“Hey, Lamar. Are you going to the DA’s press conference?” Drayton Wilkerson asked as he and Victor walked past the stage where Lamar was standing with his video camcorder. “We’re going over now to cover it. I think he has an announcement about the video. You’re not going? This could be big news.”
“Where is the press conference?” Lamar asked Drayton.
“In front of his building,” Drayton answered as he and Victor hurried off.
Lamar quickly shared the information with his parents, Kyra, Attorney Smith and Reverend Thurmond.
“We just left his office a little while ago,” Lamar’s father said.
“We better get over there to see what’s going on,” Attorney Smith suggested.
When they arrived, Mr. Caulfield had already begun the press conference. Standing next to him were Jim Westerfield, his public relations man, and other people Lamar didn’t know. Newspaper and other TV reporters were there, too. Drayton Wilkerson, standing near the front, waved when he spotted Lamar. Lamar waved back.
“Good afternoon. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m John Caulfield, district attorney for this parish. With me are my assistant, Ike Kendricks; Jim Westerfield, from our public information department; Peter Conforte, the sheriff of this parish; and James Weston, president of the police jury. For those of you who are not from the state, and I see there are a few of you, the police jury is the legislative governing body for the parish.
“We called this press conference to provide an update on the case you all have been following lately. As you may know, a video recording was aired on WKCU News 6. Supposedly, it captures the interaction between Mr. Joshua Phillips, the victim, and Mr. Rutherford Thigpen, who fired the shots that killed Mr. Phillips. Also shown on the video are sheriff’s deputies, whose actions following the incident are in question. Our department, as well as the sheriff’s department and the Morton Police Department, are undertaking a thorough investigation to determine the authenticity of the recording. As you may know, WKCU News 6 did not disclose the name of the person who sent the video.”
“Have any arrests been made?” Drayton Wilkerson yelled out, interrupting the DA.
“I will get to that, sir. Please, show a little patience. Just recently,” continued Mr. Caulfield, “we were given information that will, perhaps, not only identify who sent the video but who recorded it.”
“That means there is an eyewitness?” another news reporter questioned the stern-faced DA.
“What I can say,” he responded, “is all the information we have received is being investigated thoroughly. Now, regarding the question about arrests. No, no one has been arrested. But people are being questioned as we speak.”
“Mr. Caulfield, don’t you have enough evidence to make an arrest?” Drayton continued to probe. “The video is quite revealing, sir.”
“Caulfield is just a lot of talk,” Kyra whispered to Lamar. “He’s just trying to get ahead of this so he can put his spin on it.”
“As I said earlier,” the determined DA replied, “we are doing a thorough investigation. We’re working on our schedule and not anyone else’s. We resent anyone implying that this office will not handle this case fairly. We will go where the evidence leads us. Again, the purpose of this news conference is to provide an update as more information comes in. We will schedule another news conference tomorrow. We’ll let you know the time. Now, we have to get back to work.”
Reporters scrambled to throw more questions at the district attorney. But their efforts were in vain.
“See you tomorrow,” the DA said, waving to them as he and his group hurriedly walked back into the building.