Troy E. Brown

On November 28, 2015, Brown was arrested for allegedly having struck his long-time female companion, Katasha A. Willis, in the face.^[6] The incident happened after the Bayou Classic football game in New Orleans. The attack allegedly occurred while the woman, a resident of Labadieville in Assumption Parish, a "side friend" (his term) with whom he had been involved for a decade, was outside an elevator, along with other people, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel near the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Brown and the woman had reportedly quarreled prior to the incident.^[7]

Brown was arrested and booked on November 29 into the Orleans Parish Prison on domestic abuse battery, a misdemeanor. Brown said that he had no recollection of the incident and sought medical help. He was represented by former State Senator Edwin R. Murray of New Orleans.^[7]

On January 8, 2016, Brown appeared in court in New Orleans to complete paperwork in the battery case against him. Attorney Ed Murray said that Brown could not remember hitting Ms. Willis because of a brain injury in his earlier years.^[8]

On July 17, 2016, Brown was arrested at his Geismar residence after biting his wife, Toni, his second domestic abuse arrest in a year. Brown told deputies of the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office that because of the brain injury he had no recollection of biting his wife. Brown posted $5,000 in bail and was released the next day. Not long after this incident, Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards, called for Brown's resignation.^[9]

Prior to his resignation, Brown told an interviewer that it was his "gut feel" that "it's pretty obvious that the Senate is going to vote for expulsion. It is my hope that once it gets to the courts, and the courts see the various flaws that exist that are contrary to the Constitution that legal reason will prevail." His latest attorney, Jill Craft of Baton Rouge, referred to the Senate's consideration of expulsion as "a dog and pony show" without proper rules of legal fairness.^[10]

Brown's resignation in February 2017 avoided a vote by his colleagues on his proposed expulsion from the chamber. He had pleaded no contest twice in four months to misdemeanor charges related to domestic abuse. Brown said that he did not believe his Senate colleagues, the majority of whom are Republicans, would have given him a fair hearing had he sought to remain in office.^[11]

Democrats Warren Harang, III, a sugar cane farmer from Donaldsonville whose late father was a mayor of Thibodaux, and Ed Price, the District 58 member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from Gonzales, were the top finishers in a 13-candidate field to choose Brown's successor in the state Senate. The two squared off in a runoff contest on May 27, 2017.^[12] In a turnout of 20.2 percent of registered voters, Price handily trounced Harang in the second round of balloting, 9,224 (63 percent) to 5,507 (37 percent).^[13]

• Official page at the Louisiana State Senate
• Campaign website
• Profile at Vote Smart