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Former Mayor of a Louisiana City Wins Malfeasance Appeal

The former mayor of a Louisiana city has won a new trial on a malfeasance charge.

Leslie Thompson is the former mayor of Jonesboro in north Louisiana. He was convicted in 2013 on three counts of malfeasance. In one count, prosecutors said he illegally denied the state legislative auditor access to Jonesboro's financial records. Two other counts said he used city money to pay benefits to people who weren't eligible for them.

On Monday, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled there was insufficient evidence for conviction on the two counts dealing with benefits.

As for the first count, the justices ruled that Thompson deserves a new trial because a prosecutor made irrelevant comments about race to the jury in the 2013 trial.