A Tangipahoa Parish man who was pressured by DEA agent Chad Scott to plead guilty to drug conspiracy charges could have his conviction reversed now that a federal appeals court has ruled he was treated unfairly.
Julius Cerdes served 18 months in federal prison after his 2006 plea. He sought relief in 2020, using an uncommon mechanism known as "coram nobis," a type of motion available to those who are convicted but not incarcerated. In it, Cerdes argued that Scott's "extraordinarily abusive, over-reaching and unconstitutional tactics" left him with little option but to plead guilty to the charges.
Former DEA agent Chad Scott walks to the U.S. District Courthouse in New Orleans on the first day of his retrial on federal charges of obstruction of justice, perjury and falsification of government records on Aug. 19, 2019.
Scott was a highly decorated agent in the Drug Enforcement Administration's New Orleans region office. But in 2016, two members of a task force he ran were arrested, accused of using and stealing drugs and money. A year later, Scott was indicted on charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and conspiring to take property of arrestees for personal use, among other things. He was later convicted and sentenced to 13 years in prison.
During Scott's sentencing hearing, Cerdes testified that the ex-agent planted drugs in his car then used the drugs and a gun found nearby to threaten him with a longer sentence if he didn't plead guilty.
U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance, whom President Bill Clinton nominated to the bench, rejected Cerdes' 2020 coram nobis motion for relief, saying he did not file it in a timely manner.
But the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Vance's ruling on Dec. 19, saying Cerdes was justified in fearing retribution by Scott if he appealed earlier. It wasn't until Scott was indicted and arrested in 2017, and convicted in 2019, that Cerdes felt comfortable filing his appeal, the panel noted.
"It was reasonable for Cerdes to be fearful of what would happen if he sought relief from his guilty plea prior to the government's discovery of Scott's misconduct," a three-judge panel of the Circuit Court wrote.
The opinion also offers blunt criticism of Scott's tactics, saying he used the threat of a longer sentence due to a gun charge as a "hammer" to coerce Cerdes into pleading guilty. "The evidence adduced at Scott's trial and the testimony offered at Scott's sentencing hearing in particular demonstrated just how powerful and dangerous Scott was as a rogue DEA agent," the opinion says.
The 5th Circuit ruling came from judges Eugene Davis of New Orleans, Kurt Engelhardt of Metairie and Andrew Oldham of Austin, Texas. Davis was chosen for the court by President Ronald Reagan, Engelhardt and Oldham by President Donald Trump.
Stephen Haedicke, Cerdes' attorney, said the motion to vacate Cerdes' conviction will now go before Vance for a hearing.
Cerdes' case is the latest in the fallout from the investigation into Scott and his task force. More than a dozen other defendants saw their cases dropped, charges reduced or potential prison time slashed due to concerns about Scott and his team's efforts.
CORRECTION: Earlier versions of this article incorrectly described who could file a coram nobis motion.