Federal Sentencing Set for August 7 in Lake Charles in Reardon Courthouse Case
A federal sentencing hearing was set for August 7, 2026 in Lake Charles, closing the trial phase of United States v. Reardon and starting the clock for appellate review.
Originally published by Don Matthews on We The People News on July 30, 2026.
A federal sentencing hearing was scheduled for Friday, August 7, 2026, in the Lake Charles Division of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, marking the end of the trial phase in United States v. Reardon, 6:25-cr-00227.
The case arose from the August 25, 2025 arrest at the John M. Shaw U.S. Courthouse in Lafayette and a conviction under a federal regulation governing conduct on federal property.
Pretrial litigation drew attention to missing courthouse surveillance footage. The government acknowledged that lobby video from the day of the arrest had not been preserved. The defense argued the video could have shown marshals directing Reardon toward the area later characterized as obstructed.
FOIA records also showed that BOLO-style alerts containing Reardon’s identifying information had circulated among marshals and court-security personnel before the arrest. Magistrate Judge Carol B. Whitehurst later recused after ex parte communications came to light, citing an appearance-of-bias concern.
The government recommended unsupervised probation with a restriction on courthouse access. Reardon said he would object, arguing that the condition functioned as a prior restraint on newsgathering, and said he would prefer the full statutory jail term to an indefinite speech-related restriction.
The sentencing hearing also triggered appellate deadlines under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 58(g)(2), with the missing-video and structural due-process issues expected to feature in the appeal.
