A Vendetta Against Jonesboro LA Mayor Thompson

Jonesboro's Mayor, Leslie Thompson has gone "through the fire" as some religious folks might say, seeing the mayor still has legal hurdles that he must overcome. Ever since Thompson won his first term as mayor, he has had to face one legal obstacle after another because of the way that he tried to be a good mayor for Jonesboro. Thompson faced a hostile environment when he first assume office as mayor, as there were some racial overtones from certain people in/around Jonesboro. Thompson also inherited what President Trump called "a mess"(Trump didn't inherit one)from the previous administration where the financial picture of the town wasn't as sound as people may have been led to believe. The fact that Thompson shouldn't be blamed for things that he didn't create is indisputable, but state auditors were brought in soon after Thompson assumed office. It didn't take long before Thompson found himself charged with three counts of malfeasance in office related to the town's finances, two of those counts being that town money was used to pay benefits to people that wasn't eligible for them. He also was charged with one count of denying state legislative auditors access to the town's financial records, to which Thompson has refuted. Thompson won big win in court when he was acquitted of the "benefit" counts, but now he is facing a re-trial on the one count of denying auditors access to the financial records. Though Thompson is under a "gag order" not to make any comments concerning his upcoming trial, he said back in 2018 that his office complied with seven of the eight auditors, and those seven all testified that he(Thompson)"cooperated fully" with them. Despite that testimony being "on the record", prosecutors still want to try Thompson over again. According to media reports the town is not on the "non compliance" list. Thompson had filed a motion seeking removal of the denying of one legislative auditor charge, saying that he is being tried under the "double jeopardy" statue, but he lost that motion.

In the ruling overturning the previous two charges, it was stated that Thompson deserved a new trial because a prosecutor made irrelevant comments about race to the jury in his 2013 trial. As mentioned earlier there were some racial tensions between Mayor Thompson and some in city government. Why did the trial judge allow that, some may ask. Thompson wants to get these legal issues behind him so he can "move forward" and do the job that he was elected to do. But there appears to be those who may want to use Thompson "as an example" to other black mayors who may be scrutinized more than their white counterparts when it comes to the town's finances. Thompson re-trial is expected to be held in Bossier, according to media reports.