VIDALIA, La. – A victims’ rights group plans to ask the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate possible civil rights violations by Concordia Parish Sheriff Randy Maxwell, the group’s leader said.

The complaint by the Louisiana Crime Victims’ Coalition could come as early as next week and results from the group’s ongoing efforts &uot;to see that justice is served&uot; in the case of Pete Guillot.

Guillot was convicted in 1991 of murdering his ex-wife, Ann Guillot, and her friend, David Bradford in 1990 in Ferriday.

Guillot, a longtime Concordia Parish resident, was originally sentenced to 42 years in prison, but that sentence was reduced in 1995 to 30 years.

The coalition’s complaint stems from a June 5 incident in which Concordia Parish sheriff’s deputies allegedly seized a roll of film, which was later destroyed by Maxwell. The film was confiscated from Bradford’s son, Johnny, who had taken pictures of his father’s killer standing at a mechanic’s shop next to the Concordia Parish jail, where Guillot is incarcerated.

Bradford has said he planned to use the photographs as evidence in Guillot’s parole hearing to show the prisoner receives favorable treatment from the Concordia Sheriff. And, Bradford said, he took the pictures while standing on the public property at the courthouse, where the jail is located.

&uot;There wasn’t a sign that said ‘do not enter,’&uot; Bradford said. &uot;Courthouse property is public property.&uot;

However, deputies stopped Bradford’s car just after it left courthouse property and, with Bradford’s consent, searched the vehicle. His camera and two rolls of film were seized, and Maxwell threw away the film.

Maxwell has refused to discuss the incident, but said in a statement released Friday that the &uot;inmates are in the custody of the Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office, and I have an obligation to protect them.

&uot;I have an absolute responsibility to care for their well-being. We cannot have anyone going through the restricted areas,&uot; the statement continues.

Bradford said deputies told him at the time that he could have his film and camera back after Guillot’s parole hearing later that month — a charge Maxwell flatly denied in Friday’s statement.

Maxwell’s decision to throw away the film, say Bradford and coalition president James Sandifer, is a violation of Bradford’s civil rights.

&uot;Only a judge could order that film be destroyed,&uot; Sandifer said.

Late last month Sam Macaluso, supervisor of the FBI’s Monroe office, said the FBI would not investigate the incident because Bradford gave deputies permission to search his vehicle.

But Sandifer said his group will file a report about the incident, with background about Guillot’s case, perhaps as early as next week with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

He would not give a specific date when the filing could be made because he is waiting for the District Attorney and the Concordia Clerk of Court’s Office to forward information from the Guillot case files.

In the past, Sandifer and Bradford have taken exception to the fact that Guillot is allowed to perform mechanic work in a shop behind the jail — a shop that until recently bore a sign reading &uot;Pete’s Shop.&uot;

Maxwell said that all inmates can perform such jobs, if they abide by regulations, which he said Guillot has done. Maxwell also has said previously that the jail is authorized to house state prisoners, such as Guillot, and it has been checked and approved by both the FBI and Department of Corrections. Maxwell has said he has received no other complaints about Guillot’s status except those from Bradford’s family and Sandifer’s organization.

But Bradford said he hopes by calling federal authorities’ attention to the case, Guillot will eventually be placed at Angola Penitentiary and his sentence, which was reduced in 1995 will be restored to its full length.

Guillot was sentenced originally to 42 years in prison. But in 1995, then-District Judge Glenn gremillion reduced Guillot’s sentenced to 21 years on one count of manslaughter and 21 years on the second count, with 12 years to run concurrently, for a total of 30 years. And, with good behavior, Guillot would be eligible for release in 2005.

According to court minutes, the resentencing was done &uot;at the urgency of the Concordia Parish Sheriff and the District Attorney.&uot;

Maxwell has said he will not comment further on the Guillot case.

Neither Gremillion, now an appeals court judge, nor District Attorney John Johnson could be reached for comment late last week. But Assistant District Attorney Ronnie McMillan, who was present at the resentencing hearing, said the District Attorney’s Office neither asked for nor opposed the resentencing.

&uot;That’s because it is up to the judge what sentence is given,&uot; McMillan said. In any case, he said, that office did not &uot;urge&uot; Gremillion to reduce Guillot’s sentence.

Bradford said he and his family did not know about the sentence reduction until they were notified of Guillot’s parole hearing in June of this year. At that parole hearing, witnesses testified they had seen Guillot performing errands in the area, unsupervised and in street clothes, Sandifer said.

In Friday’s statement, Maxwell said Guillot performed only one such errand, when he was &uot;accompanied by an officer to select the correct part at an auto supply store to repair a CPSO vehicle.&uot;

A federal investigation in 1995 did state that Guillot had worked at an election fund-raiser for a judge and in Maxwell’s re-election campaign.

But in his statement Friday, Maxwell said he would not answer questions about such events, calling the questions &uot;asinine and out of line.&uot;

Maxwell has questioned the legitimacy of Sandifer’s coalition, which the sheriff called a &uot;right-wing, out-of-the-parish organization.&uot;

Sandifer maintains that his organization is a legitimate one, a group he started to protect victims’ rights after he fought in 1994 to keep his own father’s murderer in prison.

Representatives of the organization, which Sandifer describes as a coalition of eight Louisiana victims’ rights groups, attend an average of 35 court hearings per month to speak on behalf of the victims, he said.

Cases the group has worked with include that of Vinson Simmons, who allegedly sexually assaulted twin girls near Marksville, and that of Stanislaus &uot;Tony&uot; Roberts, who was convicted in a 1974 killing near Lake Charles.

&uot;We just want to see that justice is served,&uot; Sandifer said. &uot;And if Pete Guillot is put at Angola and his sentence is put back the way it was before, I’ll feel that justice has been served,&uot; Bradford said.