Activists, Lawyers, Feds See A Chance To Fix New Orleans' Judicial Problems New Orleans police got a reminder of the challenges facing the local justice system two weeks ago, when they finally pried open the rusty doors of their department's evidence rooms, which had been flooded in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina last year. As was the case when a similar evidence vault was opened at the local courthouse six months earlier, much of what was inside was a moldy mess. A jumble of rusted guns was on the floor, and plastic bags of narcotics were stuck in the ceiling's rafters, left there when the water receded. [continues 895 words]
Defendants' rights violated, lawyers say New Orleans plans to hold its first criminal trial since Hurricane Katrina as soon as next week, the first step in solving a judicial crisis in which thousands of suspects have been jailed for months without trials. Criminal District Court Chief Judge Calvin Johnson says courts will reopen in the downtown courthouse, which was flooded after the Aug. 29 storm. He says 3,000 jury summonses have been mailed, and criminal trials could resume soon after Memorial Day weekend. It's unclear who will be tried or how they will be chosen. [continues 287 words]
Task Force Formed To Handle Upswing The influx of workers helping rebuild the region after Hurricane Katrina is driving a spike in narcotics activity on the West Bank, authorities say, prompting four law enforcement agencies to join forces to deal with the problem. The New Orleans Police Department, Plaquemines Parish Sheriff's Office, Gretna Police Department and Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office have created a new narcotics task force that will target specific areas and offenders in each jurisdiction for intensive surveillance and patrolling, NOPD Deputy Superintendent James Scott said. [continues 457 words]
Marijuana Users Nationwide Mark April As A Celebration Of The Illegal Drug Weed. Pot. Reefer. Ganja. Dope. Mary Jane. Schwag. Cannabis. Chronic. Artists from Willie Nelson to Dr. Dre have inundated American pop culture with these terms. But even with the abundance of marijuana references in art, literature, music and film, many people woke up this morning without realizing today's significance. Pot smokers nationwide acknowledge today April 20 or "4-20" as the day to celebrate marijuana use. But few people marijuana "tokers" or otherwise can legitimately say they know how or why 4-20 came to be the marijuana holiday. [continues 1275 words]
Good intentions are no substitute for effective drug education. Independent evaluations of Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) have found the program to be either ineffective or counterproductive. The scare tactics used do more harm than good. Students who realize they've been lied to about marijuana may make the mistake of assuming that harder drugs like cocaine are relatively harmless as well. This is a recipe for disaster. Drug education programs must be reality-based or they may backfire when kids are inevitably exposed to drug use among their peers. [continues 134 words]
I'm writing about Theresa Gardner's: "DARE TO SAY NO" (4-11-06). Common sense tells us that the DARE program should deter our youth from using illegal drugs. But it doesn't. DARE graduates are more likely to use illegal drugs--not less. Common sense tells us that the Earth is the center of the universe and our solar system. But it's not. Common sense tells us that prohibiting a product should substantially reduce the use of the product that's prohibited. [continues 105 words]
Local students participate in anti-drug program "I promise to never use drugs," was the pledge each fifth grader at Benton Middle School made as each of them read aloud what the D.A.R.E. program means to them. More than 20,000 Bossier Parish fifth grade students have been through the program since it began in the school system, and DARE instructor Judy Pate says she takes her job as their instructor very seriously. "This program has been very successful in teaching these students to choose their friends wisely and avoid peer pressure," Pate said. "It is my job to make sure these students know the seriousness and consequences of using drugs and alcohol. When I hear one of the students read about how much they appreciate Miss Pate, that means a lot. But it also means a lot to hear some past students when they come up to me and say that they were in a situation where there were drugs and or alcohol and they remembered what they learned in DARE." [continues 323 words]
Dept. Of Education Faces Lawsuit Despite being passed six years ago, a higher education act continues to receive criticism. Under the higher education act, students with drug convictions are ineligible for federal financial aid to attend institutions of higher learning. Federal financial aid includes grants, loans and work study programs. On Jan. 26, the Students for Sensible Drug Policy requested that the Department of Education release a state-by-state breakdown of students denied federal financial aid. Tom Angell, campaign director for the SSDP, said the Department of Education tried to charge the SSDP $4,100 for the document. The organization threatened to challenge the charge in court, and the Department of Education dropped the fee. [continues 588 words]
When I left the federal courthouse in Lafayette at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, the lawyers were still hammering out language for the judge's charge to the jury. For all I know they are still at it. With the jurors, spectators, court employees and defendants out of the room, Judge Tucker Melancon stripped off his snappy blue robe and rolled up his sleeves. "I would like to ask the gentleman at the back of the room to identify himself," he said. The judge had been laboring under the mistaken impression that I was an expert of some kind. [continues 718 words]
The Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), with help from the American Civil Liberties Union, are challenging a law that strips college aid from students with prior drug convictions. Started in 1998 by students at college campuses around the nation, the goal of the SSDP was to challenge the bill, which later became a law by Indiana Republican Mark Souder, that strips financial aid from college students with drug convictions. The bill has affected 200,000 college students that have mostly dropped out of college because they simply just couldna€™t afford it. [continues 335 words]
Law, like the rafters of a home, is critical to the construction of our social house. Laws create a structure in which the weak can move freely, unfettered by fear of persecution or the blind malice of the predatory. Faulty laws define periods of social error, periods we look back on with regret and confusion. Those who mete out these laws must temper them with reason and justice. Failure to make decisions with foresight and caution can only lead to social disintegration. We trust lawmakers with the same trust we offer our parents. [continues 703 words]
Changes could mean chance to start fresh. Changes in the Higher Education Act approved by Congress could mean a chance at federal money to help those recovering from a drug conviction and addiction pay for college, according to local case managers. Since 2000, federal financial aid has been denied or restricted for people with drug convictions, depending on the number of offenses and other factors. Now, a change in the legislation means that students with prior convictions are eligible, but students who are convicted of illegal drug offenses while they are enrolled in college would be stripped of their federal aid. [continues 304 words]
Paincourtville Officer Died After Sting Operation An Assumption Parish Sheriff's deputy was killed Wednesday night during an undercover drug operation, Sheriff Mike Waguespack said this morning. Sgt. Jeremy Newchurch, 31, of Paincourtville, died at Assumption Community Hospital following the 8:30 p.m. shooting, Waguespack said. Newchurch was shot in the upper chest area just above his bullet proof vest during a scuffle with a man officers were trying to arrest after a high-speed chase, Waguespack said. Newchurch and seven other drug agents were trying to execute felony drug warrants, Waguespack said. [continues 117 words]
Prosecutors Turn to Little-Known Law When a jury determined earlier this year that Jake Johnson had been murdered, it had seen no weapon. Prosecutors didn't even try to establish intent, and they conceded the victim played a key role in his own death. Yet the second-degree murder conviction brought the killer the same mandatory life-without-parole sentence handed out routinely to shooters and stabbers. All prosecutors had to establish was that defendant Jeanie Hano, 42, had sold methadone to the 16-year-old victim and that the same pills contributed to his death by overdose. [continues 1350 words]
Prosecutors Turn To Little-Known Law When a jury determined earlier this year that Jake Johnson had been murdered, it had seen no weapon. Prosecutors didn't even try to establish intent, and they conceded the victim played a key role in his own death. Yet the second-degree murder conviction brought the killer the same mandatory life-without-parole sentence handed out routinely to shooters and stabbers. All prosecutors had to establish was that defendant Jeanie Hano, 42, had sold methadone to the 16-year-old victim and that the same pills contributed to his death by overdose. [continues 1345 words]
He Could Get 120-Year Sentence For Plea In Three Cocaine Deals Lutcher Police Chief Corey Pittman, accused of selling more than 50 grams of crack cocaine to an undercover federal operative this summer, pleaded guilty to three counts of cocaine distribution Wednesday and could face up to 120 years in prison. Pittman, 29, pleaded guilty to three counts of distribution of 5 or more grams of crack cocaine in front of U.S. District Court Judge Ginger Berrigan and faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years for each count and a maximum of 40 years per count. Pittman also could face a $2 million fine per count. [continues 360 words]
I'm writing about Marian Wright Edelman's thoughtful column: "Increasing criminalization of children: How did we get here?" (Nov 28th issue). The answer to Edelman's question is: the war on drugs. Even though whites and blacks use illegal drugs at about the same rate, blacks are 13 times more likely to go to jail or prison for drug crimes than whites are. It's obvious that the so-called war on drugs is actually a war on (politically selected) people--and black people are those politically selected people. [continues 56 words]
He Stole Bus, Rescued Others After Katrina An Algiers man hailed by some as a hero for commandeering a school bus the day after Hurricane Katrina to take 60 stranded residents to safety in Houston has been arrested on drug charges where his bus journey began: the Fischer public housing complex. Jabar Gibson, 20, who garnered a movie deal and national attention as the renegade bus driver, was booked Friday with possession with intent to distribute heroin after police stopped his rental car for allegedly driving erratically, New Orleans police said. [continues 426 words]
Methadone Sold Illegally, Cops Say The owner of a Slidell drugstore that was one of the nation's top purchasers of methadone in September was arrested Wednesday on charges of selling narcotics without prescriptions at his pharmacy. Gary Richardson, a pharmacist who owns the Medicap Pharmacy at 140 Gause Blvd., was arrested Wednesday morning after he sold methadone to two undercover narcotics agents who didn't have prescriptions for the drug, Slidell Police Chief Freddy Drennan said. Richardson, 54, 13477 Riverlake Drive, Covington, had been under investigation for about six months after authorities received several complaints about him dispensing unprescribed narcotics, Drennan said. [continues 276 words]
When Michael Burton started selling designer drugs over the Internet, he never imagined anyone would get hurt. That was before James Edward Downs -- a 22-year-old St. Francisville quadriplegic -- dipped the tip of his tongue into a little blue vial of white powder from American Chemical Supply, developed a 108-degree temperature, had a seizure, went into a coma and died. "This is definitely a wake-up call of actions versus consequences," the 25-year-old Burton said Friday in federal court before he was sentenced to 13 years in prison. "There are things that could happen you might never foresee." U.S. District Judge Frank Polozola also ordered him to pay nearly $16,000 in restitution to Downs' family, and more than $5,000 to Ingenix Subrogation Services, a firm involved in Downs' health-care costs. [continues 628 words]
Inside Louisiana
