Gary Plauché

Gary Plauché lived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was separated from his wife, June, at the time of the shooting. During 1983 and 1984, his 11-year-old son, Jody Plauché, was taking karate lessons with an instructor, 25-year-old Jeffrey Doucet, who had been sexually abusing the boy for at least a year. In February 1984, Doucet kidnapped Jody and took him to a motel in California where he sexually assaulted and molested him. Police searched the country for Jody, and he was eventually found after Doucet allowed the boy to place a collect call to his mother from the motel. California police raided the motel and arrested Doucet without incident.[3]

On March 1, 1984, Jody was returned to his family in Louisiana, but Gary, who was 38 at the time, heard reports that Doucet had sexually assaulted his son. In an interview with a news television crew, Gary said that he did not know what to do and just felt helpless.[4]

On March 16, 1984, Doucet was flown back from California to Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, also known as Ryan Field, to face trial. Doucet arrived and was led in handcuffs by police officers through the airport at around 9:30 p.m., where Plauché was waiting for Doucet with a gun.[4]

Plauché was friends with several high-ranking police officers in the Baton Rouge Police Department; while many people believed that these contacts told Plauché where and when Doucet would be arriving, it was actually an employee of the local ABC affiliate WBRZ-TV who gave Plauché the information. A news crew from WBRZ-TV was also waiting for Doucet and had set up their cameras to record his arrival. Opposite the news crew was a bank of pay telephones, where Plauché waited while talking to his best friend on a telephone. He wore a baseball cap and sunglasses, so no one recognized him.[4]

As Doucet was escorted through the airport, he passed the news crew who were taping the scene. He then walked past Plauché, who took out his gun and fired a single shot, directly at the right side of Doucet's head, at point-blank range. Doucet immediately fell to the floor, bleeding from a wound close to his right ear. As depicted in the video of the incident, Plauché placed the telephone receiver down before officers restrained him and removed the gun from his other hand and then attended to Doucet.[5] Officers grabbed hold of Plauché and recognized who he was at once. They kept him pinned against the bank of telephones, asking him as captured on camera, "Gary, why? Why, Gary?"[4] The entire incident was captured on ENG videotape.

Doucet fell into a coma and later died the next day.[6][7]

Plauché was initially charged with second-degree murder, but agreed to a plea bargain in which he pleaded no contest to manslaughter. He was sentenced to seven years suspended, with five years' probation and 300 hours of community service, which he completed in 1989.[8]

Psychological reports helped Plauché's case after it was learned that Doucet had abused Jody months prior to the kidnapping. Edward P. Uzee examined Plauché and determined that he could not tell the difference between right and wrong when he killed Doucet. Plauché's defense team argued that he was driven to a temporarily psychotic state after learning of the abuse of his son. Uzee also determined that Doucet had the ability to manipulate others and took advantage of the fact that Plauché was separated from his wife at the time, and had managed to wedge his way into the Plauché family. Judge Frank Saia ruled that sending Plauché to prison would not help anyone, and that there was virtually no risk of him committing another crime.[7]

The video of Plauché killing Doucet has been featured on many television programs and documentaries, including the 2002 Michael Moore documentary Bowling for Columbine and the 1993 shockumentary Traces of Death. The footage has also been uploaded to YouTube, where the video has received more than 20 million views.[4] In March, 2020 the uncensored version of the video was taken down and has been since re-uploaded censored. The video featured on YouTube was taken from the television series Anatomy of Crime, which aired in 2000 on Court TV and was produced by John Langley, the creator of Cops.[4]

Before his death, Plauché gave one last interview, where he stated that he did not regret killing Doucet and would do so again.

In August 2019, Jody Plauché released his book "Why, Gary, Why?": The Jody Plauché Story.[9]

Plauché suffered a stroke in 2011[3] and died in 2014 at a nursing home after another stroke, aged 68.[10]