DeSoto clerk of court enters plea in electioneering offense

MANSFIELD, La. -- Outgoing DeSoto Parish Clerk of Court Jeremy Evans admitted Monday morning he violated the state's election code last fall. 

Evans entered the guilty plea to two counts of electioneering during his arraignment in DeSoto District Court. Both charges are misdemeanors. 

District Judge Amy Burford McCartney sentenced Evans to the maximum of $500 plus court costs. 

The state attorney general's office prosecuted Evans. 

State police investigators arrested Evans, 44, in October in connection with a complaint he violated a law prohibiting campaigning in nursing homes during a certain time period. Evans posted photographs to his social media page the month before showing him wearing a shirt with a "re-elect Jeremy Evans" logo with his campaign literature in his hands as he visited the facilities. 

As the clerk of court, Evans is considered the parish's top election official. The law he violated is included in literature the Secretary of State's office provides to parish election officials. 

The law states no candidate can solicit votes, hand out campaign literature or place any political advertising in nursing homes past a certain deadline. Early voting ballots had already been delivered to the two nursing homes when Evans made his visits. 

Evans initially called his arrest politically motivated, but also said he regretted any concern his actions caused. 

At the time, Evans was seeking re-election as clerk of court. He was defeated in a November run-off by attorney Lisa Lobrano Burson. She takes office July 1.