How La. Trooper Avoided Jail Time in Fatal Arrest of Ronald Greene 

A retired Louisiana state trooper will serve no jail time in the officer-involved death of a 49-year-old Black motorist, Ronald Greene, who cried in body camera footage “I’m your brother! I’m scared!” as six troopers tased, punched, dragged and beat him until he stopped breathing.

On Monday, Oct. 28, Kory York pleaded no contest to eight misdemeanor charges of simple battery in exchange for a sixth month suspended sentence and one year probation, his lawyer, Mike Small confirms to PEOPLE. He was previously charged with negligent homicide and two counts of malfeasance.

“Outcome is a total victory for Mr. York!” Small wrote in an email to PEOPLE.

The so-called “nolo contendere plea” conviction will not be admissible in the pending wrongful death lawsuit filed by Greene’s family and allows him to keep his $83,000 a year pension, according to Small.

Still, York’s conviction is the first among the five indicted troopers in the Union Parish, La., case, with just one trooper still slated for trial, per the Associated Press. (A sixth trooper, Christopher Clay Hollingsworth, died in 2020, following a single-vehicle crash just hours after he was told he would be fired.)

Small says that “if subpoenaed,” York would “testify truthfully” in the last remaining trial but that he had not made an agreement with prosecutors as part of his plea deal.

The troopers’ cases have unfolded alongside an ongoing “pattern or practice investigation into the Louisiana State Police” by the Department of Justice to determine if the department “uses excessive force and whether it engages in racially discriminatory policing.” 

PEOPLE reached out to federal authorities for an update on the investigation, which they announced in June 2022. Lester Duhé, press secretary for the Office of Attorney General Liz Murrill, did not directly answer any of PEOPLE’s multiple questions about the investigation, including if federal authorities planned to file charges.

State authorities originally told Greene’s grieving family that he had died in a high-speed car crash, and state police filed a crash report without any reference to trooper force, per the AP, which notes that an emergency room doctor quickly cast doubt on their claims.

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Then, two years after Greene’s death, the AP obtained body-camera footage, which the outlet reported depicted the six troopers tasing him, placing him in a chokehold and cursing at him, with Hollingsworth beating him over the head with a flashlight and boasting that he had “beat the ever-living f— out of him.”

In the footage, York – who previously faced the most serious charges – is shown dragging Greene by his ankle shackles, keeping him cuffed and lying face-down for several minutes, while shouting: “Shut up” and “Lay on your f—— belly like I told you to!” Greene eventually stopped breathing, per the AP, which reported that York was briefly suspended – for 50 hours – for his part in the arrest.

But, more than five years after Greene died, the 49-year-old’s cause of death remains murky. 

In an autopsy report obtained by the AP, the coroner noted multiple contributing factors: repeated tasing by the officers, physical struggle, prone restraint, blunt-force injury and “complications of cocaine use.” 

Ultimately, a forensic pathologist did not specify the primary contributing factor, with the resulting uncertainty leading to York’s plea deal, per the AP. 

PEOPLE reached out to District Attorney John Belton with a set of questions about the case and for comment on whether or not he believed justice had been served. Belton – who declined to answer the same question posed by the AP – had not responded to the Oct. 29 request by publication on Oct. 30.

But Greene’s mother, Mona Hardin, was unequivocal in her views when she addressed the judge at Monday’s sentencing, which was reported by the AP.

“This shouldn’t end today,” Hardin said. “It’s wrong. It’s unfair.”