BATON ROUGE — A Louisiana State Police trooper who allegedly covered up evidence and coerced a domestic violence victim to lie to law enforcement that was investigating him has been indicted on several charges, including malfeasance in office, domestic abuse battery and obstruction of justice.

On Wednesday, a grand jury indicted James Jefferson III, 41, on two counts each of obstruction of justice, domestic abuse battery with child endangerment and malfeasance in office, as well as one count each of domestic abuse battery with a dangerous weapon and domestic abuse battery by strangulation.

WBRZ's Investigative Unit previously reported that Jefferson allegedly strangled his wife and hit her with his car before pressuring her to lie about the incidents to investigating officers. He was previously arrested on domestic violence charges in February.

Officers found surveillance video of the February incident that included audio. Police said they could hear a victim yelling: "He's punching me," and "Don't throw me on the ground." Documents say the altercation happened while a 7-year-old child was in the back seat of the truck.

Jefferson was booked for domestic abuse battery with child endangerment, but the district attorney did not prosecute because the victim asked to drop the charges. New documents say the victim was pressured by Jefferson in that incident and others to lie to investigating officers.

In March, WBRZ reported that he was arrested by the attorney general's office for domestic aggravated assault by strangulation, domestic abuse with child endangerment, aggravated second-degree battery, obstruction of justice and filing false public records. The alleged incidents spanned from Feb. 5, 2025, to Dec. 29, 2025.