent civilians is astronomical and would result in numerous lawsuits for excessive use of force. I agree with GothicArc that the quality of local law enforcement personnel leaves no doubt that automatic weapons should be kept as far away from them as possible. From what I’ve seen, most of them should only have one bullet in a pocket like Barney Fife.
08/01/2012 at 2:47 pm |
Damn, that is funnier than the first post!
08/01/2012 at 9:49 pm |
What a great loss for the state of Louisiana! Holland is one of the greatest prosecutors of sex crimes in this state. Pre-trial sex offenders are jumping for joy.
08/02/2012 at 8:55 am |
Much like the Fast & Furious scandal currently engulfing the Obama administration, it appears that a high-ranking official ordered his subordinates to engage in some illicit act, then fired them when it hit the fan. Of course, Holder promoted all the F&F players to buy their silence. Now Scott is claiming to have no knowledge of the events in question nor any recollection of the events that transpired. Standard Bill Clinton line.
08/03/2012 at 10:22 am |
Maybe they shouldn’t have lied!
09/29/2012 at 4:35 pm |
Bad judgement all around but DA Scott would not have lost my vote because his folks ordered the weapons. He has lost my vote because either he is ignorant of what constitutes a fully automatic weapon (essential knowledge for a DA) or he was willing to throw his staff under the bus to try to cover his own backside.
06/28/2014 at 7:25 am |
Lea Hall has already made the Inquisitor for pulling a gun on his secretary’s husband when the husband came to the Claiborne Parish DA’s office at night to check on his wife back in February. This past week Hall was temporarily out of his office , but he had left a gun on his desk at the DA’s office. This guy has issues.