Shia LaBeouf Faces 3 Misdemeanor Battery Charges as Prosecutors Drop Hate-Crime Counts
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · May 21
Shia LaBeouf Faces 3 Misdemeanor Battery Charges as Prosecutors Drop Hate-Crime Counts
9 articles · Updated · The Guardian · May 21
New Orleans prosecutors on Thursday formally charged Shia LaBeouf with misdemeanor battery, four months after police accused him of punching two men and headbutting a third at a Mardi Gras bar.
The filing means the district attorney declined hate-crime charges, despite police allegations and cellphone video showing LaBeouf using anti-gay slurs toward the men outside R Bar.
Police said bar staff had asked LaBeouf to leave after he became increasingly aggressive; he was later jailed briefly, released on a $105,000 bond and ordered into substance-abuse treatment.
An arraignment date was not immediately available. One alleged victim had publicly urged prosecutors to use Louisiana's bias-crime enhancement law.
The case adds to LaBeouf's prior legal troubles, including a 2014 New York arrest and a 2017 Savannah case that led to court-ordered rehab.
Could Shia LaBeouf use a 'gay panic' defense to justify his violent, homophobic attack in a Louisiana court?
Why wasn't LaBeouf's attack charged as a hate crime despite video evidence of his homophobic slurs?