Colonels take 3 in bball signing class
May 7, 2013
Advocates say law fills niche
May 7, 2013
It happened at a place where music was the magnet, and all anyone came for was a good time.
But now a Houma couple is charged with a crime of hate. Meanwhile, another couple copes with the emotional effects of being victimized in a place where they felt accepted and safe. Although it occurred a month ago, both victims and alleged victimizers are feeling effects from a punch thrown in a split second, which elevated the incident from a mere dispute to a crime of violence, motivated, according to witness accounts and the charges, by hate.
Swift work by authorities and their lack of hesitation to use of Louisiana’s hate crime statute, the victims say, bring some measure of comfort.
“Emotionally twisted,” is the answer Michael Dryden of Houma gave when asked how he and his partner, John Dupre, are faring in the wake of the incident at Phantom’s Tavern, a normally quiet bar located on La. Highway 24 near the Southland Dodge auto dealership.
“What was good, what will help, is there is a tape of it,” said Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Jerry Larpenter, who was contacted after the incident by the owner of the bar. When he checked on the case, the sheriff learned his detectives already had matters in hand, and were preparing for arrests. “If someone commits a crime, I want them charged; especially if it is a race or a hate crime. I don’t want to tolerate nobody beating up whoever. These individuals had done nothing. And who someone is does not give anyone the right to go around and beat the hell out of somebody.”
Camera Caught Attack
According to police reports, deputies were called to the bar shortly before 2 a.m. March 30. They were told that 51-year-old John Cedotal, who does construction work in Mississippi, had made disparaging remarks through one of the bar’s karaoke microphones concerning Dryden and Dupre.
“The victims reportedly approached Cedotal and confronted him about the comments he directed towards them,” Larpenter said. “According to witnesses and video surveillance, as the victims attempted to leave the bar moments later, Cedotal attacked one of the victims from behind, knocking him to the ground. Cedotal’s wife, Jill Cedotal, engaged in the attack as well. The victim lost consciousness during the attack.”
After surrendering to deputies John Cedotal was booked at the Terrebonne Parish jail on charges of simple battery, second-degree battery, a misdemeanor hate crime and a felony hate crime. He was released on a $1,000 cash bond.
Jill Cedotal, whom acquaintances said is employed as an office worker, was issued a citation for simple battery and a misdemeanor hate crime.
Contacted at her east Houma residence Friday, Jill Cedotal said she could not discuss the case on the advice of her attorney, whom she did not name. She did ask, however, if this much attention is given to all “bar fights.”
Several people identifying themselves as friends of the Cedotals, but who refused to give their names, spoke of the couple in complimentary terms, expressing surprise that they were facing hate crime charges. In their estimation, John Cedotal was merely “defending” his wife.
“You know how those homosexuals are,” one man said. “They think they are women so they won’t think nothing of fighting a woman.”
One family friend, who acknowledged that John Cedotal made the initial anti-gay references on the microphone, said he didn’t actually know anything about Dryden and Dupre’s sexual orientation, but made his statements because he surmised they were gay.
“You see a bunch of guys huddled up that close and you know,” the man said.
Bar owner Tom Champagne, who supplied video of the incident to investigators, said he regrets that the incident occurred at his establishment.
He and his wife, he said, were out of town that night.
“If we had been there, it never would have happened,” he said. “It is a tough situation. We run a friendly neighborhood bar where everyone knows everybody. It is unfortunate that it occurred.”
How the case is handled from here will depend on the office of Terrebonne Parish District Attorney Joe Waitz Jr. So far, an assistant district attorney has not been assigned, and so the case is in the early evaluation stages.
Back at the Mic
Dryden, who works in retail, and Dupre, who is in the hospitality industry, say one of the most difficult aspects of the case is that the incident occurred in what they regard as a “safe zone,” a bar with a diverse clientele, where their relationship has never been an issue, where they and a group of friends come to sing on Thursday and Saturday nights.
“I proposed to John at that bar,” said Dryden, who several years ago released a Christian music compact disc and, with Dupre, has competed in Houma’s Center Stage singing competition. “Creativity is why we are together, as friends and in a relationship.”
On the night of the incident, the couple joined friends at Phantom’s after work. By their accounts and recollections of employees and patrons, it was a slower Saturday night than usual, possibly due to Easter Sunday being the next day. But people who were there said they were getting what they came for.
“We were all having fun,” said Bernadette Pitre, a Houma restaurant worker, who does a mean karaoke duet of “Redneck Women” with a friend, Heather Smith. They, along with other friends, had joined Dupre and Dryden at a corner of the establishment toward the rear, nearest to “Music Lady” Rhonda Malbrough’s karaoke booth. “Miss Rhonda is like a mom to us, she is one of the best DJ’s I have ever messed around with, she makes it fun.”
Pitre had seen Cedotal and his wife at the bar in the past, but other than some loud behavior she had never noticed anything untoward.
Witness accounts generally agree that Cedotal and the man he was with were behind the DJ booth some time after 1 a.m. At the conclusion of a David Allan Coe song titled “You Never Even Called Me by My Name,” John Cedotal and his company reportedly inserted the word “faggots.”
“It sounded like he was directing it toward us,” said Dryden.
Dupre said he addressed the men, telling them, “We don’t do that here, that’s not appropriate.”
Both Cedotal and his companion, Dupre said, replied, “We don’t have problems with faggots.”
A Song Uncompleted
Cedotal and his friend walked the length of the building to the front, where they related the discussion to Jill Cedotal. As Dupre and Dryden prepared to sing a duet, she approached the pair, according to witness accounts, and a dispute ensued.
Dupre and Dryden did not complete their song, and within 10 minutes prepared to leave.
The club’s videotape shows Dupre and Dryden at the far right side of the bar, paying their tab. The two turn to the left, walking past the bar, appearing to head toward the exit.
“John turned his head and saw the wife mouthing, ‘You’d better leave, faggots,’” Dryden said. “John stopped and stared at her.”
The video then shows a man identified as John Cedotal charging toward Dryden and Dupre. On the video, Cedotal throws a single hard punch at Dryden, who goes down, striking his head on a nearby pool table.
Dupre and Cedotal soon go down to the ground and Jill Cedotal joins the fracas, hitting Dupre in the head and face.
On the tape, Dryden attempts to get up, but falls back to the ground.
With the Cedotals gone and Dryden revived, Dupre drove him to Leonard J. Chabert Medical Center where he was treated for a concussion and other injuries.
Deputies had already responded to the bar and took statements at the hospital. With the Cedotals already identified as suspects, the deputies headed to their home on La. Highway 24, but nobody was there.
On Monday, April 2, Larpenter received calls from the bar owner as well as Dryden. Detectives, he said, were already checking to see if the circumstances necessitated use of the hate crime charge.
“We charged it as a hate crime because the motivation was the sexual orientation of the victims,” Larpenter said.
Aftermath
For Dryden, the physical injuries were the first problem requiring recovery.
“I couldn’t eat because my jaw was swollen,” he said.
The emotional effects continue, Dryden said.
“I didn’t sleep for three days after,” he said. “I was looking over my shoulder for the first week.”
Dryden, whose two children reside with him and Dupre, said the attack has made a difference in a life lived with an eye toward being comfortable with who he is, and not living in the shadows so many people have been relegated to for so long.
“I am more hesitant than I was before,” he said. “When I chose to come out, I knew I was raised to be who I was in front of God and everybody. I didn’t do that just for myself but also to show my children there is no reason to be somebody they aren’t. Now, everything has changed. I am still proud of who I am, but everything has shifted.”
Sarah Jane Brady, executive director of the Forum for Equality in New Orleans, an organization that helped craft Louisiana’s hate-crime statute, said the facts of the case as presented to her show why such laws are important.
She describes Larpenter’s decision to have his deputies move ahead with the hate crime enhancement as “phenomenal.”
“We expect our law enforcement officers to protect us as citizens so when they do the right thing and follow a law that has been passed, I believe they should be commended,” Brady said. “We want to say this is a good job. Thank you, you are applying the law exactly as it should be applied. It sends a message to people around Louisiana – in New Orleans, Shreveport and the bigger cities – that we have had successes and are having movement. This is a positive step not just for the sheriff’s office but the community in general, for people to see they are being protected not being ignored.”
The effects of the incident are already showing in Dupre and Dryden’s social circles.
“We have a couple of friends, a gay couple, and they have always said they were uncomfortable in ‘straight’ bars,” Dryden said. “Now they won’t come to this club with us. Had this not happened there would have been two more patrons out having a good time.”
Surveillance video shows Mike Dryden on the floor of Phantom’s Tavern as Jill and John Cedatol, foreground, grapple with Dryden’s partner John Dupre on the morning of April 1. At right rear, karaoke host Rhonda Malbrough heads to Dryden’s assistance.
