BATON ROUGE — East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore said a recent photo that was taken of him alongside the parents of a 13-year-old who was arrested for hate crimes earlier this year is not an indication of personal favoritism toward the teen's family. 

"I had never met the individuals pictured with me and did not know who they were or their connection to a pending case before my Office when the photograph was taken," Moore, who is up for election, said in a statement Wednesday. 

Moore was attending the East Baton Rouge Republican Women Stars and Stripes Diamond Gala at the Renaissance Baton Rouge Hotel on Tuesday evening and took a photo with the parents of a teen who was arrested in May for allegedly spray painting racial slurs onto the garage of a Central home. 

The teen was arrested for criminal damage to property by defacing with graffiti, criminal trespass and hate crimes. Backed by the NAACP and attorney Ryan Thompson, Moore's opponent in the district attorney's race, homeowners filed a lawsuit. They claim that the teen's racist actions have spanned over several months and constitute stalking and terrorism. 

Moore said his office is prosecuting the case "to the fullest extent of the law" and has not offered a plea deal to the juvenile. 

"While I do not publicly discuss the details of pending prosecutions, no photograph, political affiliation, or personal relationship has ever influenced or will ever influence how my Office handles this or any case. Everyone is accountable under the same law," he said.