A trial set to start Tuesday in Gonzales before Judge Michael Kirby will finally put a six-year-old dispute before a judge over a secretly recorded conversation that accused an Ascension Parish president candidate of covering up child rapes. The case centers on former candidate Murphy Painter Sr., a onetime chief deputy in the sheriff's office and state alcohol and tobacco control commissioner, who says an edited audio recording wrecked his 2019 campaign and his reputation.
Painter sued Wade Petite and Dustin Clouatre in 2020, alleging the two men were behind the edited tape and the article that ran alongside it, according to The Advocate. Petite owns the online news outlet Pelican Post, serves as chief of staff for the City of Gonzales, and is a former attorney who is representing himself in the case, the paper reports. He worked for Clint Cointment's campaign at the time the recording surfaced, and Cointment was running against Painter for parish president.
The Pelican Post published the conversation between Painter and Clouatre, along with an accompanying article, on October 18, 2019, per the same report. Court filings reviewed by the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal state that Painter alleged Clouatre secretly recorded their conversation on February 7, 2019, and that Petite then had the audio edited and published. The edited version did not appear publicly until October 18, 2019, according to the same court opinion, which came six days after Painter and Cointment advanced to a runoff, the Advocate's reporting notes.
What the Edited Tape Claimed
The 49-second recording suggested, according to allegations Painter has pressed in court, that he had covered up alleged rapes of five girls under age 12. The edited clip included Painter apparently saying he would find a friend who raped five girls under 12 and asking whether to turn away. But court filings include a full transcript of the conversation, and according to The Advocate, the recordings had been edited to remove statements Painter made explicitly denying a role in any cover-ups.
Painter has said he told Clouatre, “I'm not going to do it,” and described the cases as corruption he would never go along with. Clouatre's attorney, Scott Kaiser, did not dispute in court that the recording had been edited, the Advocate's reporting states, though he said the edits also removed instances where Clouatre himself could be heard. Kaiser declined to comment on the case for this story.
Clouatre has said, according to court records, that he recorded the conversation because he believed Painter was recording him. Petite testified that he received the recording from Clouatre and published it because he believed it was newsworthy, and both Petite and Cointment have denied coordinating on the article and the audio's release. Petite declined to comment on the case.
A Candidate's Exit and a Grand Jury's Finding
Painter withdrew from the race three days after the recording's publication, and the parish president position went to Cointment automatically once Painter dropped out. Then-District Attorney Ricky Babin opened an investigation based on the tape to gather information about the alleged rapes, and he later said his office found no evidence of unreported or covered-up rapes, adding that Painter was not working for the sheriff's office when the alleged crimes occurred. Separately, an Ascension Parish grand jury found no evidence of a cover-up, according to a 2019 Advocate report.
Kaiser has argued that the Pelican Post article never used the word cover-up or claimed Painter was part of one, the Advocate's reporting notes; he has said the article instead raised a question for voters about what Painter had done with his knowledge of the alleged incidents.
A Legal Battle Through Multiple Courts
Painter's lawsuit, which alleges deception, defamation and political damage, originally named Cointment, Babin and Hughes Insurance as defendants alongside Petite and Clouatre, and it has involved several rounds of court proceedings, with some issues reaching the Louisiana Supreme Court. A judge dismissed Painter's claims against Babin in 2021, and the First Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed that dismissal, rejecting Painter's claim that Babin was collaborating with Cointment.
In 2024, a judge dropped Cointment and Hughes Insurance from the case and ordered Painter to pay their court fees, finding that Painter could not prove Cointment conspired to defame him and that Hughes Insurance was not vicariously liable for its employee's actions. As of an April 2025 report from the Advocate, the case against Clouatre, Petite and The Pelican Post remained pending. Cointment and Babin have both been subpoenaed as witnesses in the upcoming trial.
Painter has said of the long fight, “It has been a long road attempting to clear my name, and we're looking forward to having our day in court.” The trial is scheduled to begin at the new Ascension Parish courthouse at 607 E. Worthey Street in Gonzales.
