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LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) — A federal judge will hear arguments Friday on whether a south Louisiana sheriff accused of making anti-Semitic threats can carry a gun while awaiting trial on charges he directed officers to assault prisoners. Iberia Parish Sheriff Louis Ackal is prohibited from possessing firearms following his indictment, but his attorney says recent killings of police officers in Baton Rouge and Dallas demonstrate he needs a gun to protect himself. "Recently, there was a threat to ambush a deputy in New Iberia, which thankfully did not come true. However, the atmosphere in this country, especially in south Louisiana, makes this a very real possibility," the sheriff's lawyer, John McLindon, wrote in a court filing a day after a lone gunman shot and killed three law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge. U.S. Magistrate Judge Patrick Hanna will hear Ackal's bid to reclaim his gun and for prosecutors' request to bar him from possessing any weapons. Prosecutors said an "unsolicited informant" recently provided them with tapes of a conversation in which Ackal claims he threatened to shoot a prosecutor between his "Jewish eyes" after the prosecutor vowed to send him to prison. Ackal's meeting with the prosecutor and other federal authorities occurred before Ackal's original March 9 indictment on charges over the alleged beatings of five jail inmates, prosecutors said. "Although the conversation was frank, it was cordial and professional and is mischaracterized by Mr. Ackal in this recording," prosecutors from U.S. Attorney Stephanie Finley's office wrote in a court filing last month. The sheriff's lawyer, John McLindon, said his client didn't know he was being taped when he made "some inappropriate remarks" among friends "in the privacy of his home." Prosecutors say that they believe Ackal made those taped remarks on March 14, but that they didn't learn of them until after his March 31 arraignment. Prosecutors argue that Ackal's remarks are grounds for tightening the conditions of his pre-trial release. They're also asking the magistrate to require him to submit to unannounced inspections of his home, vehicle and office. McLindon called it "disingenuous" for prosecutors to publicly release Ackal's statements, "which may contain inflammatory language," while also denying him the right to carry a gun for protection. Ackal's trial is scheduled to start Oct. 31. His original indictment claims he directed officers to assault inmates in the parish jail's chapel, where no video surveillance cameras would record the April 2011 beatings. Last month, Ackal was indicted on a new charge that he conspired in 2014 to assault a man who was accused of assaulting one of Ackal's relatives. Nine former employees of the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office already have pleaded guilty to related charges.

Judge to decide if indicted Louisiana sheriff can carry gun