James Lee Burke | PROBABLE CAUSE

While much of the media is focused on the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, the March shooting death of 22-year-old African-American Victor White III in Iberia Parish, Louisiana should receive more coverage.

The shooting occurred in the backseat of a Louisiana state police patrol car after White was arrested for drug possession. White’s hands were cuffed behind his back as he was transported to jail. Once there, he reportedly did not want to get out of the patrol car. At some point, a gun that he was allegedly hiding in his pants appeared, and he shot himself in the back, according to police reports.

However, the autopsy report, finally released two days ago by the Iberia Parish Coroner’s Office, details how White was shot in the chest, completely contradicting earlier police reports made after the fateful night in early March.

The bullet entered the young man’s chest and pierced his left lung and his heart before exiting around his armpit, according to the autopsy, which also called White’s death a “suicide.”

How exactly does a man with his hands cuffed behind his back produce a gun and shoot himself in the chest? Also, how is it that officers, who searched White twice, did not find the gun? The first time they found a small amount of marijuana. A second search produced cigars and a small amount of cocaine, which White admitted, were his.

Readers familiar with James Lee Burke’s iconic Iberia Parish Detective Dave Robicheaux might be familiar with the setting of this tragic, real-life case. But the plot and denouement read more like Burke’s fiction than fact.

I’ve been a James Lee Burke fan for a number of years and always look forward to his next novel. Two of his books, “Heaven’s Prisoners” and “In the Electric Mist With Confederate Dead”, have been made into movies. Heaven’s Prisoners, released in 1996, starred Alec Baldwin as Dave Robicheaux and featured a terrific supporting cast including Kelly Lynch, Mary Stuart Masterson, Eric Roberts and Teri Hatcher. I really enjoyed the movie and especially Baldwin’s performance.

So, I was anticipating the spring release of “In The Electric Mist” starring Tommy Lee Jones as Dave Robicheaux. The movie, directed by noted French director Bertrand Tavernier, also features a solid supporting cast including John Goodman, Peter Sarsgaard, Mary Steenburgen and Ned Beatty.

Much to my surprise, the movie had a very limited theatrical run and went almost immediately to DVD, not a real positive sign. Rumors soon surfaced of creative differences on the set. Tavernier insisted that the director’s cut of the movie be released in Europe and shown at the Berlin Film Festival. The producer’s cut I saw on DVD last weekend is fifteen minutes shorter.

Given the creative differences and rush to DVD, my expectations were pretty low. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The screenplay, which sticks very close to the 1993 novel and borrows a number of good lines, has Robicheaux hunting down a serial killer who has been responsible for the deaths of several young Louisiana women. One subplot concerns the murder of a black man Robicheaux witnessed as a child; a murder that may be connected to the current case. Another subplot involves a Hollywood movie that is being filmed and Robicheaux’s relationship with its star, Elrod Sykes (Sarsgaard) an alcoholic like Robicheaux. Both men have visions of a dead Civil War general who offers advice and counsel to Robicheaux.

“In The Electric Mist” has a distinctly European feel to it, which is a good thing. The pacing is slower, the plot more involved, the violence more controlled, yet explosive. The cinematography and Cajun music also add flavor to the story.

I found the movie more enjoyable than I expected. Perhaps it’s because so many of crime dramas I see on movie screens today are littered with gratuitous violence and bodies, particularly any movie that has a serial killer. Many crime dramas look like the comic books they’re made from. Still, I would like to see the longer foreign version of “In The Electric Mist” so I could compare it to the U.S. version.

Burke’s novel is not one of my favorites from the many he has written, and neither is the movie. But it’s worth a look, if for no other reason than you get to see Tommy Lee Jones’ cast as Dave Robicheaux.