Two weeks after he was indicted on corruption charges, former Baton Rouge Metro Council member and current school superintendent LaMont Cole argued in court filings Friday that Attorney General Liz Murrill’s office was misrepresenting his text messages to make it seem he was taking bribes.
“The attorney general’s office isolated and took innocent text messages … out of context, weaponized them” and “wrapped them in a garment of criminal narrative,” Cole’s attorneys wrote.
Cole’s defense team filed a motion Friday challenging the validity of the grand jury that charged him and other current or former city-parish officials. His attorneys question whether District Attorney Hillar Moore submitted a written request for Attorney General Liz Murrill’s office to get involved in the grand jury proceedings, which they say is required by law. Absent a request from Moore, a judge would have needed to sign off on the AG’s involvement, the filing says…