A felony trial for former Opelousas Mayor Reggie Tatum that includes charges of public theft, forgery and malfeasance, is scheduled to begin Thursday in state court.

Dates for Tatum’s trial before 27th Judicial District Court Judge James A. Doherty Jr., have been reset several times after Tatum, who served as the city’s mayor from 2014 to 2018, changed attorneys and requested a hearing on a request to dismiss the indictment issued by a St. Landry Parish grand jury.

Tatum originally hired Francis Olivier III as his defense attorney after he was indicted Oct. 31, 2017 on multiple felony counts of altering public records, theft of public funds, forgery and malfeasance in connection with the city’s alleged mishandling of evacuee shelter for area residents affected by the 2016 flooding in the Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Opelousas areas.

In September 2018, Doherty denied a motion by Olivier to dismiss the indictment against Tatum following a lengthy hearing in which Trosclair and Charles Cravins, the chief administrator for the District Attorney’s Office, testified they did not bring criminal charges against Tatum as a political maneuver.

Olivier argued during the hearing that Tatum’s indictment was political payback by Tatum’s opponents for winning the 2014 election against incumbent Donald Cravins Sr., whose brother works in the prosecutor’s office.