Berry able to hold office

A ruling the Louisiana State Supreme Court handed down Wednesday will allow Daryll Berry to continue to hold office.

A hearing to determine whether Berry can serve on the Monroe City School Board is set to resume at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, but Assistant District Attorney Neal Johnson said the ruling passed down on Shepherd v. Thomas Schedler, et al, makes the hearing moot by rendering the 1997 Amendment of the Louisiana Constitution, Art. 1, Section 10B & C to be null and void.

That amendment made it so that only felons who had a governor's pardon could hold office, but its removal means that a first offender pardon will let someone hold public office. The court determined that the amendment was not constitutionally adopted.

"The ruling means that there no longer exists any valid legal prohibition for Mr. Berry to hold office with the Monroe City School Board," Johnson said. "Therefore, the state will have no alternative but to dismiss the legal proceedings in the morning."

On Jan. 20, 4th Judicial District Attorney Jerry Jones filed a petition to have Berry removed from office after finding that he was convicted in 2005 of unauthorized use of a moveable and did not complete the provisions of his sentence until October 2006, making him ineligible to hold elected office until 2021 under Article 1, Section 10 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974. Berry, who was elected to represent MCSB District 4 in 2014, filed for the court to set his conviction aside at the end of the probationary period under Article 893 of the Louisiana criminal procedure code. The judge, however, denied that request.

State Rep. Marcus Hunter was one of Berry's attorneys. He said the Supreme Court saw its error regarding previous rulings on basic rights being returned to felons, and he appreciates that they rectified that error with a new opinion and noting the Legislature's failure to make the amendment valid.

"It is certainly disappointing that a very good provision of the law, which was overwhelmingly approved by the voters of this state, was nullified by a clerical error of some staff member of the Louisiana Legislature," Johnson said of the ruling. "This now means that murderers, rapists and pedophiles can hold elected office.  Hopefully, the Legislature will move quickly to correct this error, but it is unlikely that any future act can be applied retroactively."

Hunter said he's excited about Berry's ability to continue to serve on the board and thinks it's "good that no one has to be known by the worst thing that ever happened to them."

"I am happy we can get our focus back to the importance of improving our schools and our community and ensuring that the future of our city rests in good hands," Jennifer Haneline, who represents District 2 on the school board, said. "It is my hope that regardless of who is on the school board we can work together and find compromise so that we are ensuring everyone is being heard."

News of the ruling was broadcast late Wednesday. As of 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, other members of the board, including Berry, had not yet responded to requests for comment.