State of La. drops charge against local business owner Gregory Tate

Nearly six years after Gregory Tate’s arrest, the State of Louisiana’s officially dismissed its charge against the Ville Platte native on July 31st of this year.
Tate, who was represented by attorney Jacob Fusilier, was arrested back in October of 2011 after he was accused of conspiracy to commit second degree battery on two of his campaign supporters during the local business owner’s bid for Evangeline Parish Clerk of Court.
The two individuals Tate was accused of attempting to pay now deceased Herman Vidrine to beat up were Michael Nelson and Gerald Alfred.
The defense believes the State, who was being represented by Marty White with Attorney General Jeff Landry’s office, made the decision to dismiss the case because of the fact that their main witness was former Ville Platte Detective Nathaniel Savoy, who is currently serving time for falsifying police documents.
“We had battled in some pretrial motions over an evidentiary hearing,” said Fusilier. “It was a technical issue, but, the person required for them to overcome my motion was Nathaniel Savoy.”
The local attorney went on to say, “I think there were some logistical issues with Nathaniel that prevented the state from going forward.”
The State filed the motion and order to dismiss this matter on July 20, 2017.
That motion was then signed by Judge Harry F. Randow and the State’s case was officially dismissed on July 31.
Since the case’s dismissal, Fusilier says now his client is ready to move forward with his life.
Fusilier said, “My client continues to maintain his innocence. He never hired anyone to hurt anybody, and he is happy that this is finally over.
“I believe the Attorney General’s Office did the right thing, so now my client is just ready to move on with his life.”