Crime
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Grand jury indicts teabagging suspect
Posted by Kandace Graves on Thu, May 17, 2012 at 1:24 PM
An Orleans Parish grand jury today (May 17) indicted Alabama football fan Brian H. Downing — accused of putting his testicles on an unconscious LSU fan in a Krystal hamburger restaurant on Bourbon Street following the BCS Championship game Jan. 9 — on one count of sexual battery and one count of obscenity. A judge set Downing's bail at $50,000, but an arraignment date has not been set.
A video of the January incident hit YouTube immediately, and Downing was identified as the suspect. He surrendered to New Orleans police Jan. 19, and his bail was set at $10,000.
If convicted, Downing could face a maximum of 10 years in prison on the sexual battery charge and a fine of no less than $1,000 and no more than $2,500 and six months to three years in prison on the obscenity charge.
Friday, May 11, 2012
Legalize Louisiana rallies for marijuana reform tomorrow
Posted by Alex Woodward on Fri, May 11, 2012 at 4:30 PM
An event note, per Legalize Louisiana: "Do not bring any illegal substance to this rally."
Grassroots marijuana reform campaign Legalize Louisiana has organized a series of statewide rallies tomorrow, from New Orleans to Shreveport. The group's statement is as follows:
The group demands policies creating safe and free access to cannabis medicine, for the promotion of human health in Louisiana; industrial hemp should be utilized to boost our state's economy and the health of her ecosystems; that personal use should be decriminalized, and that commercial use should be taxed and regulated, which will create justice where there is now abuse, and, simultaneously, reduce Louisiana's world-record incarceration rates. That religious use of cannabis is an inalienable right protected by our state and federal constitutions, by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and that our justice system professionals are oath-bound to realize the letter and the spirit of these most high an sacred laws.
The group, headed by Louisiana native Donnie Griffith, has been campaigning in the state since 2009. Griffith says he was inspired to start the campaign after living in Los Angeles under its relaxed marijuana laws. Following the rallies, Griffith says he plans to tour the state with Legalize Louisiana and register the campaign as a nonprofit organization. The rallies also serve as an opportunity to "encourage people to vote and get active" in promoting reform, he says. Legalize Louisiana's Facebook page is nearing 6,000 "likes."
Louisiana's National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws chapters are defunct, however there's an active student-run chapter at Tulane University. (Read more about Louisiana and New Orleans' marijuana laws in Gambit.)
A list of rallies and marches and their respective locations, below the jump.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Last group of inmates leaves House of Detention
Posted by Charles Maldonado on Fri, May 4, 2012 at 11:53 AM
"The House of Detention is now a closed chapter in the history of the sheriff's office and the city of New Orleans," Gusman said at a press conference, minutes before the few remaining HOD residents boarded a bus taking them to other Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office facilities.
More than 600 OPP inmates — all of them Orleans Parish, rather than state, detainees — have been moved out of the facility since Gusman's April 10 announcement, Gusman said. To make room for them, 400 post-conviction state inmates, recently housed in other OPP buildings, have been handed over to the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections to be placed in other facilities throughout the state.
(More after the jump)
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
House committee approves second amendment bill
Posted by Alex Woodward on Wed, May 2, 2012 at 4:20 PM
Louisiana has dozens of gun laws on the books. State Sen. Neil Riser filed Senate Bill 303, a constitutional amendment that aims to expand and protect the second amendment right to bear firearms. His bill would "require that any denial, infringement, or restriction on one's right to acquire, keep, possess, transport, carry, transfer, and use arms for defense of life and property be subject to a strict scrutiny standard by courts in determining any violation of the right."
This afternoon, Louisiana’s House committee on criminal justice voted 9-5 in favor of the bill. The bill, according to Riser, “will give Louisiana the strongest second amendment right in the nation.” The bill's opponents fear Riser’s bill would open a door for litigation to rule those 80-plus laws unconstitutional, creating a gun-toting free for all. It now enter the House for a vote and will likely end up on November ballots where its fate will ultimately be decided by voters.
State Reps. Roy Burrell, Dalton Honore, Barbara Norton, Terry Landry and Helena Moreno repeatedly asked why Louisiana needs the additional “protection.” “I’m just trying to figure out how this gun bill is going to make Louisiana better and make citizens safer,” Landry asked, adding he doesn’t want to send the state back to “the wild wild west of this country.”
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Photos: Alleged criminal looks bemused-on-the-way-to-annoyed after mild crime
Posted by Charles Maldonado on Tue, Apr 17, 2012 at 4:40 PM
"Why is the NOPD — which, from time to time, takes as much as three days to get around to making a homicide announcement — sending out a press release about a goddamn parked car hit and run?" is what I thought at first.
Then I realized that this everyday crime about which I couldn't care less came with these delightful pictures, which I love. Presumably taken by the victim with his or her phone camera, the alleged perpetrator and her companion are captured in an emotional sweet spot precisely halfway between bewildered and pissed.
(Full press release after the jump)
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
SPLC on jail building closure: "Tragically, this incremental reform occurred only after the abusive conditions at OPP destroyed countless lives"
Posted by Charles Maldonado on Wed, Apr 11, 2012 at 9:55 AM
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office last week, today issued the following statement in response to Sheriff Marlin Gusman's decision to close the Orleans Parish Prison's House of Detention:
New Orleans, La. – The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) commends Sheriff Marlon Gusman’s decision to close the Orleans Parish Prison (OPP) House of Detention today but calls for the Sheriff’s Department to make additional reforms to better protect the community and save taxpayer dollars.
The SPLC brought a federal class action civil rights lawsuit against the Orleans Parish Sheriff earlier this month. The lawsuit charged that Sheriff Gusman’s indifference created brutal and inhumane conditions at the Orleans Parish Prison where prisoners endured rampant violence, multiple sexual assaults and neglect.
“The closure of the House of Detention represents an important first step on the way to real reform in the Orleans Parish Prison,” said Katie Schwartzmann, managing attorney of SPLC’s Louisiana office. “Sheriff Gusman took this action in the wake of federal marshals removing their prisoners from his custody about three weeks ago, the Department of Justice investigative tour of OPP that occurred last week, SPLC’s class action lawsuit also filed last week, and the scathing report on OPP issued yesterday by the federal Review Panel on Prison Rape.”
“The Sheriff should be commended for finally recognizing the intolerable and inhumane conditions at OPP,” said Schwartzmann. “Tragically, this incremental reform occurred only after the abusive conditions at OPP destroyed countless lives. Resolving the crisis at OPP will require more than moving people from one jail to another. It’s time to recognize that New Orleans and the Sheriff’s Department invests far too many resources in imprisonment—at the expense of alternatives that could better protect our communities and save taxpayer dollars.”
The federal complaint filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana describes a facility where violence and wide-spread contraband are the norm, and details the abusive treatment endured by prisoners with mental illness, including denial of mental health services that leave the prisoners extremely vulnerable to physical attacks. It also noted the facility is understaffed and that deputies are poorly trained and supervised – often complicit in the abuses suffered by the prisoners.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
SlutWalk comes to New Orleans
Posted by Lauren LaBorde on Thu, Apr 5, 2012 at 2:16 PM
Ever since last year's Toronto march, groups in major cities around the world have followed the SlutWalk template and staged their own marches. Winter Randall and a fleet of volunteers is organizing Saturday's march, which begins in Congo Square. "It just seems like it is such an important movement, and it would be a shame if New Orleans didn't join in," she says.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Coca-Cola graffiti matter is "resolved," says Clarkson staffer
Posted by Charles Maldonado on Fri, Mar 30, 2012 at 12:16 PM
Background on the off-chance you haven't heard about any of this yet, from Kalen Wright on NOLA Femmes:
The following is a letter I sent this evening to elected officials and law enforcement; I’m tired, so it was brief and to the point.Spray-painted stenciled graffiti advertising a Coca-Cola product in conjunction with the NCAA Men's Final Four event.
Honorable Mayor Landrieu, Councilmembers Palmer and Clarkson, and NOPD 8th District Commander Walls:
The attached photos depict advertising associated with the NCAA Men’s Final Four event for Coca-Cola products — spray-painted on sidewalks and pavement (including flagstones) in the French Quarter and Faubourg Tremé (and perhaps other) neighborhoods in our city. I ask, is this really how we want companies to behave when our city hosts national events?
This all started last night, when Wright took to Twitter to raise awareness that (1) Coca-Cola ads were popping up on French Quarter sidewalks and (2) that is against the law. Note: It is not a violation of the new state law that makes graffiti in the French Quarter a felony. That law only applies if a building or structure's been defaced.
(More after the jump)
Thursday, March 15, 2012
A brief history of celebrities who have run afoul of the NOPD (now with Russell Brand mugshot)
Posted by Kevin Allman on Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 5:06 PM
1993: Mr. Eddie Vedder, the smooth-jazz superstar of the Spokane-based R&B group Pearl Drops, allegedly spits in the face of another gentleman during an evening of high and low jinks on Decatur Street. Somehow Jack McDowell of the Chicago White Sox was involved as well. Mr. Vedder is detained by the New Orleans gendarmerie and booked with disturbing the peace and public drunkenness. A couple of decades later, at a youth ukelele hootenanny sponsored by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Mr. Vedder makes reference to that incident with amusement.
2003: Mr. Jamie Foxx creates a ruckus at a downtown gambling parlor while in New Orleans filming the movie Ray. Allegations of uncouth language are made. Water from a fountain is allegedly splashed. Pepper spray is really, not allegedly, deployed. Mr. Foxx is arrested. The gentleman ultimately receives a six-month suspended sentence and two years' probation, as well as an Academy Award.
2011: Mr. Nicolas Cage is charged with disturbing the peace and public drunkenness after having a difference of opinion with his wife, Alice Kim. A taxicab is somehow involved. Weeks later, a GQ editor relates an amusing tale of Mr. Cage's behavior at the restaurant Stella!, which involved the phrase "GIVE ME YOUR DIGITS!" and ended with the intervention of New Orleans' finest. Later in the year, Mr. Cage has an altercation with a naked man brandishing a Fudgsicle.
2012: Mr. Russell Brand grabs a paparazzo's iPhone. Rather than play Angry Birds or fire up some Pandora tunes, the British alleged funnyman throws it through the window of a downtown New Orleans legal concern. Mr. Brand is then a kind of a douche about it on Twitter. Arrest warrants are procured, Mr. Brand surrenders, and we have the latest in a collection of photos from the Hotel Gusman on Tulane Avenue.
New Orleans' least wanted: Russell Brand
Posted by Will Coviello on Thu, Mar 15, 2012 at 9:51 AM
TMZ reports that NOPD has issued an arrest warrant for Russell Brand, who's been in town filming a movie. He apparently grabbed someone's iPhone and threw it through a window. Images of the destruction here. TMZ has flooded the zone on this: also reporting on Brand tweeting that he threw the phone as a memorial to Steve Jobs.
Apparently Brand's working on a Diablo Cody project with Julianne Hough.
If you answered this Craigslist call for extras, notice it says no phone calls, which is standard, but maybe it's the phones they don't like.
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