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Another good story, get a glimpse into another world, one where justice rarely shines, one where fairness often hides...
Prisoners await high court ruling
By ADRIAN ANGELETTE
aangelette@theadvocate.com
Advocate staff writer
Several hundred Orleans Parish prisoners remain in custody despite a state judge's order issued 12 days ago that said they should be set free on their own recognizance.
A legal fight has made its way to the Louisiana Supreme Court and the prisoners will remain locked up until the state's highest court has a chance to review the arguments of the prisoners' attorneys and the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office.
On Nov. 10, state District Judge Calvin Johnson of Orleans Parish ordered the prisoners released. Since that time, the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal has blocked the release and the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal has reinstated the release.
At the request of prosecutors, the state Supreme Court over the weekend reinstated an order that blocks the release of inmates "pending further orders of the court."
At issue is whether the prisoners should be freed because prosecutors have taken too long to review the cases and decide whether to file formal charges.
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In Louisiana, prosecutors have 45 days to institute charges in misdemeanors and 60 days for felonies. Prosecutors maintain that an executive order signed by Gov. Kathleen Blanco in the wake of Hurricane Katrina extended such deadlines.
Prosecutor Donna Andrieu of the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office said the hurricane has made it difficult to process cases because communications with police is spotty, some investigators have been furloughed, the District Attorney's Office was six feet under water and severely damaged by the storm, and the Orleans Parish Clerk of Court's Office was closed until early November. Those facts make it impossible to file formal charges against some individuals, she said.
"The Legislature understood that there would be times when those normal deadlines could not be met and this is one of those times," Andrieu said Monday. "All we want the judge to do is abide by the (extended) legal deadlines."
Andrieu said conditions are steadily improving in New Orleans. In her request to the Supreme Court, the prosecutor noted that New Orleans has limited health care and shortages of housing and other things because of the hurricane. It would also be difficult and "unrealistic" for her office to locate some of the prisoners should a decision be made to file formal charges, she said.
Prosecutors agree that prisoners held on misdemeanors since early July should be released.
Neal Walker with the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center in New Orleans, said he hopes this matter can be resolved quickly. Walker said it is "startling" that prosecutors want all of the prisoners held even though the District Attorney's Office concedes that some prisoners should be released. "These have got to be the unluckiest group in history," Walker said of the prisoners being held in Allen, Avoyelles and West Feliciana parishes. "They've gone through a nightmarish evacuation and many of them still don't know how their families fared in the storm."
Walker said the prisoners he represents are not violent offenders. The worst of them are being held for "low-grade felonies," such as possession of narcotics. Most are being held for misdemeanors, such as public drunkenness, prostitution, lewd conduct and trespassing.
None have been formally charged by the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office, he said.
Judge Johnson's order also does not prevent prosecutors from filing formal charges and bringing the prisoners to trial.
But the judge found it reasonable to expect that many of the prisoners are innocent, Walker said in his motion to the Supreme Court. The history of problems with the New Orleans Police Department are well documented, Walker said, and continued through the hurricane with officers caught looting and beating pedestrians.
"Anyone who doubts the truthfulness of Judge Johnson's observation … is not acquainted with the history of the NOPD," Walker said.
Those being detained are being denied due process, are not being afforded speedy and public trials and are subject to cruel and unusual punishment, the motion says.
To complicate the issue, Walker said that many of the prisoners being held are not represented by an attorney. Walker said 30 of the 39 public defenders in Orleans Parish have been laid off and their clients have not been assigned to another attorney.
More than 8,000 inmates from several south Louisiana parishes, including Orleans, were evacuated from state prisons and parish jails in the wake of Katrina.
Prisoners await high court ruling
By ADRIAN ANGELETTE
aangelette@theadvocate.com
Advocate staff writer
Several hundred Orleans Parish prisoners remain in custody despite a state judge's order issued 12 days ago that said they should be set free on their own recognizance.
A legal fight has made its way to the Louisiana Supreme Court and the prisoners will remain locked up until the state's highest court has a chance to review the arguments of the prisoners' attorneys and the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office.
On Nov. 10, state District Judge Calvin Johnson of Orleans Parish ordered the prisoners released. Since that time, the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal has blocked the release and the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal has reinstated the release.
At the request of prosecutors, the state Supreme Court over the weekend reinstated an order that blocks the release of inmates "pending further orders of the court."
At issue is whether the prisoners should be freed because prosecutors have taken too long to review the cases and decide whether to file formal charges.
Advertisements
In Louisiana, prosecutors have 45 days to institute charges in misdemeanors and 60 days for felonies. Prosecutors maintain that an executive order signed by Gov. Kathleen Blanco in the wake of Hurricane Katrina extended such deadlines.
Prosecutor Donna Andrieu of the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office said the hurricane has made it difficult to process cases because communications with police is spotty, some investigators have been furloughed, the District Attorney's Office was six feet under water and severely damaged by the storm, and the Orleans Parish Clerk of Court's Office was closed until early November. Those facts make it impossible to file formal charges against some individuals, she said.
"The Legislature understood that there would be times when those normal deadlines could not be met and this is one of those times," Andrieu said Monday. "All we want the judge to do is abide by the (extended) legal deadlines."
Andrieu said conditions are steadily improving in New Orleans. In her request to the Supreme Court, the prosecutor noted that New Orleans has limited health care and shortages of housing and other things because of the hurricane. It would also be difficult and "unrealistic" for her office to locate some of the prisoners should a decision be made to file formal charges, she said.
Prosecutors agree that prisoners held on misdemeanors since early July should be released.
Neal Walker with the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center in New Orleans, said he hopes this matter can be resolved quickly. Walker said it is "startling" that prosecutors want all of the prisoners held even though the District Attorney's Office concedes that some prisoners should be released. "These have got to be the unluckiest group in history," Walker said of the prisoners being held in Allen, Avoyelles and West Feliciana parishes. "They've gone through a nightmarish evacuation and many of them still don't know how their families fared in the storm."
Walker said the prisoners he represents are not violent offenders. The worst of them are being held for "low-grade felonies," such as possession of narcotics. Most are being held for misdemeanors, such as public drunkenness, prostitution, lewd conduct and trespassing.
None have been formally charged by the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office, he said.
Judge Johnson's order also does not prevent prosecutors from filing formal charges and bringing the prisoners to trial.
But the judge found it reasonable to expect that many of the prisoners are innocent, Walker said in his motion to the Supreme Court. The history of problems with the New Orleans Police Department are well documented, Walker said, and continued through the hurricane with officers caught looting and beating pedestrians.
"Anyone who doubts the truthfulness of Judge Johnson's observation … is not acquainted with the history of the NOPD," Walker said.
Those being detained are being denied due process, are not being afforded speedy and public trials and are subject to cruel and unusual punishment, the motion says.
To complicate the issue, Walker said that many of the prisoners being held are not represented by an attorney. Walker said 30 of the 39 public defenders in Orleans Parish have been laid off and their clients have not been assigned to another attorney.
More than 8,000 inmates from several south Louisiana parishes, including Orleans, were evacuated from state prisons and parish jails in the wake of Katrina.