The grand jury hearing the second-degree battery case against suspended LSU football players Jordan Jefferson and Josh Johns is expected to conclude proceedings this afternoon. Lewis Unglesby, Jefferson’s attorney, has maintained throughout the hearings that Jefferson will testify. East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore III told The Times-Picayune the grand jury will continue hearing witnesses and taking evidence beginning at 9 a.m., and should finish the proceedings sometime midday. At the conclusion, it will read its decision on the status of the charges to a judge in open court. Moore says the grand jury can confirm the second-degree battery charges, lessen them to simple battery, dismiss the charges, or vote to pretermit, which would send the matter back to Moore’s office. Jefferson and Johns were arrested on Aug. 26 for their alleged involvement in a bar fight on Aug. 19 and were subsequently suspended from the football team. Read more about today’s grand jury proceedings in The Times-Picayune here. Scott McKay, publisher of The Hayride blog on state and national politics, says a rumor moving around Baton Rouge’s legal circles is that the charges against Jefferson will be dropped. Read McKay’s blog post here.
Today’s poll question: Should the grand jury indict Jordan Jefferson and Josh Johns?
